On November 11th, 2017, Activate, Destiny & Addy presented an intimate and underground set from a rising star in deep and tech house, Nora En Pure,with opening sets fromEvan G, KRFWandTharen. Having only found out the location of the event that was kept secret until the day of, I arrived at 10:30 pm. There was ample parking since it was a warehouse space. The entrance to the venue was very unassuming. It was just a pop-up canopy in front of a side door. After a quick security check, I was in. A winding hallway lead past coat check into the main area of the venue. Directly on the right as you walk in was a bar area followed directly by a row of porta-potties. The set-up was fairly simple a few lights and a fog machine the could fill that whole warehouse.
KRFW was playing when I walked in. They were playing some up-tempo house to the couple dozen people that were there. Then Tharen came on at about 11pm as people started to fill in the space. He played more chill and groovy house with tracks like Falling by Joseph Ashworth and Mohican by Modd. As the grooves were laid down by Tharen, the place really started to fill in. Then came the point in the night I was really dreading – a trip to the bathrooms. Most of my experiences with porta potties at music events have been ones of disgust and horror. By the time I had made my way over to the row of toilets there were already sizable lines. The lines moved pretty quick, especially mine thanks to the drunk gentleman in front of wrapping on the porta pottie door demanding that the person in there finish doing there drugs because he really had to pee. To my surprise, the bathroom was fairly clean which was nice. I made my way back to my spot and continued to enjoy Tharen set.
It was about 1 am when Tharen ended and the lights went low. The crowd began to chant Nora’s name. The lights came up and fog machine filled the air, the music started the fog cleared, and there she was. She started with Life Is Too Short by Yousef and set the stage for what was to be an amazing night. She played a lot of her more popular tracks like Come With Me and Diving With Whales as well as some other popular tracks like Cola by CamelPhat & Elderbrook. I made my way up to the front of the crowd which was no easy feat but i was so worth it. Nora was playing to a packed warehouse that was grooving right along with her. There was really no pushing and shoving, everyone was really respectful of each other. It seemed like most of the crowd was there to just vibe to some deep house. As the night turned into morning the crowd thinned out a little but the were many who made it to the end. Nora had really laid down!
5am came too fast, and as Nora‘s set came to a close I wish it could have gone on an hour or two more. I loved the warehouse venue as it had that old-school rave feel. The crowd was super chill too. I don’t think I even smelled anyone smoking anything indoors which was a welcomed change of pace. I also was digging the chill house vibes that permeated the venue, which just made the night seem to just slip away. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it certainly did this night. We all filed out into the chilly morning air still buzzing from the preceding event. I got into my car, threw on some more Nora en Pure (because I was not finished listening to her yet) and drove off. 10/10! Thank you to to the Activate and Destiny Events teams, and to Addy too, for a really well organized event.
Ryan was a writer for EDM TOR. His love affair with EDM blossomed during many trips to the local record shop growing up. He had to order releases from their catalogue since they wouldn't stock what they called "shitty computer music". Trance is his favourite electronic genre, but he loves all EDM from dark Techno to liquid Drum 'n Bass. Ryan is also a DJ and he moved to Toronto to be with his wife Jenn.
