Skeptics (including me) figured FVDED in the Park might be done in Surrey after a year-long "pause" in 2023, but the festival is back at Holland Park for two days of dance music starting Friday, July 5.
Judging by ticket sales, this could be the biggest FVDED yet.
"Friday is sold-out, you can't get a ticket, and we expect everything to be sold-out within a week," said Alvaro Prol, chief planner of the festival.
"We'll have close to 48,000 people here over the two days, around 24,000 a day," he added. "That's an incredible number and a big success for all of us. We have gotten to that before, and we're getting back to the glory of those 2018, 2019 years. But this year I expect it to be the biggest and best in every other sense."
In Vancouver Prol runs Blueprint Events, known for presenting electronic, R&B and hip-hop club nights, concerts and festivals. For FVDED, the company partners with Live Nation Entertainment to stage one of Western Canada’s biggest musical festivals.
Featured this year are Swedish House Mafia, Kx5 (the collaboration of Canadian DJ Deadmau5 and American producer Kaskade), Diplo, Chris Lake, John Summit, Dom Dolla and dozens of other mostly electronic music artists.
"We have some incredible artists and it's a little more focused," Prol said Wednesday (June 26) as crews worked to set up the festival site.
"People wanted us to book more dance music and not mix it up as much, and that's what we did," he continued. "That being said, you know, we listen to the community and it doesn't mean that maybe in years to come we might dabble again with more R&B and rap and stuff, like we have in the past. It's what people wanted from us, and surveys kind of drove our decisions, and also the popularity of the music right now."
Starting in 2015, tens of thousands of ticketholders have flocked to FVDED, a name borrowed from one of Blueprint's club nights in Vancouver, save for 2023 and also the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
Last year, some music festivals in B.C. were cancelled or postponed due to rising production costs in the concert industry.
"We had some speedbumps, you know, but this year it's a big return here for us, so I feel like we're coming back to normal," said Prol, also busy planning the Badlands music festival in Calgary this week.
FVDED is a rare ticketed festival at Holland Park.
"There was Mumford & Sons years ago (in 2013), and I was here for that," Prol recalled. "I think it was a big moment for Surrey and a big eye-opener for us to bring our event here, an inspiration.… We had done FVDED in the Park once at Malkin Bowl (in Stanley Park), sold it out, then we moved up to the PNE (amphitheatre), then we came here. So that was the kind of the little jumps that we did to get here and find a home, then it all clicked."
New at FVDED is a Forest Stage ("where you can get weird and wonky in the woods," the festival website promises), just west of the Northwest tent/stage and south of the big Pacific Stage, where headliners perform.
Prol said he appreciates Holland Park for its trees and gardens.
"I love gardens; my mom used to be a landscaper in Argentina when I grew up, so I do all my landscaping at home," he said. "I love most of it, this place, and it's great working with the City of Surrey, you know, because they want to have events," Prol added. "We work in a lot of different places and cities, and I love how (people) can move around the space, I love the SkyTrain being here, the accessibility. The way we can activate the park is intimate but yet big, and there's not too many pitfalls.
"The only thing that I would love to see is going later (into the evening with music), but that's just not a reality. That's the only pitfall. Living up in the north here, it's a lot of brightness. Being able to have more darkness for the festival is the only thing that I would like to have more of. We know there are people living here and it's just the rules for any outdoor event. It is what it is."
The festival is open from 2 to 11 p.m. daily. Food and beverages (including alcohol) are available for purchase. The FAQ page on fvdedinthepark.com notes the festival is a 16+ event; VIP areas are 19+ only and require two pieces of ID.
"I think the new Forest Stage is going to be the big story for this year, and just an overall cleaned-up site," Prol said.
"People have been working on this for so many years to get back to where we were at. I'm so stoked for everybody behind the scenes and the City of Surrey to have this because it's an important event for Canada. In our world it's an important event globally, and artists and agents and managers see it that way, so it's good to have it back in our city. To have Swedish House Mafia play here, and Deadmau5 and Kaskade, back to back, it's pretty cool. It's a big success for all of us."
