VELD 2026: Built to Endure

By Ryan Hayes

For its thirteenth outing, VELD is throwing its weight around as an established mainstream cornerstone of the Canadian EDM festival circuit. With 50 acts, this year’s lineup is engineered to satisfy as many fandoms as possible. The headliners are all proven, the genre coverage is wide, and the event is clearly focused on instant artist recognition and scale. There’s no boutique play here, no attempt to break new ground—but in an age of rising costs and festival insecurity, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

VELD 2026 aims to deliver a reliable, massive weekend resting on the shoulders of dance music titans and reinforced by accessible bass. And honestly, that’s a valid mission statement in a market that increasingly craves communal escapism.

This year’s curation leans heavily on high energy acts, with a somewhat unexpected reliance on trance. Whether pure and classic (Armin & Above & Beyond), trance-inspired progressive (Artbat, KX5, Miss Monique), or refracted through a techno lens (Charlotte de Witte and Sara Landry), trance is one of VELD 2026’s defining through-lines. It’s less about genre purity and more about emotional resonance. VELD’s programming prioritizes spectacle, emotional peaks, and big-room, all-in moments.

Beyond traditional mainstage euphoria, there’s a clear secondary focus on the rising mainstream power of bass. Subtronics, Slander, Illenium, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Crankdat, Levity, Ray Volpe, and others bring chaotic torrents of peak-time energy designed to keep massive crowds fully engaged.

House music is represented but downplayed—offering just enough star power to ensnare house heads and convince them the lineup is worth their time. Here, big names like Fisher, Disco Lines, and Mau P carry the genre. There’s also a smattering of more EDM-leaning acts set to deliver a flavor of digestible mainstream, house-adjacent sets: Galantis, Frank Walker, & Lost Frequencies.

Although the lineup is light on them, if you’re hungry for the unknown—underground-adjacent artists you can claim as your personal 2026 discoveries—make sure to catch ¥ØU$UK€ ¥€, Panteros666, and Effin. While the three share little sonically, these are your “avoid autopilot” choices: the sets most likely to feel like discovery rather than consumption. Two additional standouts—less underground and more under-commercialized—are Lilly Palmer and Genesi. You’ll likely recognize a few of their productions; at the very least, their styles will be familiar, and they’re both primed to deliver.

Ultimately, VELD 2026 knows exactly what it is—and executes that vision with confidence. It’s a festival built on familiarity and emotional long-term fan payoff, designed to deliver a massive weekend for a broad audience rather than challenge it. Guaranteed escapism.

This year, VELD doesn’t redefine anything—but that isn’t the mission statement of every festival, nor should it be. What this lineup does accomplish is firmly securing the festival’s place as one of Canada’s most dependable—and consistently attractive—pillars within a dwindling festival landscape.

Pressure & Play: Open Radius Finds Its Balance

By Ryan Hayes

Year three of Blueprint’s Foundation Series festival Open Radius feels like the payoff of a carefully paced long game. In year one, FISHER and Purple Disco Machine anchored the weekend with an accessible, feel-good house. Year two pushed further outward with John Summit delivering a less mainstream focused set and Sara Landry nudging the crowd deeper into house’s harder sub-genres. Now, in year three, Charlotte de Witte and Peggy Gou are a confident step forward, a natural progression.

Blueprint didn’t push too hard, didn’t rush its audience towards the deep end; they’ve slowly and intentionally built a house-literate fanbase. Open Radius v14.0 headliners mirror the confidence of the FVDED’s lineup: poignant, timely, and unmistakably earned.

Charlotte de Witte’s sound is built on driving pressure and precision release—her sets are hypnotic, trance-infected modern techno designed for total live immersion. Tracks like “The Age of Love (Charlotte de Witte & Enrico Sangiuliano Remix)” and “Doppler” are standouts: long-form tension, rolling momentum, and pinpoint accurate release that hits hardest when shared in a sea of bodies. Locked into a synchronise pulse Charlotte’s journey promises to be dark, driving, and consuming.

Peggy Gou sits on the other side of the spectrum, radiating warmth, groove, and playfulness. Tracks like “Starry Night” and “(It Goes Like) Nanana” capture her broad appeal: infectious melodies and bouncing basslines that project a sense of joy. Peggy turns dancefloors into a communal celebration rather than drop riddled spectacle.

Together, they set a perfect emotional balance for the weekend, and we’d expect the remainder of the artists to follow suit. Both Charlotte and Peggy have spent years refining their craft—touring relentlessly, building labels, shaping their respective scenes, and earning their prestige and authority the hard way. Here credibility is key. And in a scene overwhelmingly dominated by male headliners, an all-female top billing matters—a reflection of where dance music should continue to head. Talent first and foremost.

With 22 artists across two days, Open Radius isn’t about excess. It feeds off direction and focus. Charlotte de Witte and Peggy Gou provide exactly that—and they are more than enough reason to trust this year's festival will be worth your time.

For tickets, click here.

Full Escapade lineup including Tiesto, Alan Walker, Crankdat, Hi-Lo, Illenium, Fisher, Slander + More!

Escapade, one of the top tier festivals in Canada, will take place in Ottawa from June 26th to the 28th, 2026. This year’s lineup is packed with a variety of top headliners like Tiesto, Illenium, Fisher, while trance fans will be pleased with Cosmic Gate, bass fans with Crankdat, and more.

There’s a lot to be chew at with this lineup as it exhibits a depth of talent rarely seen in other festivals as of late which will make you want to get there as the gates open as you don’t want to miss what’s coming up next.

From old but still relevant names like Nicky Romero to new upcoming talent like Knock2, Escapade will have something for everyone. Escapade is always a fan favourite and the 2026 edition is expected to delight fans with such a robust lineup.

For ticket details, click here.

Chris Lake Ascends: Chemistry Tour Marks the Moment

By Ryan Hayes

The Forum was hot—sticky—teeming with diehard house heads on different levels of musical voyage. A communal affair, orchestrated by an expert curator guiding the crowd through his singular vision. For better or worse, there’s no turning back for Chris Lake. The Chemistry Tour marks his full ascension into the spotlight. After two decades of operating with underground instincts, the veteran producer has arrived at his biggest moment yet—full headliner status. 2025 delivered not only his sophomore album Chemistry, but also a relentless run of heater collaborations and remixes—each one sharpened by Lake’s unmistakable production style.

Friday’s sold-out show was a tour de force—a reflection of Lake’s legendary 2025 run. The crowd arrived early and stayed locked in for the entire set. This tour finally delivered the Chris Lake show I’d always hoped for—fourth time’s the charm. He worked through over half of Chemistry, anchoring the night with originals and remixes.

“ A return to form, where EDM exists as shared escapism—experienced in unity, not filtered through a lens.”

— Ryan Hayes

The night began with Jackie Hollander on support duties. At the tail end of her first full year of touring, her set was a moody, vibes-driven affair that perfectly set the tone for Lake’s more energetic two-hour sprint. As Hollander closed out with “LSD,” Lake took the stage and kicked things off with a pitch-perfect intro edit of “On & On,” before dropping straight into the bombastic “La Noche,” locking in the room’s full attention from the jump.

As crowds continue to skew older, so do the remixes—and they were unapologetically millennial-coded: “Kids,” “Show Me Love,” “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” and “Galvanize.” What stood out just as much was the lack of phones. Whether that’s specific to Chris Lake’s audience (I noticed the same at Duke Dumont) or part of a broader shift is hard to say, but the effect was undeniable—maybe a hundred screens in a sea of four thousand people. In an era obsessed with documenting everything, it felt like a quiet correction. A return to form, where EDM exists as shared escapism—experienced in unity, not filtered through a lens.

Pinprick moments littered the night. The first flash of lasers saved for Lake’s remix of Ray Volpe’s “Laserbeam” sent a jolt through the room. “Savana” turning the pocket around me feral. Experiencing the perfection of “In the Yuma” live. And “one2three”—in all its buttery groovy glory—hypnotizing everyone into the same rhythm. What made the night hit harder was the crowd’s fluency. Every twist was met with recognition, whether it was Anti Up cuts, Sammy Virji collaborations, or Black Book staples. That shared understanding created a collective moment. As dance music has recalibrated in the post-pandemic era, nights like Friday prove the result isn’t dilution, but devotion: a sharper, more invested fanbase that shows up to be present, informed, and fully in it together.

The Chemistry Tour is Chris Lake’s moment. It proves his ascent isn’t fueled by hype, but by decades of discipline, vision, and trust in his own sensibilities. Everyone at the Forum witnessed Lake step into full headliner status in real time. There is no going back—Chris Lake is a dance music icon.

Duke Dumont Brings Union to Life

By Ryan Hayes

Duke Dumont’s sophomore album Union was written as a cohesive listening experience, capturing the beauty found in live events—an emotional imprint every music lover has felt. On Friday night, Union’s ethos was seamlessly translated into Duke’s live show. Duke’s production style has always hit especially hard in a live setting—sonically euphoric, washing over you in torrents of serotonin—and the Union additions only amplified the resonance of his set.

It was a night of deep, rhythmic progressive house guided by a piano backbone. Hypnotic and rolling, his set omitted (mostly) the bombastic, formulaic nature of the current flavor of commercial house. It’s the inescapable groove he infuses into his productions that mesmerizes fans, setting Duke apart from the herd.

Although it sounds obtuse to say when the event was held at the Forum and not a tiny club…there is a distinct element of “underground” surrounding Duke as an artist. His no-frills persona gives the music room to breathe and attracts an audience less focused on capturing everything on their phone. He’s never going to have the highest-grossing house tour of all time, but those who get it love him. His set was a masterfully curated love letter to his house sensibilities and the fans who hold his catalogue in reverence.

A moment of collectivism swept through the Forum as Duke transitioned into “The Chant.” Originally released in 2023 on For Club Play Only Pt. 8, the track is a standout on Union—steeped in unifying high energy, celebratory synths, and paired Friday night with black-and-white gothic church visuals and lasers that created peak raver escapism.

His set was bookended with blocks of original productions. He opened with two of his more commercial offerings, “Need U (100%)” and “Won’t Look Back.” The last 35+ minutes were pure peak energy: back-to-back originals including a slew from Union, finishing with the one-two punch of “I Got U” and his timeless masterpiece “Ocean Drive.”

The night was a vibes-based affair delivered in a tight package. The hour-and-a-half runtime stifled some of the creative freedom his three-hour Malkin Bowl sermon allowed. A slow build that ebbed and flowed was exchanged for higher production value and a much steeper tempo on-ramp.

Regardless of the format, Duke Dumont doesn’t disappoint. His set was cohesive, held together by the artistic vision behind Union. Rumor has it another album is on the way in 2026…whenever he’s back in town, I’ll be there.