An uplifting performance from Idris Elba with Kevin Saunderson and a reliable banger from Richie Hawtin capped a Movement festival day marked by one of the most significant weather delays in the event’s history.
Rain showers have been a part of Hart Plaza’s techno tradition since the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in the early 2000s. But Sunday’s three-and-a-half-hour interruption — which began with an evacuation of attendees around 6:45 p.m. amid storms and strong winds – was a real headache.
By the time things picked up after 10 p.m., Hart Plaza was nothing more than a big soggy dance floor. Fans who had retreated to their downtown hotel rooms or nearby nightclubs were nonetheless ready for the occasion, relentlessly crowding into long lines along Jefferson Avenue to return for a musical programming frantically reorganized by the organizers.
The movement’s producers won approval from city officials to extend Sunday’s broadcast to 12:30 a.m., a half-hour after the midnight curfew that has long been strictly enforced – as fans who saw the take can attest getting unplugged on Wu-Tang. Clan in 2015.
Elba, the award-winning English actor (“Luther,” “The Wire”) who has been DJing since his teens, teamed up with longtime friend and Detroit techno icon Saunderson for a dynamic set on the Pyramid scene.
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Elba is a certified house music leader with an affinity for the birthplace of techno, as evidenced in his 2012 documentary “How Clubbing Changed the World,” which traces the origins of the Motor City genre. He and Saunderson teamed up on the decks for a set of world-flavored techno-house, a lush presentation with rave-era touches that launched with their 2020 collaboration, “We All Move Together.”
There was a sense of place and respect in Elba’s execution, against the backdrop of the Detroit River and the Windsor skyline. Dancing and enthusiastic, he kept things pure: one of the most famous actors of his generation was content to be shrouded in obscurity.
Meanwhile, on Movement’s main stage, Windsor-raised Hawtin unveiled his latest conceptual performance, “DEX EFX X0X,” an updated version of his adventurous work from the late ’90s.
Hawtin, known for his ambitious festival shows, described the new project as “more of a club than a concert,” and it certainly played out Sunday in downtown Detroit, where he created a subtly complex sonic tapestry whose tight lighting and immersive audio left an enveloping feeling. .
Hawtin is the most prolific headliner in Movement history, and Sunday’s tough (and hard-working) set was typically impeccable, precise and technically impressive.
He will resume the “DEX EFX XOX” program at the Sónar festival in Barcelona on June 14.
Movement will wrap up its third and final day on Monday with another jam-packed music lineup, including nightly performances from British veterans Goldie and Fatboy Slim. Fortunately, the forecast calls for dry skies after the morning showers.
Contact Detroit Free Press music editor Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
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