"VERSAILLES ELECTRO", Part Two

A week has passed since the first part of my Versailles adventures was posted here, so it’s high time I put up Part Two here. I should actually backtrack a bit in time here, because of course getting ready for an adventure like this doesn’t take place overnight. The story begins back in March, when Busy P first put out the announcement that there was going to be a big electronic music party at the Chateau. The dance music world pretty much gasped at the idea, even though the music has been played in some truly world-famous sites. Pioneer Paul Oakenfold has, over the last couple of years, played both at Mount Everest and Stonehenge, joined at the latter event by fellow icon Carl Cox. And this July, Disneyland Paris is hosting their third Electroland party with no less than Armin Van Buuren, Steve Aoki and Fedde Le Grand. (Question: why do I get the feeling that Disneyland in Anaheim would never, ever go for something like that?)

However, a big party at a location like Versailles is something altogether different. First of all, there’s the fact that Busy P was able to snag the place at all, and this is no small thing. It’s difficult to imagine what sort of place would be the equivalent in America…maybe the Statue Of Liberty, or Mount Rushmore? It’s when you look at it in that context that you start to realize the difficulties that lay ahead for Busy P when he was in the early planning stages of this gig. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Palace at Versailles is not only a national treasure for France, but a world treasure that enjoys UNESCO site status. To agree to a party of this sort in the gardens of the Palace was going to require a big leap of faith on the French government’s part. Perhaps they saw the successes of Electroland I & II and decided it would be wise to emulate the Disney party? Or perhaps it was the fact that the party would be featuring all French DJs from Busy P’s own Ed Banger label, and celebrating one of the great contributions to worldwide electronic music culture: French Touch?

Busy P posing with fans

Whatever the reasons were, they were obviously enough to win approval for the party. And once Ed Banger made their initial announcement, I immediately felt compelled to be there. It’s funny, because I normally really don’t become all that excited about electronic music events in other countries. Maybe it’s a product of living through the original 90s LA rave scene, when all the best talent in the world was coming through Southern California on a regular basis. If you lived in LA during that period, you really didn’t need to go elsewhere most of the time for quality dance music; it was being served up weekly right in your backyard. As a result, we Angelenos became very spoiled musically, and quickly. And since I ended up becoming friends with all of the major rave promoters and event producers, getting access to the best of these events became very easy. It’s that ease of access that reduces the urge to look for events in other places.

But, Versailles struck a chord in me, and it wasn’t hard for me to figure out why. As I mentioned in the last blog entry, this music came from deep in the American warehouse underground decades ago. Besides becoming a big target for suspicious law enforcement and media, the American rave scene never received the support from major record labels and media corporations that most other forms of popular music enjoyed. The success of the rave scene was very much a D-I-Y accomplishment by those in the rave scene itself: the promoters, producers, artists, media and fans.

Also, when I started my professional photo career nearly twenty-five years ago, it was also in the LA clubbing underground. Like many in the scene, I started from quite literally nothing, learning my craft as I went along. It was very much an extended case of trial and error, for both myself and American rave culture. Back in the day, we all certainly dreamed of the day when our music and scene would be accepted by mainstream pop culture. In spite of all the difficulties—the busts, the negative press, and even the tragic deaths along the way—we still believed in what we were doing. The ultra-high quality of the music (particularly when compared to the anemic quality of the music found in most mainstream LA clubs) made it just about impossible for us not to have faith that eventually we would find our place at the greater table. And eventually, success did come in the form of EDM-dominated stadium festivals in the 2000s, when our old favorites like Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra Music Festival grew into international touring sensations that brought the descendants of American rave culture around the world. So, there was already a sense that the original rave generation had triumphed, after all.

The Ed Banger crew, with Busy P in the center.

However, “Versailles Electro” was different, mainly due to one enormous factor—the main reason why everyone was there, the Chateau itself. When strolling through the grounds prior to the doors opening, I was hit by that wave of recognition that I knew would come…in fact, had known for weeks that it would come. This is the palace of Louis XIV, after all, and when you stand amongst the enormous, completely over the top opulence and grandioseness of the Chateau, you realize the real power of “shock and awe”. This is a place where one feels very small, which of course was entirely the point, as far as Louis was concerned, anyway. The sheer dominance of the building is inspiring all by itself, the yellow stones catching the early evening dusk lighting perfectly. As the sun slowly sets (past 9:30 PM in this instance!), the changing colors of the sky and clouds contrast beautifully with the warm amber glow of the Chateau’s magnificently ornate walls. This is architecture on the truly epic scale.

(I must here take a moment to thank my old friends and colleagues at Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Hollywood. I had worked at Freestyle in several capacities over a period of nearly ten years, and it was they who so generously loaned me a fantastic compact travel tripod to take to Versailles. I knew that I was going to need a decent, small tripod to properly capture the lighting effects on the Chateau’s walls, and kudos to Freestyle for trusting me with their gear overseas!)

The fact that this music, which had for years been relegated to underground and outlaw status by law enforcement and the media, was now being played in the most ornate homes of European royalty, is nothing short of incredible. In a very real way, it hits one harder than a festival inside a stadium, and it’s not just because no stadium in the world could possibly look like this place. The impact comes from the greater realization: this is it, this is our moment, the one we’ve waited for, over all these years. This isn't our place...it's their place. They've put our music in their biggest, grandest place. We’ve finally arrived.

Vindication. Yes, commercial success in stadium festivals is a form of vindication as well, but this was something entirely different. Something more significant than attendance records, or the number of streams. It was the elevated feeling one gets in their chest when they’re flying high within a very special moment—the moment where one can bathe in the sweet, glorious light of victory. Knowing that the long years in the pop culture wilderness weren’t for nothing. Being able to step forward proudly and declare that you are a raver.

Of course, it helps immensely when the music is of such high quality as Ed Banger’s is. It is the epitome of French Touch, the most favored of local electronic sounds in Paris. For those of you who don’t know what French Touch is, it’s definitely a product of late 1970s, Giorgio Moroder-era disco sounds. Music that’s much more organic, warm, and outright analog than the majority of today’s electronic music. If you can imagine what that music would have been like had it not been killed off in the 80s by MTV, hip-hop and Quincy Jones, then you can picture French Touch. It’s the kind of music that truly does reach across generations, as was evidenced by the wide range of attendees at Versailles Electro, from tweens up through fifty-somethings.

Many of those attendees were sporting period 18th century era aristocratic costume, the kind that could be commonly found in the court of Marie Antoinette, perhaps the most dually famous/infamous resident of Versailles. For these folks, powdered wigs, masquerade masks and topcoats were the order of the evening. And although ravers have always been noted for their partying fashion, this definitely fell well outside their normal circle. But, with all of the champagne and beer flowing this night, nobody was complaining all that much. Indeed, if there was any complaint to be had about the party, it was the lack of enough bars and food vendors on-site: the lines for the few that were there were so long, they were impeding people’s progress from one area of the event to another. Obviously, with a location like this one, one naturally plans on the side of caution, but more services would have been a prudent move in this particular case.

It can’t be overstated how crucial it was that the music fit in well at the Chateau. Each party location is different, and because of that, quite often the choice of music in that location is of primary importance. This was particularly the case here, because let’s face it: there are certain types of music that just wouldn’t jell with Versailles. (Top choices: black metal, vomitstep and Billy Ray Cyrus) It was French Touch’s friendly, groovalicious vibe that created just the right partying ambiance this night. Groovy, funky, without going over the top, and not being tied to EDM’s reliance on keeping the audience hooked for the next drop.

It of course helps that Ed Banger’s DJs are the best at delivering French Touch; but then again, they’ve been throwing these parties all over the world for years now, so they’ve had plenty of practice. Over the last year alone, they’ve played gigs all over Europe, plus Singapore, Thailand and London. It’s safe to say, though, that this party at Versailles was definitely a big peak for Ed Banger and Busy P, as he remembers: “In 2018 I managed to bring DJs in our presidential palace L’Élysée. It was for « La Fête de la Musique », the very time Electronic music entered such a classy venue. A year later we are bringing Ed Banger sound in Louis XIV’s Gardens! I’m Parisian, I’d love to do something in the Eiffel Tower.”

That’s a great thought, but at the moment, everyone’s eyes were irresistibly drawn to the light show being projected onto the walls of the Chateau. How well it worked, when combined with the sounds emanating from the DJ booth set up on the edge of the terraces! (Contrary to some of the pre-party press, the event did not take place in the historic Hall Of Mirrors. Trying to fit several thousand dance music fans in there would have been a disaster waiting to happen.) Watching the Chateau be lit up in such a grand fashion was a thrilling experience unto itself. It’s pretty safe to say that it has never been illuminated quite like this before. It takes the celebrating of electronic music into an entirely new area, and hopefully paves the way future events in other rarefied locations previously closed to rave culture.

Back in the DJ booth, Busy P took over for the last set of the evening, wrapping up at midnight. As he looked out across the crowd jam-packed into the grounds directly in front, the beaming expression of satisfaction on his face was clear for all to see. To reward the enthusiastic audience for their support, P launched into some uber-retro material from the 70s, directly referencing French Touch’s disco roots. He did this in a long series of songs, capping off the night with none other than “A Fifth Of Beethoven” from the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack. (This certainly was not the first time this symphonic piece has been played in Versailles!) And as he shouted out his thanks to the happy throng, while fireworks shot up above the gardens, P savored the moment of a huge mission being accomplished, and the happy relief that comes with a huge weight being lifted from one’s shoulders.

So what does it all mean? I asked myself while on board the XL Airways flight back home to the States. (TRAVEL TIP: when flying a budget airline, pay the few extra bucks for the seats in the front with legroom. When you’re stuck in an aluminum tube for eleven hours, it’s totally worth it.) Well, it means a lot of things. It means that I’ve been doing this rave photojournalism thing for about half of my life. It means that the music and culture truly has made its way around the world, and now in every level of social stratification. It means that we do in fact have something positive to offer, contrary to the view long held by law enforcement and the mainstream media.

Most of all, though, it means that we were right all along, and now the rest of the pop culture world is finally beginning to acknowledge it. And for me, that made this trip worth every penny spent.