As far as founder and organiser Mike McDonald knows, Dundee Dance Event is the only one of its kind in the UK.
There have been clubbing festivals based in cities before, but no similar event fills a city’s bars and clubs with DJs for one day.
“If they knew what I went through to put this event together, that’s probably why they don’t do it,” he says. “It’s a labour of love, it’s as simple as that.
“When you’ve got 28 venues, you’re putting on 28 individual events on in one day. When you put it like that and then ask somebody if they’d like to organise all those events in one place, they’d probably say no.”
Twenty-five years ago, McDonald decided to take on the challenge himself with a far less ambitious affair, which saw 17 DJs appearing in nine venues across the city, as well as an outdoor stage on City Square.
“I first attended Amsterdam Dance Event back in 1996, so that was definitely an influential factor in starting DDE,” says McDonald.
“There they were all big-name DJs, though, and going to it was quite expensive. I wanted to do something for local guys that wouldn’t get an opportunity in the city’s bars and clubs.”
That was the last weekend of August 1998, and McDonald – a Dundonian himself, who just started DJing the year before – ran the event for two years, going on to get many DDE DJs onstage at T in the Park and a DJ career himself.
In 2011 DDE returned with 30 DJs in 10 venues, but this year it will feature 200 in 28 locations.
DJs come from far and wide to have a spin
“They come from all over Scotland, and up from England as well,” he says.
“We had guys playing last year from Iceland, we’ve had DJs from Spain and Italy that had gigs in the UK and got in touch to ask if they could play. They’re more established where they are, but they found out about the event and wanted to take part.”
He doesn’t like to name any highlights, because that feels too much like picking favourites, but there is a hint of pride in McDonald’s voice when he says Dundonian breakthrough DJ Hannah Laing will be back for her first set in the city since last year.
This year’s Mayday bank holiday weekend event begins at 2.30pm, and will again feature an outdoor stage at the University of Dundee staff car park on Park Place, “right in the heart of DDEland”.
Then there’s a late-licence closing party at Fat Sam’s, with six rooms of DJs and a share of all ticket sales going to charity – this year the Roxburghe House palliative care centre in Dundee, where McDonald’s mum used to work.
Police estimates say around 12,000 people were in the city’s venues on the day of last year’s DDE, he says. It’s a massive – if very popular – undertaking. What keeps him coming back every year for this huge task?
“My love for house music and my love of DJing,” says McDonald, “and the fact I’ve got so many friends in the industry, especially locally.
“It’s a great excuse to get everybody together on one day, and I’m lucky they want to come and play for me in Dundee. That’s the reason why it’s grown, it’s all because of them. It wouldn’t be where it is if it wasn’t for the DJs that take part.”
Dundee Dance Event takes place at various venues around Dundee on Sunday April 30, with a closing party at Fat Sam’s. For more information visit the event’s website.
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