FESTIVALS 2014 – EVERYWHERE ELSE

Never without controversy, talk of a spin-off Detroit Electronic Music Festival (Movement's original name) to rival this year's event added yet another twist in the topsy-turvy journey of techno's most significant festival. Changing hands like a Premier League football club, Carol Marvin, Carl Craig, and Kevin Saunderson have all curated the event since it started as World Party in '94, but today Movement rests safely in the hands of Paxahau — and has been since 2005. Not afraid to reach outside of its purist techno roots, house, d&b, dubstep and now trap is getting a look in. But with UR presenting Timeline this year, Detroit's heritage will still be well-and-truly represented.

 If Vegas is the eye of the EDM storm, then EDC is its cyclone. Starting in California in 2000, it'll wreak devastation in Mexico, New York, UK and Orlando but the big one is found in the entertainment capital. Pitched in the desert, it's done up more like an alien planet filled with giant fluorescent flowers and extraterrestrial plantation than a music festival. The line-up still isn't announced, but, while we're not a fan of gambling here at DJ Mag HQ, we're willing to bet it's going to be EDMtastic. This is Vegas after all, baby! 

The theme for Burning Man this year is Caravansary, a homage to Silk Route travellers from centuries gone by. And you can see where they are coming from. More like a separate community than your typical music festival, stories will be shared by the fire, while creative crossings and creative exchanges of all sorts take place across its sprawling site that's like a scene from Mad Max. The main difference however is the pumping soundtrack, supplied by the many world-class DJs and promoters from all over the globe who travel in RVs and set up massive arty constructs in the middle of the Nevada Desert. Defined by 10 ethical values, no money changes hands at Burning Man, rather items are swapped and traded like for like, and corporate brands don't get a look in. It isn't a dance event, it's a cult. 

Free food and drink on a luxury resort on a tropical island isn't bad at the worst of times, so throw in some of the best house DJs on the planet and you have something that closer resembles paradise. Springing to life last year, Groovefest managed to coax 1000 or so holiday makers with decent iPods all the way to the Dominican Republic, where they partied and hung out in hot tubs at an all-inclusive five-star resort. And this year, it proposes to do exactly the same — and who are we to complain?