March marks the beginning of the spring season; and the return of a staple in Canadian party culture, Montreal’s legendary white party: Bal en Blanc.
Bal en Blanc is Canada’s premier dance event, where the absolute biggest names in dance music come together inside the Palais des Congrès and upwards of 15,000 guests dress in white for the longest-running dance party in Canadian history, celebrating the 19th annual edition this year. It is a special event on every raver’s calendar on the East Coast of Canada and the Northeastern USA, bringing together an incredibly eclectic mix of young and old partiers for a diverse lineup of trance, house, and techno which starts at 9pm on Easter Sunday, and doesn’t stop until noon the next day. If this is not a party you have yet experienced, don’t let it pass you by. The setup is truly unique from anything else that happens in Canada, taking advantage of three massive rooms in the expansive Palais des Congrès, with house and techno at one end, trance at the other, and a middle room filled with vendors which line the outside of the massage area, where you can rest your tired feet and even have them rubbed by a registered mas- sage therapist.
Bal en Blanc has a history of hosting a mix of artists at the top of their game, and those about to take their careers to the next level. In 2011, both Avicii and Hardwell played in the main room (before and after Tiesto); two years later they sit at #3 and #6 respectively on DJ Mag’s top 100 list. While this year’s lineup is more about headliners than up-and-comers, it will be nice to see superstars like David Guetta and Dubfire return to Bal en Blanc after playing the party multiple times during the earlier stages of their careers.
Last year’s trance room hosted Beat Service, Jochen Miller, Nadia Ali, Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, Ferry Corsten and Ben Gold. This year King Armin, Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten are back with the addition of Cosmic Gate, Emma Hewitt, W&W and Andrew Rayel. Aside from the all-white theme which always makes this event unique, the lineup this year is extra special and here are some reasons why.
Recently crowned “Best DJ in America”, Markus Schulz will be teaming up with Ferry Corsten to deliver a back to back set. These two are known to throw down in their epic tag-team DJ sessions and have been doing so for the past year at clubs around North America, this will be the first back to back edition of Schulz Vs Corsten in Canada. Bal en Blanc 19 will add another chapter of their dynamic partnership.
Iconic German trance duo Cosmic Gate will have Emma Hewitt on stage for live vocals. Cosmic Gate and Emma Hewitt have been team- ing up over the past year, resulting in some very big vocal tracks that have been making their way into trance sets all over the world. Edmonton’s Elements festival saw one of the first live performances of Cosmic Gate together with Emma Hewitt, and it was a highlight talked about for months afterward, a signature performance sure to be repeated at Bal en Blanc.
W&W have been the fastest-rising stars in the trance genre this year, and will be bringing their trance-house sound with big anthems guaranteed to have the whole room dancing. The Dutch duo have been receiving tremendous support from Armin van Buuren making them one of the biggest trance acts to break through over the past couple of years and also setting their own imprint on the Armada label with Mainstage Music. When these two drop Lift Off, the crowd is sure to fly to another level fueled by their dark melodies and driv- ing bass lines.
Two of the “supporting” artists, who are headliners in their own right, are Montreal’s own Sultan & Ned Shepard and circuit veteran Peter Rauhofer. Sultan & Ned are currently on tour with Fedde le Grand on the Road to Ultra, playing two weeks of dates across the USA leading up to their main stage performance at Ultra on the final day of the festival. We can be sure that Sultan and Ned will bring a taste of Ultra to their Bal en Blanc set, including some of their recent progressive house bombs and some records from their powerhouse label, Harem. Peter Rauhofer has played Bal en Blanc a couple times