The document discusses the Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014 event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a three-day electronic dance music festival featuring performances from artists like Deadmau5, Martin Garrix, and Armin Van Buuren. On the third day, the event was cancelled due to a death that occurred on the festival grounds. This caused disappointment among attendees who were looking forward to the final day of performances and afterparties. The document also discusses the rise of electronic dance music and how the genre has evolved from more lyrical songs to instrumental, bass-heavy tracks meant for festivals and concerts. It questions whether today's popular electronic music will remain relevant in the future.

1. ASOT: A SIGN OF TOMORROW
Will Today’s music be relevant tomorrow?
If you’ve heard of ASOT (A State Of Trance) then you ought to know EDM (Electro Dance
Music). Over decades, we’ve heard music going fromlyrical to ‘lyric-less’. Going from“I
will always love you” to full on bass “wub wub wub.”
Rave wave to Asia
Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014, known as the biggest music festival in South
East Asia, garnered about 20,000 people fromall walks of life and many regions of the
world. A highly successful event that started of in Australia in 2006 was brought to
Malaysia in 2012.
Newly established eventsmanagement, Livescape, has brought about many quality
events and international level concertsto Malaysia. Alliancing with Future
Entertainment, the franchised event managed to bring renowned artists, bands and DJs
such as Rita Ora, The Wombats and Armin Van Buuren to Kuala Lumpur.
Director of Future Entertainment Brett Robinson mentioned, “If it doesn’tfeel like an
Asian festival, then we’redoing it wrong.” Consideringfuture music enthusiasts from
other parts of the world, Future Entertainment conveyed the Future Music Festival to
Malaysia.
Craving Raving
Livescape released a promotional video on their YouTube channel on October 29last
year. The promo showcased artists that were making appearances at the FMFA 2014.
Closer to the event date, the Livescape website publicized the lineup for the three-day
event.
588 Ringgit Malaysia (RM) was all it cost for a VIP ticket. The VIP ticket enableda ticket
holder through an express entry. The ticket alsoenabled entry to 2 VIP marquee
lounges, first classtoilets, bottleservicesand live streaming of all stages.
Purchasing a ticket to FMFA2014was as easy as purchasing a movie ticket at a local
movie theatre. All one needed to do was to log on to the Livescape website, key in your
credit card number and receive an email with a confirmation.
Initially the event was supposed be held at Mines Wonderland but was moved to Bukit
Jalil Stadiumdue to the overwhelming response. With multiple platforms, the eventwas
able to stage more than one performance at any one time.
Just like most rave concert events, seats were not required in front of stages. People
only required an admission to enjoy the EDM event. Marquee lounges, however, had air-
conditions, seats and even bars for the benefitof those who wanted to purchase
alcoholic drinks.
The event too had food and drink stalls, photo booths, game stalls as well as stalls
selling FMFA apparels. Thoughthe prices fetched up to high prices, the goodswere still
of demand because it was either limited edition or somewhere else would have been
too far for a place to get whatever they wanted.
In support with the event, Zalora were sellingFMFA2014 apparels on their website and
allowed buyers to receive the purchased itemearlier so that they could wear it at the
event itself. The apparelsincluded scarfs, sleevelesstops for both males and females,
caps and tote bags.

2. Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat
FMFA2014 was a three-day event that tookplace on 13 to 15 March. EDM enthusiasts
from all over world who attended the fiesta had almost nothing to worry about but
which stage they wanted to stand before.
Day One saw the promised lineup: Deadmau5, Will Sparks and AdventureClub. DJ
R3hab brought adrenaline to a whole new level when he invited the young and famous
Martin Garrix to play alongside with.
Martin Garrix pumped up many ravers to fist bump their hands in the air and jump to
one of his more famous mixes ‘Animals.’ His appearance was a significantone as he
was supposed to performhis own sets on the last day of the event.
ASOT650MY (A Stateof Trance 650 Malaysia)
As the event took place barely a week after the MH370 went missing, a tribute was paid
keeping in mind the tragedy. Armin Van Buuren paid respect too as he flashed
#PRAYFORMH370 duringone of his set at the ASOT650MY.
German Grammy award-winning EDM DJ, Paul Van Dyk, also made an appearance on
Day 2 of FMFA2014. Other DJsincludeMoldovan Andrew Rayel and German DJ Markus
Schulz.

3. Raving with other EDM music enthusiastslifted the euphoriain the atmosphere.
Everyone was in it for the party. Bottles of distilled water were seen being passed
amongst the crowd.
Not Laneway
Hipster event Laneway Festival known amongst the Mod or Indie culture is known to be
a concert of Independent bands. Stereotypically, Laneway Festival goers are known to
be sitting on grass patches as they probably sway while appreciating their favourite
indie band on stage.
Unfortunately, some FMFA goers might have turned the tablesaround. Deciding that it
was ethically acceptable to sit down at a rave concert, just likeat a Laneway Festival
concert. It made maneuvering around much more difficult than it already was.
“Anything that can go wrongwill go wrong.”
Every concertgoer’s nightmare is for his or her long awaited concertto be cancelled.
Event officials went through with the cancellation after being told off by the Malaysian
Authorities.
According to the FMFA official statement released on 15 March, it was confirmed that
there was a death that occurred on the festival grounds. They decided that it was a
better idea to call the third day quits. It was taken in to the advantage of preventing any
more casualties and using the day to carry out thorough investigations.
DJ Martin Garrix tweeted,“KL I have no idea what the f*** is goingon at the festival,
show might be cancelled. So sorry! Will keep you posted.”
Unfortunate ravers who arrived early at the stadiumwere not allowed to enter the
barriers. Others knew about it through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram.
The cancellation brought about fury amongst ravers who showed up at the gates of the
event before the event was even supposed to start. Some started throwingteen
tantrums and threw bottles at the riot police.
We came, we raved, we loved
Most concertgoers tend to suffer fromPost Concertdepression, even more with having
the last day event day cancelled. One week after the concert, you might even find
yourself still talkingabout the concert and how awesome it was.
The FMF Team released a statement on their official website to informticketholdersof
the refund and its policies. Thus far, the teamis efficient in informing ticketholders
about their refund.

4. It’s a wrap
Concert events such as the inaugural FMFA are events that needlessto say bring people
together despite our family backgrounds, cultures and religions. The main idea is to
rave, meet new people and simply have fun.
In today’s culture, when most think about EDM, they think about lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, meth or other drugs that keep you in a trance. Especially
under the influence of such drugs, listeningto EDM might be the best thing ever.
With the increase interest in EDM, less people thesedays are listeningto music with
lyrics. It’s all about loud bass, raving, fist pumping and more disc jockey action. We’ve
experienced the paradigmshift towardsmusic. We went fromBackstreets Boys to EDM
mixes. It’s now so rare to hear our 60s music playing on the radio. Question, will today’s
music be relevant tomorrow?