HARDCORE RESURGENCE

The Hardcore sound has always had a home in the city since the earliest era of Toronto’s Rave history. Early rave crews like Hullaballoo, Goodfellaz, ATM, and others were responsible for providing the beating heart of the hardcore scene in Toronto. In the 90s, Toronto was known as the number one spot to Rave in the world for Happy Hardcore. Anabolic Frolic, the founder of Hullaballoo, was incredibly influential of the genre and Toronto’s Happy Hardcore sound. Today we are seeing the genre creep back into more club dancefloors and renegade raves in Toronto! Hardcore, Happy Hardcore, Hardstyle, Hard-Dance, and all the other subgenres of the hard dance scene flourish amongst the youth. The genres revolve heavily around a BPM (beats per minute) between 150 to a heavy-hitting 200. These genres center around rhythmic beats of 4/4 on the floor and often feature conventions such as emotional synth-heavy melodies, strong rhythmic basses, rave stabs, piano rolls, and uplifting vocals. The sound creates a unique atmosphere amongst ravers and a massive level of energy when dancing!

Goodfellaz Crew presented ‘Back In Style’ on May 14th at the Parkdale Hall, a 2000s promoter party that brought in a few hundred people. They had to upsize from their original venue because of the amount of people that bought tickets! This event had both new ravers that have been raving since the early eras of Toronto’s hardcore scene. The event featured the artists No Left Turn, Flapjack, Tyco vs Scoots vs Psyklone vs E.N.D, Frisky, Virus, Mannik, Icelevel. MC Gobstoppa, E.N.D, Dynamic & Rukkus!

The very same night, eOriginals hosted ‘Interstella’ an all-ages Happy Hardcore and Drum & Bass event that was sold out! The lineup featured Flapjack, Angelphroot, Ms. Gothicfish, ACE, Altergirl B2B Zellers, Taberman & MMXXI at a venue in the west-side of Toronto’s downtown region. On June 3rd, Acid Reign brought an experience called ‘AR:2 Bass Panic’ to the underground of Toronto. This rave featured Tyco & Scoots, DJ Presentable, Fly Boy VS DJ Dynamic, Will Flo, Spazzmonk, Psyklone VS Shenanigans, Altergirl & Elle Nocturnal.

Toronto Hardcore hosted a massive Hardcore Rave at Christie Pits Park on May 28 called ‘All These Lights’ in celebration of TyriqueOrDie's birthday. The event was the collective's first Free Rave and featured Dom Dias, Crushenhaus, & Angelphroot. Hundreds of ravers came to Christie Pits and raved safely until midnight when the party was cut short by the cops. The Rave caught the attention of Toronto’s masses when BlogTO posted an article featuring the headline “Hundreds of people showed up for a huge rave at Christie Pits Park in Toronto”. The article featured videos of Crushenhaus & Angelphroot playing Hardcore to ravers in the park which were broadcasted to thousands of people. Toronto Hardcore followed up with Neon Blue immediately after which was another Free Rave in Toronto’s underground. Bringing the sound of Hardcore and Hard-dance to the youth and new listeners is what it’s all about, and it’s apparent that’s what Toronto Hardcore is doing!

Toronto Rave

Toronto Rave

HARDCORE RESURGENCE