Sat 9/2 & Sun 9/3 @ 1PM
Over the last decade rock music has taken a backseat to the EDM (electronic dance music) scene where high-profile DJs and producers traverse the globe performing to massive audiences.
Tapping into the zeitgeist with the hope of putting Northeast Ohio on the EDM map is live event production company TanZ. Last year the Cleveland-based business debuted its TanZ Summerfest event on W. 6th. Now the festival is moving locations and expanding operations into a two-day affair September 2 and 3 at the Flats East Bank and FWD Day + Nightclub.
“We’ve been doing events for a number of years kind of all over the place, but we kind of wanted to bring it home,” TanZ CEO Sam Krichevsky said. “There’s no music festival here for the city, so that was our concept to begin with. I started the company four years ago. I live in Northeast Ohio, and I have two partners — one in Los Angeles and one in South Florida. We’ve been doing events for a number of years all over the place — Detroit, Miami, Austin, Los Angeles — but we kind of wanted to bring it home. There’s no music festival here for the city, so that was our concept to begin with.”
“Last year there were a lot of challenges, but the event was amazing with 3,000 people,” he adds. “That was kind of a great start for us. This year we’re moving locations to a venue that will allow us to grow. We’re bringing in much bigger talent than last year, so really our goal is to at least double if not triple the attendance. Hopefully it’ll evolve into multi-genres over the next few years.”
Headlining September 2 is Nicky Romero with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Throttle, Steve James, Most, Derek Armstrong and Justin Nice. Then on September 3, the headliner is Zedd with performances by Tritonal, Jayceeoh, EV, London Bridge and Eric Sharp.
Regarding Zedd, known for Grammy Award-winning hit “Clarity,” as well as popular songs “Break Free” and “Stay,” Krichevsky described the German DJ-producer as the hottest DJ in the world. He was recently on the cover of Billboard Magazine.
It’s not a stretch to suggest another attraction of TanZ Summerfest is its Flats East Bank location at FWD Day + Nightclub and its adjacent parking lot and grass field. The entire area belies Cleveland’s rust belt image and instead successfully boasts more of a South Beach experience. For the festival, Krichevsky said the concert venue will offer a 60-foot stage with state-of-the art sound system, LED video wall, lights and pyrotechnics.
In some ways, TanZ Summerfest is acting as the Rock Hall City’s coming out party to the EDM crowd.
“It’s huge,” said New York City native Krichevsky, who moved to Northeast Ohio nine years ago. “It’s really getting Cleveland into the bigtime and into the national spotlight for EDM music. The fact that downtown Cleveland is close to 100 percent occupancy, and we have such an amazing boom here and everything that’s happening, I think the music festival is such a logical next step.”
Looking ahead, Krichevsky has big dreams for TanZ Summerfest to become a destination event.
“Next year we have a pretty killer lineup in mind in terms of artists we’re going to be going after,” Krichevsky said. “We can easily grow this to 10,000 to 12,000 at the current location, but without sounding too cliché our goal is really to build the next Lollapalooza, a downtown urban festival that is going to be an incredible economic driver for the region.”
Tickets are $60 for a one-day pass; $118 for a two-day pass.
Cleveland, OH 44113
Cleveland, OH 44113