Toronto Electronic Festival VELD Was One of the Highlights of the Summer

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One of Canada's biggest electronic music festivals returned this year with an all-star lineup.

VELD Music Festival took over Downsview Park in Toronto from August 1-3 with some of the biggest artists of the genre. Huge crowds danced in unison for the big-stage theatrics of acts like John Summit, Alesso, deadmau5, Tiësto and Dom Dolla — all some of the most sought-after live acts of the electronic dance music genre. Breathtaking light and visual shows accompanied the crowd-moving sounds.

The Bass Stage brought a heavier, low-end pulsing sound to the festival. There were 33% more screens and 33% more subwoofers added to that stage, and it had its first female headliner in REZZ.

The Sirkus stage, too, brought 30% more screens and a brand new innovative structure. Both of these stages brought more people than ever, with acts like Odd Mob, Green Velvet b2b Layton Giordani and Excision drawing huge crowds often rivalling the Main Stage.

Billboard Canada was onsite at this year's festival and caught up backstage with some of the standout acts of VELD.

Loud Luxury joined Billboard Backstage to talk about what's on their rider, their dream festival headliners and the life-sized cutout of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback they never hit the road without.

John Summit went from playing at 5 pm on a side stage just a few years ago at the festival to closing out VELD as a headliner this year. The star producer rocked a Toronto Blue Jays jersey in his set, and he was still wearing it as he signed our camera.

Dom Dolla left his mark, too, before a high-energy set that left the crowd dancing well past sundown.

ALLEYCVT brought both melodies and heavy, wonky sounds to her set. Then, the Virginia producer came by to chat with Billboard Backstage about her dream festival headliners and her biggest musical inspirations, including one unlikely Canadian icon.

Fresh off putting out his new album Project Canvas, Toronto's Paper Skies told us about one item he always brings to a festival like VELD and the artists he caught there that he would love to make music with.

Throughout the festival, there was more Canadian talent than ever in VELD's 12-year history, which speaks to the strength of the country's electronic scene.