For over a decade, Contact Music Festival has been celebrated as Canada’s largest indoor winter music festival and an iconic event in Vancouver’s EDM scene. Hosted by Blueprint Events, Contact became synonymous with holiday celebrations, drawing tens of thousands of fans to BC Place Stadium each December. Known for its high-energy, two-stage setup, the festival featured top-tier headliners like Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond, The Chainsmokers, Skrillex, Marshmello, and Tiësto, marking it as a staple of Canadian EDM culture and cementing Vancouver’s place on the global dance music map.
However, the festival’s trajectory took a sharp turn in recent years. Facing venue rental increases, artist booking increases, escalating production costs, and shifting audience demands, Blueprint chose to downsize Contact in 2023. After its well-received final year at BC Place in 2022, the festival moved to the smaller Vancouver Convention Centre. This transition marked a significant change, reducing the event to a single stage and bringing in fewer artists. The dramatic cut to the number of performers left many fans questioning the festival’s value for the price, and longing for the immersive multi-artist stage hopping experience Contact had once offered.
Contact 2018 at BC Place
The 2023 edition at the Convention Centre was met with general disappointment. Fans voiced concerns over poor sound quality and lackluster production value—factors that sharply contrasted with the high-energy production at previous BC Place events and even events at other regional venues like Pacific Coliseum. Many attendees found the one-stage setup underwhelming for a festival once celebrated as an EDM powerhouse, and the downsizing was seen as a departure from the festival’s once-iconic experience.
Contact 2023 at Vancouver Convention Centre
Unfortunately, the 2024 edition of Contact Music Festival faced yet another round of mixed reviews, leaving fans with uncertainty about its future. While Blueprint Events deserves credit for keeping the festival alive during challenging times, many attendees feel the event has yet to regain the magic that once defined it. The one-stage setup, reduced artist lineup, and repeated use of the Vancouver Convention Centre have left long-time fans longing for the immersive, large-scale experience that BC Place delivered.
Despite this, a glimmer of hope remains for Contact’s revival. Some fans continue to hold out hope that the festival will one day return to BC Place, recapturing its iconic status and restoring Vancouver’s premier EDM winter festival. Others, however, are skeptical, questioning whether Contact can ever meet the high expectations set by its storied past.
In the meantime, Blueprint’s other flagship events highlight what Contact could achieve. FVDED In the Park recently celebrated a sold-out year with its first-ever all-EDM lineup, showing that demand for electronic music in the region remains strong. Similarly, Blueprint’s Foundation Series has built a recent reputation as a successful all-house EDM festival, with its latest edition, Foundation v.12 featuring Mochakk, held in the very same Vancouver Convention Centre where Contact is now held. However, hosting Contact in the same venue as other smaller festivals diminishes the sense of grandeur and uniqueness that BC Place once brought to the event, leaving fans yearning for the magic and scale of its original home.
Shambhala Music Festival, another music festival in British Columbia, stands in stark contrast to Contact’s struggles. As an independently run festival, Shambhala has managed to sell out almost immediately year after year. Its unwavering loyal fanbase, high-quality production, and community-focus have allowed it to weather industry changes and economic challenges, proving that there is still a strong demand for EDM events in the province. The success of Shambhala and the demand for EDM festivals like FVDED and Foundation further raise questions about why Blueprint hasn’t taken the leap to restore Contact to its former large-scale glory at BC Place, instead opting for a more cautious approach at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
The future of Contact Music Festival lies in Blueprint’s hands. Will they rise to the challenge and bring back the grandeur and scale that once made Contact a cornerstone of Canadian EDM culture? Or will the festival fade into memory as an event that couldn’t adapt to the evolving landscape? For now, fans can only wait—and hope.