40,000 expected to flood downtown Detroit for Movement festival

DETROIT (WJBK) - Tens of thousands of music fans are making the pilgrimage to downtown Detroit during Memorial Day Weekend for Movement Electronic Music Festival.

"Our festival we curate and book to stay a little more true to the founding principles of the music," said Sam Forias.

Fotias is with Paxahau, who producers the festival, and she says this year is the 20th anniversary. They're expecting crowds upwards of 40,000 each day.

"If you're looking for an out-of-the box experience, we encourage you to come down here," she said.

We are obviously Motown, which Fotias says casts a shadow on the rich culture of electronic music in the D. After all -- this is where the genre was born in the late 1970s.

This year's headliner is hip hop band Wu-Tang Clan, hitting the stage Monday night.

"This festival has always had a hip-hop element to it because of where we are at and hip-hop's influence on those early days of electronic music," Fotias said.

But up until then the list of performers is endless. It's not just the music that's hot - temperatures likely to hit 90 degrees during the festival. Organizers are putting extra precautions in place.

"We have stepped up our medical teams on site. We have all of our staff alerted to make sure to keep an eye on people for anybody that's looking like they're drowsy, dehydrated," Fotias said.

The biggest thing is going to make sure people are staying hydrated - as you can see from the video dancing is a must at Movement.

"We pass out free water at end of the night. We have free water available at the dance safe booth at the medical booths and we are going to be putting messages on the big screens to tell people get in the shade if you feel tired or hot," she said.

The nice thing about Movement is once you buy a ticket you can come and go you're not locked down on the festival grounds if need to get to shade or air conditioning.