Watch Frankie Knuckles’s Wavefront set with Jamie Principle from BE-AT.TV
Saturday's Legends tent at Wavefront Music Festival in Chicago was a unique tribute to those who made Chicago house what it is, from start to finish. Ralphi Rosario, DIZ, Gene Farris, and Derrick Carter back-to-back Mark Farina all delivered beyond expectation, but it was Frankie Knuckles set at the end of the evening (including a thirty minute live performance from the first superstar Chicago house vocalist Jamie Principle) that defined the whole festival for some.
Designed with the dance floor in mind: the story of Chicago house
The eighties were both a tumultuous and exciting time in the history of music, and the tale to be told about the birth and evolution of electronic music is far from a predictable one. New York had disco, Detroit had techno, and Chicago had house. The growth of all three branches of this dance music tree are important, but at its core house music emerged from the Windy City as the umbrella genre's most universal derivative. As thousands prepare to make their way to Chicago's Montrose Beach this weekend for the second annual Wavefront Music Festival, complete with a Chicago Heritage Stage, let us pull back the curtain once again and explore the places from which this music came.