No music attendee can deny it, curating your own show or festival would be a dream come true. Putting together your favorite electronic names and supporting your favorite lesser known talents is arguably a goal for any music fan, whether its truly obtainable for that person or not. For Belmont, Maine resident and DJ Rick Kidson (aka Psydways) however, this dream became a reality. For the last 13 years, Kidson has been throwing his own underground festival featuring names like Frankie Bones all the way to Boston based trio Hot Pink Delorean (also known as Terravita) and more all in his own 17 acre backyard.
Photo of BelTek Festival 2012
Kidson first began throwing his inaugural festival, entitled BelTek Festival, after becoming involved in the illegal rave scene back in the early 2000s and becoming fed up with events getting shut down. Starting the fest in 2003 while working for a local Maine radio station, BelTek has become a famed East Coast underground event featured on Kidson’s own land. Tragedy struck however this year, as Kidson explains in a Thump article simply entitled “I Threw A Music Festival in My Backyard and Burned My House Down”. Going into full details about the night, the festival creator describes it as any other day at the fest when tragedy hit. About halfway into his set on Saturday, August 6th, Kidson recounts his friend Gus sprinting down the hill baring ill news and screaming to “turn everything off.” Informing him of his New England style home and barn being on fire and retelling the story of a near four hour long battle between local firefighters and a raging fire, Kidson’s home ultimately ended in full destruction, with over 75% burning down and the remainder left heavily smoke and water damaged.
While no injuries were reported from the event and Kidson had security on hand at the fest, this still goes to show that accidents can happen. Holding a festival in your backyard may seem like the dream, but if you plan to follow in BelTek Festival’s footsteps you might want to at least fireproof your house before the show. You can read the full article here about the entire incident, and help support Kidson by donating for rebuilding his new home via his GoFundMe here. We wish the best to Kidson and his family in the wake of this unfortunate event, and also praise him for all the love he’s shown to underground family these last 13 years.
via Thump | Featured image by Michael C. Pressey
This article was first published on Your EDM.
Source: Renegade Festival Ends In Tragedy With House Fire
