Escapade Music Festival made its debut in 2010 as a one day event in the Byward Market with Deadmau5 headlining it and a few hundred attendees. In 2011, Escapade Music Festival grew in size to accommodate the growth of the festival, taking place in a large market parking space and featuring 3 Major headlining DJs, Tiesto, Laidback Luke and Calvin Harris. In 2012, Escapade grew exponentially in size and scale to accommodate an estimated 15,000 people over 2 days at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium in East Ottawa, with 40+ DJs performing over 3 stages. Headliners included: Avicii, Afrojack, Excision, Aly & Fila, Project 46, OVERWERK, Alesso, Tommy Trash, Dada Life, Marcus Schossow, Kill The Noise, Dillon Francis and Zeds Dead. After the 2012 event was complete, Nicholas Guindon-Vachon, one of the founders of the festival, absconded with approximately $600,000 in ticket sales revenue. Guindon-Vachon paid $40,000 for a private charter to fly him to Aruba, where he was tracked down by authorities. Guindon-Vachon was sentenced to 1 year probation, and must pay back former partners $300,000. In 2013, Escapade moved to the RA Centre Grounds in Central Ottawa and expanded to host an estimated 20,000+ attendees over 3 days in 2 locations. This new location allowed for bigger production. 40+ DJs performed over 2 stages at the main event, plus several more on the 3rd, Canada Day stage in the market. Headliners included: Ferry Corsten, Steve Angello, Mark Knight, Krewella, Above & Beyond, Markus Schulz, Ben Gold, 3LAU, Wolfgang Gartner, Benny Benassi, Candyland and Seven Lions. Tiesto headlined the Canada stage downtown on July 1, along with Quintino and Alvaro. In 2014, Escapade celebrated its 5th year anniversary at the Rideau Carleton Raceway in Southeast Ottawa. The festival expanded in size and attendance with 30,000+ attendees and expansion to a 4-day format. This years rendition featured 40+ DJs performing over 3 stages at the main event, plus several more on the 4th, Canada Day stage in the market. Headliners included: Main Stage: Eric Prydz, Kaskade, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Fedde Le Grand, Nervo On Day 1: "#Goldrush" stage : Andrew Rayel, Orjan Nilsen, Ben Gold, "The Deep End" stage : Lee Foss with Anabel Englund, The Martinez Brothers. On Day 2: "Tech Fusion Tent" stage : Danny Tenaglia, Nicole Moudaber, "Temple of Bass" stage : Zeds Dead, Noisia, Zomboy. Dada Life headlined the Canada stage downtown July 1, alongside Project 46 and GTA. This year hosted a 4th extra day called the "Escapade Club Series" between the Main Festival and the Canada Day event at various Downtown Ottawa Nightclubs. Artists included Borgeous, The Stafford Brothers, Victor Calderone, Alvin Risk, Figure, and Simon Patterson. The festival has been supported by such sponsors as: Hot 89.9 FM, Heineken, Jägermeister, Smirnoff, Smart Set, TD Bank, Casino Lac Leamy and Courtyard Marriott. Escapade Music Festival is a DNA Presents Production, a merger of two of Ottawa's biggest EDM event producers, Projekt Events and A-list Entertainment, which hosted the 2010 and 2011 editions of the music festival. In 2018, the festival hosted many big names including: Armin van Buuren, Zedd, Fetty Wap, Ty Dolla Sign, Alesso, Kaskade, Rezz, Carnage, Brohug, MAC, Quintino, Tchami, Robotaki, Sander Van Doorn, Joe Ghost, Ryan Shepherd, Markus Schulz, Zomboy, Mark Knight, Borgore and many others. On the 1st of February 2018, it was announced that entrepreneur and social media mogul from Montréal, Québec, Olivier Primeau, the man behind Midway Group had made a significant investment in the Bud Light Escapade Music Festival. The amount of the investment was not disclosed publicly, nor the percentage of shares acquired by Mr. Primeau’s production company Midway Group.
