Just the season for a Giant Village return

Confetti is what you want falling on your head on New Year’s Eve, but Dave Dean found himself standing under torrents of rain and, later, controversy when the 2005 Giant Village downtown concert festival, which he organized, became a soggy, surly mess that sent fans and artists home early. Dean made a resolution that night to keep the Giant Village franchise going, however, and this week is the first step toward keeping that promise.

Tickets are expected to be on sale today at www.giantvillage.com for Giant Village: Summer in the City on July 22, which takes the 6-year-old downtown event to a new season in hopes of curing any nasty hangover remaining from New Year’s Eve. “We’re hoping for a better climate, literally and figuratively,” Dean said Sunday.

Last time, the show had pop and rock acts such as the Black Eyed Peas, the Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie, but this go-around the event is pulsing exclusively on the electronic dance genre with a bill including Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Deep Dish, Christopher Lawrence, Jason Bentley and a DJ set by the Crystal Method. Dean said future editions will push past the beats-per-minute genres, but “at this point, the priority is setting up an event and having an event.”

The long-term plan is for Giant Village to use the summer for its familiar street-scene arrangement (with three stages spread out on a T-shape of downtown streets; Wilshire between Flower and Grand, Hope between 6th and 7th) and stage an indoor event on New Year’s Eve.

The emphasis there is on indoor. Last Dec. 31, afternoon rainstorms and the ominous warnings of local emergency officials prompted Dena and company to pull the plug on the show. But the rain relented as the night wore on, and fans (some of whom had paid $150 for tickets, rented limos and skipped other holiday invitations) were predictably peeved. Dean said Sunday that refunds were eventually made to all who sought them and, for any stragglers, the tickets from that night can be turned in for cash refunds or tickets to the next two editions of Giant Village. The topic of the December disappointment is one he would rather not dwell on. “All we can do,” he said, “is look forward.”

Dean has a vote of confidence from Oakenfold, who is a hero of the highest order in the dance world. Oakenfold said Friday that he believes fans should not judge the potential of the July party by the Village’s stormy December. “I’ve played for Dave Dean many times and he puts on a really good production. He’s an important guy in what he’s done for the local scene. It’s a good lineup, a lot of local boys. I’m really looking forward to it.”

-- Geoff Boucher