Page 31 - Zone Magazine Issue 012

Regular readers to Zone will notice that every year I write a column about Amsterdam Dance Event, where thousands of industry moguls and club goers venture to the Dutch capital to promote their music and enjoy the many events on offer. This year I did things a little differently to the rest (but the same as last year), deciding to forgo all meetings and went on a mission sampling some of the awesome festivals, events and line ups on offer to report back to you all, armed with a few friends from Plymouth and my girlfriend for company!
Kicking off proceedings on the Friday night, we ventured to see Christian Hornbostel, from Kling Klong Records (who had a weekly residency at Bora Bora in Ibiza in September), play at the Tara Bar. He was there playing for the Zap brand and played a set of tribal progressive techno music that really hit the spot, dropping new remixes he had made amidst tracks on Capital Heaven and other imprints.
Next up, we ventured to the a label party by label of the moment Suara, this was in North Amsterdam at a venue called 'The Depot', which friends had warned of needing ear protection cause of how loud it gets but ruled it would be nothing short of 'Awesome!'. They were right, and boasting a huge line up that featured Huxley, Tube & Berger, Dosem, Ramiro Lopez, Claude VonStroke alongside label owner Coyu and a few others, chunky house and techno was the order of the day! Dosem delivered the set of the night for us, featuring cuts by Skream and some of his own material on the Suara imprint, and Huxley also delivered a roaring set that really set the mood nicely!
There was also the wicked Terminal M vs Tronic party where Christian Smith and Monika Kruse's labels teamed up to deliver a floor each of roaring techno at the Q-Factory the same night. Joining Monika was Oliver Huntemann, Stefano Noferini, Pig & Dan and ANNA, while on
the Tronic floor, Noir, Wehbba and Eric Sneo were some of the names who featured.
After getting some much needed sleep (old age kicking in vehemently), Saturday saw us catch up with Dutch legend Ritzi Lee, who was spinning a set in record store Black Gold, in the east side of Amsterdam. Smashing out techno cuts on vinyl including Ben Sims mix of his own 'Reversed Process' and Trevor Rockliffe numbers on Bush to name but a few, Ritzi proved why he is one of the best and delivered his all even in a record shop on a Saturday afternoon.
Then after catching up for a few beers at quiet harbouside bar Hannekes Boom (worth a check if ever you are in Amsterdam!), we took the ferry across to the wicked Dockyard Festival, which was one of the highlights of last year! Boasting a similar quality lineup, sets who did the damage for us included Birmingham's very own Surgeon and Oscar Mulero who went in with what I thought was one of the hardest sets I have ever heard him play. The place had sold out and with arenas that boasted music from the likes of Jonas Kopp (who did a vs set with Pfirter), Jeroen Search, Nicole Moudaber, Truss, The Advent & Industrialyzer and Dubfire, this made for one hell of a good night!
After the festival finished, a train ride to the south of Amsterdam, in a particularly dark and dingy area we had never been before called Holendrecht on the Amsterdam-Utrecht border, we ended up at the Connected Arena for Quest 4 Trance, where it was good to go to my trance roots and catch Signum and Misja Helsloot play alongside other quality dutch locals.
We arrived half way through Signum's set but had a chance to hear the big man leather out some very energetic trance that still does the damage, and it has to be said that Connected Arena was a very impressive venue, sporting a huge space but with high quality sound and decor and visuals. The place was really busy too and was great to see many friends from around Holland there as well as those back home who joined us. Local DJ Ruben Verhangen ended up the evening with a tough trance set that reminded me of being back in Plymouth,
featuring some of his own mash ups, remixes and original productions.
Rounding off the weekend was the event that had the most hype and managed to feature a load of DJs that have really impressed us over the years. The closing party of Awakenings at Gashouder. Gashouder itself needs no introduction, but to those unaware, it is a 3500 capacity old gasworks in the Sloterdijk area of Amsterdam which is a huge space where they have indoor fireworks, phenomenal lasers and crystal clear sound. Many have come back to the United Kingdom after going there and wishing they were Dutch so they could go every time there was an event on.
The lineup for the closing party featured Mike Storm, Haeken, Scuba, Oscar Mulero, Ben Sims, Marcel Dettmann, UVB and closing off the proceedings were favourites of mine last year AnD and Dax J. As you can imagine Oscar Mulero went in dark and mysterious and took no prisoners just like his set at Dockyard, and Ben Sims and Dettmann played a few choice cuts keeping the tempo nice and upbeat, with Dettmann ending on Vitalic's awesome'La Rock 01'.
UVB continued the pace nicely with some Aphex Twin numbers and his own material before AnD's live set which was brutal from the word go and really went for the jugular. However they saved the best till last in this instance as the UK's very own Dax J finished off with some of his own material amidst killer cuts from yesteryear such as Sons Of Piru - Impure Thoughts and Quartz - The Calling, before ending with his own delightful bootleg of D- Shake - Techno Trance, an absolutely belting end to such a weekend. Same time next year folks!?
Connect:
https://www.amsterdam-dance-
event.nl/live/
Words By Louk
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 31
amsterdam dance event journal