On November 26th. it was time for the first Qlimax in real – after three years of absence. With a bold lineup and an impressive stage concept, the return of Qlimax to the GelreDome can be described as a moment for the books.
Zwiesel
The last Qlimax at the Geldredome goes back into 2019 . Therefore S ymphony of Shadows is already gone by three years now. After the last-minute cancellation last year, it was now finally time to gather again for a Qlimax in real. And the expectations were huge.
Especially since the fact that Q-dance kept the original lineup from last year, and even charged Ran-D to keep the Anthem “The Reawakening” as it still should stand as a symbol. The Reawakening of Hardstyle in reality – just one year later.
KICK OFF – ZANY
The hardstyle legend Zany was the first Artist of the night and he really looks back to a long history since he was born in 1974. And as usual, he played in front of the huge white carpet – hiding the stage. With ‘Frontliner & Max Enforcer – On the go” he opened his set and of course, more classics were supposed to come. ‘Zany – Angel of the Sun’ and ‘Davide Sonar – Natural’ brought us directly into the right Qlimax feeling. Reverze bass for gold.
THE QREATOR – STAGE REVELATION
Now it was Ran D this year’s Anthem creator. With the voice of the introduction “Welcome to Qlimax” the curtain dropped and wow. A huge LED Screen in wide scope and a huge flying ornament – reminding a bit of a huge insect.
As we are used to him, the Qreator was on a journey to spread the reverse Hardstyle from the past days. Yeah, a what a fun ride.
SOUND RUSH – DOWN MEMORY LANE
Now it’s time for the Hardstyle duo that has experienced huge progress in the last twelve months. Especially since their outdoor sessions “The Great Escape” their music had become a way new style. They kicked off their set with ‘Fly Away’ which is a collab with Ecstatic. It was directly followed by their collab with Wildstylez – ‘Glorious’. An extra note to MC Villain at this place, we felt that he was more than ever part of this hardstyle set. Every note, comment, and move was just on point.
When Sound Rush suddenly played Frontliner’s ‘Symbols’ which is the official Q-base anthem of 2012 – and Noisecontrollers ‘The Source code of Creation’ we were finally fully on memory lane.
RAN D – ANTHEM SHOW
For how long have we been waiting for this. The master himself and the Anthem Show. Charlotte Wessels appeared in front of the DJ booth surrounded by black-disguised dancers and showed the power of her voice. The entire hall was instant with her – right from the very first second. Bass and beats were pumping continuously throughout the entire hall. No question that also Le Prince accompanied his tracks. ‘Fight Fire with Fire’ and ‘Mount to be free’ were just a perfect match. This performance was just huge.
GOOD BYE THE PROPHET
A legend says goodbye. MC Villain had the right words after his set, that tonight we say goodbye to a legend. A person who has been massively shaping the world of Hardstyle as it is today. Without him – the wold of Hardstyle would definetely be smaller and less glorious. Thank you – The Prophet. We owe you a lot. And therfore the complete set was a walk down of memory lane. ‘Summer of Hardstyle’, ‘Recession’, ‘The B Side’ and the epic voice of ‘One Moment’ touched us deep in our hearts.
SURPRISE ACTS
Lets start with Devin Wild who has recently shown a huge change in diversity in musical style. Especially the Exhale EP created some high expectations. He directly lifted off with ‘ACID’ – a track with an extra portion of real acid back from the 90’s. He presented also a Qlimax edit of his ‘Hypernova’. Actually a wild journey of diversity – contrary to the next one. Vertile! The young master of heavy clear kicks started his set with ‘Together we grow’ in special kick edit. Followed by ‘No Sleep’ and ‘On My Own’ in the Supremacy kick edit. Once again – Vertile delivered a pure warfare of heavy kicks in short sequences.
RAW SOLDIERS NEXT
Now the time had come for the Raw sounds with Rebelion, Rooler, D-Sturb vs. Act of Rage. Especially the due Rebelion convinced with a well selected mixture of known tracks and kick edits. Kicking off their set with ‘City Lights’ to make the whole hall sing along and Linkin Park’s ‘Nurnb’ and ‘Rock da Party’ put the whole crowd directly into the raw mood. Mr. 50% of the Gang – Rooler was there to bring back some party tunes in. ‘Move 2 Da Beat’ and ‘Love you Baby’ dipped us into this funfare we all become used to – but it was ‘Club Banger’ who brought the atmosphere to its peak. Now the whole hall was shaking and dancing as one.
B2B ACT OF RAGE vs D-STURB
The only B2B of the night had a high number of intense kicks ready. ‘Let the games begin’ in the D-Sturb 2022 edit, made directly clear – this one is gonna be huge. And hell it was – a flexible mixing journey between styles of D-Sturb and Act of Rage. What a ride.
CLOSING DOWN WITH SEFA
Time to bring the whole stage and the lights to its limits. Now all moving heads and lasers, strobes were nearly continously firing into all directions. SEFA took it over by storm unleashing tracks like ‘Regain – Pushing to the Limit’ in his SEFA Qlimax Intro edit – followed by ‘Omega’ and ‘Nosferatu – Sancity of Space’. The whole dome felt more like a church. This might be my religion yes.!
CONCLUSION – REVIEW: QLIMAX 2022 – THE REAWAKENING
For how long have we been waiting to finally attend a Qlimax again? Too long – we have to admit, that this edition was worth it. The stage design was impressive, the ornament in the middle moving and flickering and a sound system at top notch! Also the disguised artists, their performances and a perfectly matching MC Villian. This is what we all love – welcome to Qlimax. Hope to see you back in 2023.