With one of the most industrious and most remarkable events within our scene, Q-Dance marks the end of the outdoor festival season. One more time Q-Dance gathers all their passion and knowledge to deliver one hell of a festival. Q-Base – the name implies only the roughest music, a monstrous festival ground, a crazy sound and thousands of people gather at one big, old airfield. It almost feels like a tradition to visit Q-Base, as the 14h rave through the night, its grand line up and great stages are always impressive to look at. Last year we were not 100% convinced, that Q-Base did an insane job as the last big outdoor festival. Thankfully Q-Dance proved us wrong this year – this year’s Q-Base has been simply awesome!

The Festival Ground and stages at Q-Base

When talking about Q-Base, I think most of us know the festival ground. An old airfield near Weeze, Germany. The variety of stages were either outdoor, like the big main stage, inside a bunker like the Hangar or in a huge tent, like the Warehouse or smaller tents like the WE R stage.

The design of all stages was just awesome. Q-Dance did a really good job here. Compared to last year, especially the mainstage was outstanding. Nearly every single stage had some kind of airplane elements in it. The big mainstage for example, was a mix of steeled wings to the left and right, and some kind of old plane engine in the midriff. Really impressive in our opinion. The wings kind of remind us at Skarmory!

The Hangar offered six elements hanging from the ceiling, packed with lights and Stroboscopes. The Warehouse, was a little out of the box? Or actually a box? Well, more like a big cube, hanging behind the DJ booth. But also the smaller stages like the WE R area, the Theracords bunker, the Tijdmachine area and also the other small areas were cool designed and I think whole Q-Base looked way better than last year. Q-Dance nailed it with the design, combining scrap and “destroyed”, angry looking elements with modern elements.

Sound-wise Q-Base was definitely a highlight of the year. A banging sound in all areas, but still clear and highly enjoyable. Just think of Qapital or Supremacy if you want to know how the sound was like!

The Mainstage at Q-Base

The mainstage offered a solid line up, with two actual specials. From Adrenalize and Cyber who played in the beginning, to Da Tweekaz, Atmozfears and Coone, to Frequencerz at midnight and later on to Brennan Heart, Psyko Punkz, B-Front and Angerfist. The two more special acts were Public Enemies and Wild Motherfuckers, since the first one had its premiere and Wild Motherfuckers are not seen that often.

The mainstage was packed since the very first minutes. The mood of the people was great and also the music. Adrenalize played a wonderful and fresh opening set, followed by Caber who played a mix of his own tracks, older hardstyle classics and some goooooood reverse bass!

Frequencerz played a really good 1.5h set. Although we are not the biggest fan of such a long set time, but Frequencerz managed to use this time and delivered a Q-Base worth set. Packed with their album tracks and well-known rougher tracks, or their latest remix of Torture by Crypsis, the time passed by really fast!

B-Front is really one of those artists you can visit every damn time! The quality of his music, of his mixing, of his sets, the energy he has – he’s outstanding and special within the hard dance scene. It was still dark, the lights were gleaming through the place, but the glimpse of the first sunbeams raised behind the mainstage, giving Q-Base’s mainstage a very own flair.

The Hangar at Q-Base

We all know the Hangar – what comes to your mind when you just think of it? Real die hards, only the roughest sounds, heavy kicks, a devastating sound and an atmosphere so unique. The Hangar actually offered some really cool and special names.

Tartaros made the beginning, followed by Phuture Noize and High Voltage’s live album showcase. The first time he premiered his whole album? We don’t know yet, but we can tell you, we can’t wait to get our hands on it! After High Voltage we had Artifact, Bass Chaserz, Ran-D & Crypsis, E-Force, Deetox, Adaro and B-Freqz live. To end the night as hard as possible no one else than Rebelion, Warface Live, Unresolved & Mind Dimension and last but not least Delete & Main Concern & Vazard – pure spoontech power!

High Voltage’s album showcase was interesting. Why interesting? He played live and yes, you could hear it. He mixed very fast and a little like Warface live, but in between he had really long breaks. Just like Thorax’s tracks, for example, his music has a fucking awesome atmosphere. Especially the darker sounds and tracks were a highlight, as the whole hangar was covered in red lights and some kind of “hell-track” was unleashed upon the people. We can not wait to hear the first previews!

Most surprisingly was definitely E-Force, as he played an insane set. The ending was just crazy, he really went wild as fuck. With N-Crypta’s Exorcism, Seven, Chainsaw by Insidiouz and even Xtermination by Malice & Rooler, which was definitely really appreciated by the crowd!

It was 4am and Rebelion was finally introduced to the crowd. We stood a little more in the front and we could see how nervous they were. But after they dropped the first tracks they starting to feel really comfortable and wrecked the place. Yes, their new tracks from their upcoming album Uprising work very well on such a great sound system, as we had in the Hangar at Q-Base. The kicks were shattering through the place and … and … well, that was pretty much all you could hear. As said, the tracks worked great, with every harder kick the crowd went a little more wild.

We were very curious about the next act. As you all know and as we always say, his live act belongs to the best we have in the scene. We couldn’t wait for Warface Live: Heavy Attelary! What can we say, he still belongs to the best acts, no, he is one of the best acts you can witness. His new mask is now shiny black, if you ask us, his old one looks slightly better, but that’s a matter of taste.

Mixing-wise, he is still a master. I don’t know how many tracks he played exactly, but it was just huge. There were even less breaks than with his older live act. The tracks were even more mashed up and combined in a more complex way. Additionally, you heard some edits and effects. He mixed through old Warface tracks like Total War or The Revival, but also newer ones from his Nine Circles album and not even released ones like Wage War or his collab with Rebelion Live for This.

Compared to his older live act, there is definitely a difference and damn, we can’t wait to see him again!

The Tijdmachine at Q-Base

Let’s celebrate the classics. At the moment we feel like these classics are getting more appreciated again. Tijdmachine growing bigger and bigger and at this year’s Q-Base they hosted the classic area. We couldn’t resist checking out the special act, which wasn’t announced. We were more than happy, when no one else than Wildstylez claimed the stage. Damn, 30 minutes pure nostalgia, pure feelings and 30 minutes non-stop happiness. Thanks Wildstylez, we loved every second. His specific sound back in the days, his well known classics and of course some Project One tracks made everyone in the place dance.

WE R hosting at Q-Base

No time to take a look around, as we rushed to the WE R tent. The last tracks of the WE R back in time showcase were blasting through the speakers, as MC Villain announced the next act – Sound Rush. Again a very lovely set. The tent was not packed that much, but the people who were there, including us, had the fun of their life. Great set, awesome vibes and goosebumps during Sound Rush’s Lifetime. Also, we would love to see more UK Hardcore edits of well known euphoric tracks!

The Theracords Bunker at Q-Base

Starting with Degos and Re-Done around midnight we checked the Theracords Bunker. Nearly every Theracords artist was involved. Packed with some specials in between, like the announcement of their newest member Invector, Thera Live and a classic set by Thera and Geck-O. Lots of different types of music, combined in one bunker.

Degos and Re-Done played a surprisingly sick set! Sadly, we couldn’t listen to the whole set, but we are glad we visited some minutes. The tempo and drive was very good, the atmosphere really cool, as you just had dedicated Theracords fans.

After this we had Psyched, the first time we visited one of his sets. All we can say is, it was next to E-Force and Warface Live our highlight of Q-Base 2016! The set was more than crazy, as he started with Thorax, back to the classics, to classic hardcore and techno tunes, to newer rawstyle releases and even melodic tracks like his own Encomium and finally to his upcoming track The Final Goodbye. His mixing skills are more than awesome, and he’s enjoying his set more than everyone else, going really crazy behind the decks! An absolute must see, if you can ever catch one of his sets.

The last track of Psyched was the perfect introduction for Thera Live! Thera mixed through his latest releases from his album The New Era, but also played new tracks like Hyperspace. Everyone who loves his style shouldn’t have missed it. Great set! And still impressive how he mixes live with just one hand!

The Show

The show, especially in the bigger areas like The Hangar, The Warehouse and of course the mainstage was just awesome! This year’s edition of Q-Base was seriously off the hook! The firework and anthem show at midnight during Frequencerz’s Die Hards was amazing and better than expected. Think of the fucking insane fireworks of Defqon.1 2016, packed into around 8 minutes during the anthem and Frequencerz’s track Shotgun. It was just crazy and awesome to watch. Q-Dance showed the crowd why they are the boss in the scene. Nothing but respect for the guys who worked on it!

With Q-Base Q-Dance ended the festival season with a massive bang in our opinion. Everyone who did not visit Q-Base 2016 definitely missed one hell of a party! A thrilling, 14 hours ride through all kinds of hard dance music. We couldn’t check all areas, especially not the hardcore and faster ones, since we were just one reporter, but we can say: Q-Base 2016 fucking rocked!!

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