The weekend of the year!

Friday

After a 3-hour trip, we arrived at the entrance of the festival. Right on time, at half past two, we were waiting until the campsite opened his doors. The first rain drops fell, which unfortunately were followed by many this weekend. No, it certainly was not a sun-drenched weekend, but nothing can stop the most dedicated music crowd!

After an hour of waiting in line we set foot on the ground of Defqon.1. After setting up our tents at Campsite Field 2, exploring the campsite, I did a nice acquisition at the merchandise (Defqon Green Bomber). After that I was waiting for the Gathering.

The Friday started off with the Defqon Flugel Warm-Up Express. We followed the car with MC Democian and Dj Zero Sanity and after a half an hour we switched to enjoy the rougher parade with Dj Desnar and MC I See! The Camping totally rocked and people were thrilled to enjoy the party at the Blue and Black stage! At a quarter to eight we took a trip, while partying, with the party parade of the last Flugel car to the festival grounds.  A big dragon on the roof of it brought us to “The Gatharing”.

At 20:00 we arrived at the blue stage for the official opening of the weekend! The anthem, No Guts, No Glory! – Created by Ran-D rang through the speakers. After unveiling a beautiful stage Max Enforcer began his set. It was quite crowded in the tent of the Blue stage and the sound was not that hard. We therefore chose to leave soon and visit the Black where Darkraver, Ruthless and The Viper opened the Hardcore stage.

The decor of this stage was a samurai dressed in a black outfit. From front to back hung a large number of samurai swords. Also a nice decor, but not too spectacular. However, this stage was equipped with a nice spectrum of lights. Jointly, these three great DJ’s, played a great opening set with awesome tracks like; 98 Cociane Bass and we want some P#ssy.

After Darkraver, Ruthless and The Viper it was time for Endymion and Nosferatu *Millenium Set*. They played some great tracks like; Gladiator by Endymion. After 30 minutes we were exploring the area around the Blue-stage and Black-stage, and it was time for a delicious Desperados. So, there was “The Big Chill” where you could socialize with all your friends in a hammock. Because the weather was still rainy, we decided to go back to the Black-stage. It was time for Korsakoff!

Korsakoff played a great set, starting with some cheerful Freestyle tracks, it quickly became rougher. So, there were tracks played like: Chain Reaction – The Record Breaking (hardcore remix) and Crossfiyah – Rage! At the end of the set she fired some briskly tracks like Neophyte & The Viper – Coming Home, where the audience was quite loose and sang along topped by the violence of the bass.

After visiting the Black we left pointing for the Blue-stage. I wanted to attend Mash-Up Jack but he let me back a little disappointed. At the end of his set B-Front passed by on stage. Together they closed the set with the track: Big Fat Bass Record (X-Qlusive track by Zazafront & Sjaak of Sound).

Mash-up Jack leaving the stage, time for B-Front! Still one of my heroes when it comes to RAW. The king of the mix between euphoric melodies and RAW kick rolls. B-front, always good bumping along on his own kick rolls, played tracks such as: Witch and Mysterias. Two fantastic tracks. It was a brilliant set, and for me the best of the evening. The skies became dark, there was more to come, and it was raining even more outside. There was literally a storm coming!

The Friday Night at Blue-stage was closed by Gunz-for-Hire. They were one of the reasons I bought a weekend ticket. Apparently, I was not the only one with that idea. The Blue-stage flooded with people, some fleeing from the rain. It was not really possible to move around through the crowd, to go along with the music. All you could do was: JUMP! It was a nice set with some new tracks. The thirty-minute set did contain some familiar tracks such as: There is a storm coming, Sorrow and Kings of the Underground. Sadly, Bolivia was omitted!

Still had a great Friday night at “The Gathering”. Quite smooth, we arrived at our tents, which were fortunately not washed away. Let’s sleep before the Saturday arrives, where quit some musical violence was waiting for us.

Saturday – Main Festival day

We started our incredible journey at the main stage and I was so excited to see it. Thankfully I did not get spoiled before. We passed the Blue and Black area, followed the signs and reached the main stage after a 10 minute walk from the campsite entrance. It was an amazing feeling, when I first saw it. It gave me Goosebumps all over and I already recognized the euphoric, catchy and crazy sounds of Da Tweekaz, which had their premier at the big red one!

It was cloudy but it did not rain so we moved our asses into the middle, to have a perfect view on the stage and groove to the beats of this highly energetic duo! Their set was really nice and brought us into party mood!

We left 10 minutes early to catch Endymion at the Blue right on time. With their monthly Nightbreed podcast, they already caught our attention and their new tracks are definitely a hell of a ride.
The blue was already packed and it was a nice performance by Endymion. You can really hear the hardcore influences in their tracks, mixed with rawstyle and euphoric elements it was highly enjoyable!

With tracks like ’30 Seconds To Mars – The Kill (Endymion remix)’ or their remix of Outta My Way the literally killed it – the strong baselines, high screeches combined with nice melodies and a nice hard ending, their set was, somehow, refreshing, closing the boundaries between hardstyle and hardcore.

I was really looking forward to the next act – A2 Records Unstoppable! E-Force, Digital Punk, Alpha2 and X-Pander claimed the stage and played one big phat track after another. Their set was a great mix of their four different styles, but still with an immense focus on hard kicks and heavy screeches. They unleashed a firestorm upon the crowd and before you even had the chance to count to seven they created hell on earth with a spectral vision for the harder styles! I can’t wait to see them performing again together!

We continued, by walking to the Indigo stage with the Polish Raw Showcase! The tiny tent was vibrating from the heavy kicks of Regain, Chaotic Spirit and Termal. The crowd went insane, the atmosphere was just unbelievable and we enjoyed every second of the last 30 minutes of their set.
Next up Project Exile & Riiho, which was definitely one of my personal favourites at this year’s Defqon.1 !

Riiho was nervous as hell on stage, but he delivered a great performance together with Project Exile. I have to admit, I just know a few tracks of him, but the performance made me curious, so I checked out his music and I really like it. It was an insane set, packed with just the best rawstyle and again the atmosphere was amazing! I also spotted Digital Mindz in the crowd and he smiled all over when Riiho played their track ‘Destroy’ – what a massive song!

Time to check out the big red again, so we went over, after a quick stop at a food booth, to discover the sound of Frontliner! Yes, he’s still the melody man for me, playing one big euphoric hit after another! With ‘Loud’, together with John Harris, he created my personal summer track of 2015! The feeling was amazing standing in front of the huge main stage, dancing together with SO MANY PEOPLE, it was a feeling I’ll never forget! A huge thanks to Frontliner for his awesome set, which made me feel so happy. I really can’t wait for #TSOF2.

Atmozfears was about to start his set and I think this was the most hated decision people at Defqon.1 had to make – Minus Militia at the main stage or Freakz At Night with their last performance ever at the Blue! We thought about it for nearly half an hour, while Atmozfears was playing a good set as always. We decided neither to go to Minus Militia or Freakz At Night – We saw Minus Militia at the Intents main stage, which was already amazing and we already saw E-Force and Deetox would follow on Sunday – we moved our asses to the Indigo again for some heavy Payne!

A beast on stage, nothing more to add here. A slamming set by Jason Payne, rawstyle pitched at 155-160 BPM, perfectly mixed and mashed up. If you did not checked out a Jason Payne, you really missed something!

After Jason Payne we decided to have a short break, we took a seat at the Big Chill and prepared for Radical Redemption Live, who was playing right after Titan. The Blue stage was packed. I guess everyone just waited for his appearance. Although we also discovered Radical Redemption live at Intents festival, he never disappoints with his live sets – diverse, fast and close to hardcore, he smashed one big phat baseline after another. ‘Suicide Baseline’ , ‘Brutal 5.0’, ‘The Spell Of Sin’ , no matter which track, we went crazy to all of them until the end.

Yes I’m a huge Warface fan boy, judge me, I think his album was nearly perfect and I love every of his performances. As a DJ and producer he evolved into one of my all-time favourites and I was so looking forward to his set.
And he again he did not disappoint – ‘Warzone’ with Luna and ‘The Baddest’ with Delete are just two massive tracks with a kick so hard, I don’t know how to handle them! Playing rawstyle above 160 BPM is just an amazing feeling. So much energy in the tracks, so you can’t stand still, kick rolls all over and only, yes, only the best and finest rawstyle – that’s why I love it!

Defqon.1 prepare for the Saturday end show! Thousands of people left the tents, the stages for a last ride to the amazing and magical end show on Saturday. Ran-D finished his set with the hard edit of ‘Kings of the Underground’, while we were still searching for a nice place to stand. There were so many people, raising their camera, smartphone, holding the hand of their girlfriends and just waiting for these 25 minutes, Defqon.1 is all about!

Starting with Endymion’s remix of ‘Sparta’ they choose the perfect and most fitting track ever. Combined with the amazing firework, light show, lasers, confetti, fire and C02 it was breath taking and thousand times better than I ever expected and saw it in all the Defqon.1 after movies and videos!

Followed by the official Anthem of this year’s Defqon.1 the crowd went wild as well as the whole show. Q-Dance did it again and I was so happy to be a part of it.

Furthermore the end show was the premiere of Noisecontrollers and Bass Modulators latest track – Solar, which is the official Summer Anthem of this year I think. With trumpet and saxophone similar sounds in the beginning, which gives you chills as its best, the track evolves into the summer hymn we all waited for. I can’t really describe my feelings during that moment, I was overwhelmed, happy, pumped with joy that I almost started crying! And there were a lot of other people who felt the same way.

And again an Endymion track was pumping through the speakers. With ‘Gladiator’ they choose another heavy track for the endshow. Everything was perfectly fitting together.
After three minutes going crazy, the music changed into some mystique and atmospherically sounds, followed by a new masterpiece by Brennan Heart aka Blademasterz – ‘Still Here’. He’s back and the track was the perfect ending and made the end show complete.
It ended with a big bang!

‘This was a Q-Dance event, have safe trip home and see you next year! WAUW WAUW!’

But it wasn’t over yet!

For those you were still pumped with adrenaline went to the Blue area for the Saturday after party! Starting with Bass Modulators which played a cool set, filled with his latest tracks like ‘Oxygen’ but also some classics it was really enjoyable. I never discovered a live set of Wasted Penguinz, so I was pretty curious about their live performance. And it was .. okay. They played some edits of their tracks but I did not recognized big differences to their normal sets.

We stood until the half of Deepack’s set, which played a 15 years anniversary set with all their classics and even the Qlimax anthem of 2003! I guess it was a nice party until the end, but we were definitely too tired to stay awake!

Sunday – A worth ending

We started our Sunday with the sound of Rebourne, who is really an underrated producer! His set was right in the beginning and the stage was about to get crowded, but anyway, I really liked his set. His smooth, euphoric tracks will lift you up – it was the perfect start for the last day of Defqon.1!

I could move on telling you guys, how we spend our weekend, but I would like to skip this part, by just telling you we spent most of the time at the Blue and Indigo stage.
Although, worth to mention was Hard Attakk, which had their premiere at Defqon.1, the very first live performance for them and what .. the .. hell!! It was crazy! The whole show, the music above 158 BPM, their outfit, the atmosphere and their performance made the blue stage go insane. It was really my favourite performance on Sunday!

So, let’s go on with the legendary and mystical Closing Ceremony of this amazing weekend – gather all your friends and move your ass to the main stage!

First act – Defqon.1 Legends, no one else than Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez and Isaac claimed the stage to bring us an extraordinary set, packed with just the best hardstyle, the Defqon.1 anthems from the past years, old-school tracks and newer tracks. It was literally a time travel, to hear some old classics and people really, really loved it! I secretly wished for a Headhunterz appearance, since he is responsible for one of the best anthems ever made and the hymn of Defqon.1 – Scrap Attack, but nope.

But no time to worry about that, let’s move on with Bass Modulators, striking again, with an uplifting and highly appreciated set. Last but not least, Adaro who played a good set, but I was somehow a bit disappointing, since his closing set at Intents was way better! But luckily he’s back on stage.

What is left to say? Q-Dance finished the Defqon.1 weekend Festival with ‘We Are The Champions’ which was somehow strange in the very first moment, but if you look back a worth ending for Defqon.1, showing that it’s more than just Boom, Boom, Boom! It was an incredible moment, with all the people, standing and singing together, all the joy and sometimes a tear – the ultimate Defqon.1 feeling!

Besides music, Defqon.1 is known for his spectacular stages and show, so let’s take a look at it!

The show and stages

Defqon.1 offered 12 different stages with different styles across the genre! Is was really thrilled for this year’s topic, since I didn’t like last year’s.

The scrapped and dilapidated design of the festival and its facilities around the festival ground, the campsite and of course the stages made you feel like you entered a whole new world.
No Guts, No Glory, what do I have to expect from the main stage – I really had no idea, but when I first saw it, it completely made sense to me.
A huge gladiator helmet in the middle, with its typical red comb, covering a huge, like really huge, LED screen.

Above it, the obligatory Defqon.1 sign. Two towers, next to the helmet, were packed with lights, lasers and the typical gladiator shields. On the sights they placed huge arms, nearly embracing the crowd. I really liked the design, it fitted the topic so well, but I missed the majestic, magnificent part of the stage. I don’t think it was much smaller than the ones from the last editions, but it felt this way.

I did not get blown away by it and it looked not that massive as I expected, although I was really impressed at the same time. Sadly this feeling accompanied me through the whole festival. All stages were impressive but not outstanding like I expected. The Blue stage had 3 huge LED screens, a round one in the middle, above the DJ booth, the two others were placed on the sights. The lasers and lights were placed right around the screens and I felt like I’m back at Qlimax 2011 or 2012.

The Black stage was more interesting, since they showed a huge Asian samurai fighter. Above the crowd the placed swords, covering the constructions, which was a really nice idea and remind me of the Emporium stage!

The other stages were just smaller ones, I really liked the brown one, although I think last year was better. The Yellow stage was across the river and a small, open area.

But let’s take a look at the U.V stage, which was now an open air stage, but I really don’t know what the designers thought of this stage. I’m not lying, when I say it was the ugliest stage I’ve ever seen so far. It looked like a 7 years old kid designed the stage. It had nothing to do with the topic and was totally out of place, compared to the other stages. Why the hell did they messed up the Jelly Fish with this Hot Wheels similar.. thing?! Please Q-Dance never do that again – this was not the quality we know from you.

But enough said about the stages, the show was incredibly good! Who ever said the end show and closing ceremony sucked, should watch it again on YouTube! Less fireworks randomly, but more diverse instead and better matched to the music was the key to this year’s successful end shows! They were just amazing! And it was not enough to just let the lasers, lights, fireworks, fire and C02 do their job, but they also moved two cranes, which were placed behind the stage, packed with fire, fireworks, lights and more to show who the boss in the business is!

All in all the stages were less beautiful than last year I think, which does not say, they weren’t impressive, but I missed the finishing touch! The show was outstanding a one to remember, setting the bar high for next year’s edition and other events, such as Decibel.

Defqon.1 was an ultimate experience you have to be part of it, at least once in your life! Although, Defqon.1 is, sadly, extremely expensive, especially the food is highly overpriced. But anyway, It’s more than just music – the design of the complete festival ground, the different styles of electronic music, the diverse facilities, I mean, if you wanted to have a new tattoo, it was no problem!

A huge chill area, which we really appreciated, the Q-Dance cafe, the incredibly good Live-Stream and most important – the people! I saw so many people from around the globe and it was a pleasure to dance with them. Thank you Q-Dance for this awesome festival, we can’t wait for next year’s edition!