Defqon.1 Sunday

After a short night we were thrilled for the sunday at Defqon.1!  Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor this morning. Because of that we had to wait in our tents before we could set sail towards the festival ground. Again we did start our day at the Indigo stage! It was time for Riiho & Digital Mindz!

Sunday – The last day of Defqon.1 

Riiho & Digital Mindz

These guys are creating amazing tracks lately. Think about all the resonant tracks by Digital Mindz or Execute by Riiho. Of course these tracks were played at the Indigo stage, which was again packed to the max! I think the vibe at this stage was the best of all stages, but it was so small that you still would not prefer to stay here the whole day. There was no show, or something like that. Let’s wish for a bigger Indigo stage next year! The set of Riiho and Digital Mindz did suprise me again. They played big bangers like Beastmode, Execute and Resonant Part II, also Destroy passed by. It was a great set to start the sunday. After Riiho and Digital Mindz we did catch a few tracks by Myst. He did drop his new track The Ultimate Destination, which is a phat tune! After a few tracks we decided to pump up the volume and the BPM and hit the black stage again, ready for Evil Activities!

Evil Activities

What I really like about Evil Activities is the fact that they really look like a team. E-Life just know every song inside out, singing and rapping along all the time while Kelly van Soest, which is indeed Max Enforcer for those who still dont know, is giving his best behind the turntables. It doesn’t mather if he plays hardstyle or hardcore he always seems to enjoy it!  They did start their set with Never Fall Asleep followed by the DJ tool – Back to the old school. After that they played an ID track, which did sound really awesome, and then they did play The Prodigy – Voodoo People in the Hellsystem Remix. Well, I think you know how rough they opened there set this time!

After that they did play some epic tracks which created a stunning vibe, think about the tracks Kingdom Come by The Viper and Nosferatu and the phat classic tune EXLXAXL by DJ Jappo (Unexist his milenium alias) and Lancinhouse. After the Masters of the Great Conspiracy they did drop a few new ID tracks, which all sounded like Evil Activities tracks, because E-life was singen them alla long again! Ending their set with their latest track God Damn Noise they played a solid set! In the end we could here some crazy up-tempo sounds coming from the yellow so we decided to visit the yellow area for a few minutes!

Notorious Two

Their very first performance as Notorious Two at the legendary Blue was absolutely crazy! We really like the concept and we really liked their performance. It was a well balanced mix of melodic-anti-climax-hardstyle. That’s how we would describe it. Massive, bright leads in the main parts, the tension’s getting higher and when the beat drops in, with a hard and pounding kick, you just went crazy. Since they are pretty new and didn’t release many tracks until now, I can just tell you Going Under, California Dream and Gangsta was played. But let me tell you, there are some huge and great tracks upcoming.

The mix was really good and nice, the vibe and tempo never got lost and the really entertained me during their 30 minutes set. They even throw some money into the crowd, which gave the set kind of a unique touch. Both, The Pitcher and Lady Faith looked gorgeous behind the decks and I think the gangster image fits pretty well! We’d say this was a very nice first performance – we hope to see them on a bigger stage soon.

Repix

The timetable was telling us that Repix was playing from 14:00-15:00. Well we arrived at 15:05 and he was still playing! I must say his mixing skills were amazing! He played some Partyraiser Record tracks but also mixed Blaze it up by Unexist in a crazy Up-tempo track, which I dont know by name i’m sorry!, but it did sound awesome! I would recommend you all to visit a stage or event with DJ’s that focus on the 200+ BPM. You can really witness some crazy DJ skills during this kind of sets, so move to the front and watch carefully! Repix was suprising me but at 15:15 it was time for him to leave the decks behind. We decided to move towards the Magenta stage. From Up-tempo to Classic Hardstyle, it doesn’t matter for us, we love it all!

A-Lusion & Scope DJ

Let’s take a look at the beautiful Magenta stage, today with just the best golden classics. We were not Hardstyle Mag, if we would leave out some sets filled with awesome classics. We decided to visit A-Lusion & Scope DJ. They didn’t disappoint, what a lovely set. The sun was shining, the people were in a good mood, the place was packed and MC Da Syndrome, A-Lusion and Scope DJ brought us a really cool performance. Tracks like Rate Reducer (Headhunterz remix), Rock Hypnotik, Househeads, Veritas or Atlantis just made you smile real big, gave you Goosebumps and made you dance to these golden classics non-stop during their set!

Art of Fighters

At Saturday we could already here some crazy sounds pounding from the Gold stage. The millenium hardcore stage was on our list for the sunday, so we decided to visit Art of Fighters classic set! It was a cool set with some classic milenium hardcore. Finally I set were I don’t know all the tracks. The vibe was crazy over here, and the sun did show himself! We highly enjoyed the set, but we can’t give you many track names. They played tracks like The Tousand Faces Compilation, Artwork and A New Today. MC Da Mouth of Madness was also doing a great job behind the mic. I never witnessed this MC live, but I saw many videos passing by. I can tell you he is a great mc! After 40 minutes we did decide to catch the last tunes by Miss K8 and prepare ourselves for one of our highlights of Defqon.1, Mad Dog & Unexist!

Mad Dog & Unexist

Miss K8 closed here set with Partyraiser & Cryogenic – Middle Fingers Up!, Negative A & Counterfeit – Present Danger, F.Noize & System Overload – Gabbers in Pari zand Miss K8 – Battlefield! Holyshit, I wondered what the rest of the set did look like, cause this is a crazy ending! Mad Dog and Unexist did start their set with The Apocalypse (Unity 2015 Anthem) but after that Unexist directly took over and and played Guns Blazing and Sei2ure his masterpiece called Informer, I like to scream ‘information motherf#cker’ everytime, what an amazing tune! After that Unexist did drop Blaze it Up, and it was time for Dj Mad Dog to go full troughtle otherwise he would drown! I didn’t expect this to happen but really, everytime when Unexist was starting a new tune the crowd was going nuts, and the bass was deep and intense.

While Mad Dog did start a tune it was the complete opposite. When this was a battle, we could easily decide who will be the winner! Anyway, lets go back to the music! A few ID tracks were dropped, a new Unexist collab with Noize Suppressor did blast trough the speakers, Unexist did drop Project Omeage – Prednison Attack (N-Vitral Remix) and DJ Mad Dog did drop D-Fence Pompen, Rewind and A Slipknot Warrior Existence (Mashed). Unexist did drop a new sick tune created with his Fail2Comply project! Holyshit, what a blasting tune! After that they did play the Destructive Tenencies & F.Noize banger Ameno, but not the normal version, this was the remix by Mad Dog and Unexist. This one is really insane! They did end their set with Music is my weapon (My all time favourite Unexist tune!) in a Unexist mix, maybe it was a Live mix or edit, anyway it was amazing again! Ending their set iwth Minimal is criminal by The Sickest Squad ft. Lenny Dee, they really gave the best they could. It was a highly enjoyabel set, and for me one of the best of Defqon.1! The black tent was not filled to the max but the last ten minutes many people did arrive before the Destructive Tendencies, I can tell you guys, you missed a lot of italian fire power!

Blademasterz

Hell yeah, one of those performance, you don’t have at every festival! We were glad, that we visited him, the one, the only, the good old Blademasterz! Holy shit, what a fucking nice set! His mix was really fast, he managed to combine tracks like you’ve never heard before. Well, at least if you ever heard his whole Blademasterz discography in one big, phat set!

The sun was shining over the UV stage, the people were going crazy to tracks like In The End, Still Here, Wake Up and pretty much all the tracks from his older albums Midifilez and Musical Impression. Great to finally hear them all on a big sound system. We already saw Brennan Heart playing as Blademasterz at Fantasy Island, but seriously, this set was somehow better! It was something unique, something you can’t experience every festival.

Thera & Jason Payne

The last set at the Blue, the closing set and no one else than Thera and Jason Payne had the honor to close down the Blue stage. I can tell you one thing, our feets were burning after this set! Not a single second to catch a breath, to calm down. Starting at 155 BPM they wrecked the place in style. Jason Payne started with insidious new track Chainsaw, followed by Thera’s Judgement in a kick ass mix with another track by Jason Payne.

Jason Payne continued with his new tracks like Brainless, Venom or Violence and Thera was playing tracks like Lightsaber, Starfleet in an edit or Post Apocalypse, a track with Ophidian. Jason Payne was also playing Nuclear in the Rebelion remix, as well as they dropped Smoke Machine, which is seriously one of the sickest tracks at the moment, or Headshot by The Geminizers. They ended their set in style with some hardcore by Art of Fighters and Delete’s collab with N-Vitral!

Menace II Society

The sun was shining again, and we decided to split up. Some of us did stay at the black stage for Destructive Tendencies closing act, others did visit DJ Thera vs Jason Payne at the blue and some did decide to go to Menace II Society! I don’t know if all of you guys know but Menace II Society is the alias that Angerfist did use before his Angerfist alias was born. It was not that crowded so I think that many people still don’t know that at all!

As Angerfist he is playing with a white mask, but as Menace II Society he is playing with a black mask. The most awesome thing about this set is the fact that you can hear many Angerfist sounds in an early hardcore version. After you visit a Menace II Society set you can hear the progress and were the Angerfist sound did all start one day. The crowd was going crazy and we did spot many DJ’s during this set. Amada, Nosferatu and DJ Promo were dancing their ass off, as did we! When he dropped Chronic Dissorder the crowd went total nuts! He also dropped Broken Chain and Fear of Others. Besides he also dropped some early Angerfist tracks like Broken Chain. Damn, this track is still going strong! The set was over before I knew. It was crazy ride trough Angerfist and Menace II Society history! The sirines did blast trough the speakers, It was 19:45. Time to move towards the mainstage, time for The Closing!

Defqon.1 Legends

We arrived at the Defqon.1 2016 closing ceremony arround 20:00. It was crowded to the max, but still you had way more space than during the saturday closing, which we liked a lot! At 20:05 the Defqon.1 legends did show themselve. The Prophet and Technoboy were announced and did kick off their set with the track CTRL. An awesome track to create a brilliant vibe! After CTRL they did play the track Dragonborn. You know were this is going right, but can it really be true?! A voice did start to tell a short intro again, about the true Legend. Announcing the Legend of Hardstyle music. The climax of Dragonborn was played and he showed himselve, while I write this I get goosebumps again, it was Headhunterz jumping on the decks! Holyshit! This is the best moment in Hardstyle history! Headhunterz did grab the mic telling us that he did really miss us, and he does love everybody.

Well, we love you true ‘Heady’! Wherever your musical journey will take you, just discover the universe of music, but please return to Hardstyle one day! We need you for great music! Headhunterz dropped Builder – Her Voice (Headhunterz Remix) and The Prophet dropped – Recession.  More Headhunterz tracks were played, think about Scrap Attack (in a Lessons in Love Vocal remix), From Within, Colors (Qlimax 2014 Edit), Reignite (Tonight Vocal Edit), Rock Civilization (Technoboys Undersound mix) and The Saifam Mashup. He also dropped the Defqon.1 2012 anthem called World of Madness, everybody was singing along the melodie again. The atmosphere during this set was amazing, one of the best I’ve witnessed during a festival. I think we can not doubt about this set, it was the best of whole Defqon.1 2016 just because of the feelings!

The Prophet did drop his new tune Caramba!, which is fun! Technoby was playing tracks like Rage and Steam Train. At the end of the set Headhunterz did grab the mic again and gave a short speech, after a few seconds he already went emotional, showing a few tears and we did hear a vibration in his voice, I did also get wet eyes, because you can feel his words are pure from the heart. The audience showed Headhunterz some respect, and I think at this moment the whole area did feel like united as one.  Time to prepare ourselves for the next set, some euphoric mixed with a raw touch. Give it up for 2015 Qlimax anthem maker, Atmozfears!

Atmozfears

My expectations were high, since Atmozfears does always play suprising sets. Maybe it was a little bit to high. Atmozfears did’nt catch me with his first track, a Defqon.1 DJ tool. But after that he did play Keep me Awake and Year of Summer in a mash-up with Kavala. After that he did drop World of Madness in a mix with Reawakening. Both were great original edits I must say! After that he did play a new ID track together with Audiotricz. Not sounding that special but still a great euphoric track. He also dropped Energyzed & Demi Kanon – Holding On and two more ID tracks, one of them is a remix of Come Running by Darren Styles, which did sound really epic! After 40 minutes into his set he finally played some tracks with a raw touch.

He started with Timmy Trumpet – Freaks (Atmozfears Remix) after that he did play This is Hardstyle, Release in the Qlimax edit and Fabric of Creation. Ending his set with Act of Rage – Brain Confusion (Defqon.1 2015 edit and another ID track. Somehow his tracks were great but he didn’t catch me the whole set. Ofcourse its hard to top Defqon.1 Legends, especially when Headhunterz is playing. But I did expect something bigger. Maybe we get something better with the final act of Defqon.1 2016. These guys really aim for the highest, did release a great album this year, and unites us all-in their wolfpack, give it up for Frequencerz!

Frequencerz

Since Frequencerz showed their Medium-Rare style, you will not be suprised that they start their set with A Muse, the most euphoric track of their latest album. It only suits at the start of a set, so I was not suprised with that opening, hehe. After that they did drop the Q-Base 2016 anthem. Jeah, we can asure you that the Q-Base 2016 anthem is made by Frequencerz! After that they did drop The World (Frequencerz DJ Tool) and Tomorrow & Beyond in a Lars Edit. After that the show did really begin. Starting with Getting Off and Men of Steel, pumping up the speakers with 12FU and then play the Uber Mash Up (with Warface), Holyshit this is what we want to see! The darkness slowly took over, after the sunset we could witness a wide range of lasers, LEDS, and some fireworks already. Frequencerz did give us goosebumps with their collab track with E-Force called Gods. This song really has an amazing synth and melody.

After that they did drop some rougher tracks like their collab with Warface called Elevate, and a few ID tracks which did sound amazing! The lasers took control of the stage giving us a pre-show before the endshow already while Frequencerz did drop their final track. The nr.1 track of 2016 perhaps. Warface & Frequencerz – Menace in the D-Sturb remix. Not an unexpected way to end their set but still the crowd went crazy, kickrolling in the air with the final energy the weekend warriors had. Frequencerz did thank the audience, and we gave an applause in return, ready for the endshow of Defqon.1 2016!

Endshow & Conclusion

We think the sunday endshow could not reach the ones from previous years. It was very short, they only played the anthem, no show around it, no special moment. Again the fireworkds very crazy as hell and probably again, the best what we’ve ever seen in an endshow, but everything around did not feel good. I think they could have done mroe here, to end Defqon.1 2016 in style. It wasn’t really a worth ending for all in all such great edition of Defqon.1

When speaking about the all in all feeling and the ultimate conclusion? We feel that this years Defqon.1 had its very unique moments, like Headhunterz appearence at the mainstage, the fireworks, the highly detailed stages, especially the main stage, and the very good sound. The line up was also very good and offered a great and wide variety of different styles, artists and sets. But we also think that some prices are way too high – some noodles with chicken for 3.5 tokens? C’mon Q-Dance! They could also slightly improve the showers and toilets on the campsite next year and keep them cleaner than this year.

We think its a fact that this years Defqon.1 was definitely better than last year.  They improved alot and tried to deliver the perfect Defqon.1 weekend experience! They done alot of things right and we left the parking place on Monday with a really good and satisfied feeling! If they bring back the quality of this year, the stages of this year, the music and artist of this yeart and the shows from previous editions, next years Defqon.1 can possibly break all boundaries! Still and these are our last words, THANK YOU Q-DANCE for this great edition of DEFQON.1! 

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