Grab a snack, put on some music, our annual Defqon.1 “novel” is here! Our team stayed all three days and we’re more than excited to present you this elaborate first of three parts of our party report from Defqon.1 2017.
Our groups arrived quite early, one of us as early as 10am, meaning that there was little to zero traffic on the road and around Biddinghuizen. The 20min waiting queue aside, everything went smoothly and the logistics team was nice, friendly and always helpful. Parking quite close to the entrance, we could see the last efforts of people to hide alcohol wherever possible. After a good bit of waiting and greeting friends, the gates opened at 13h, one hour earlier than anticipated. As part of the Guests, we were extremely privileged to skip the line a little and use the VIP entrance. For one of us, it was the first time “conquering the bridge”, which she described as “not as bad” – we all agreed that it’s not necessarily the bridge itself, but the entirety of the whole trip from the parking to your camping spot that made the trip so exhausting. Setting up the camp was great and “free camping” is still one of our favourite ways to do it, while other festivals assign camping spots. The first cans get cracked open and we sit down to enjoy ourselves and wait for the gathering. Meanwhile some of us went exploring, other looked for their international friends – it was truly Defqon.1 time again!
The gates open and people roar in excitement: The Gathering is officially opened! We get in and get ready for a banging set by Wildstylez. Playing Project 1 stuff and his new Armin Van Buuren Remix (which would echo through our entire Defqon.1 experience), Wildstylez showed the excited crowd what to expect this weekend. Bass Modulators were up next and I enjoyed half of their set until I decided to go watch Mental Theo & Charly Lownoise – the vibe at the Black was absolutely insane when they played and we once again got reminded we never miss these guys when they play. Moving back to Coone, we decided to take it a bit easier again. At Noisecontrollers we were back to normal energy levels. Good for us because, surprise, a Spirit Of Hardstyle showcase was about to happen! Atmozfears, Audiotricz and Bass Modulators came on stage with Noisecontrollers and introduced the new label sound to the crowd – We tried to keep up with the new tracks but simply couldn’t, our feet had to move. The Blue stage itself was once again an experience, the moving elements, lights and lasers hugged the crowd and provided a highly immersive musical experience.
Meanwhile another one our reporters, disappointed by the sound of the Black at the beginning, made his way to the Yellow stage and it’s notorious Silent Disco. Dressed up in white working gear we found ourselves almost being caught up in a “Breaking Bad” vibe – what a fun idea! You were able to town the volume up as much you want with these headphones. But next time we want some more bass to make our ears bleed! Spitnoise played an awesome set, heavy and of course Hardcore with much tempo – it was the Uptempo stage after all! During the set you had lots of time to talk with your neighbours, just take the headphone off and you can talk easily! We really liked the silent disco so we decided to stay for another 30 minutes to enjoy the first 50% of the set by Angernoizer. Damn, this guy was dropping some serious heavy damage. His Hardcore was so fast that even we could barely handle it. After 30 minutes we did decide to go to the Black and enjoy the final beats of Partyraiser. He dropped some very cool remixes like Brutal Madmen by Hatred, and his Rock & Roll Bootleg. Because of the big pillars inside the black it was hard to get a good view on the stage. That was a downside of the Black the whole weekend. Normally we are big fans of the Black stage and some of us prefer to stay there, but this weekend we did not visit it very often, sadly. Meanwhile back at the Blue Zazafront, who (unfortunately) just played for half an hour, “broke the tent down” – for real. Energy level and hype of the crowd were so intense that we were actually sad when it all had to end for the day. We made my way back to the campsite. Strangely enough it was quite quiet at campsite 3 that night and one of us slept a full eight hours without any interruption.
Welcome to Defqon.1!
Photos: Q-dance / Defqon.1 Media Team