The Amulet of dreams

Since 2010 Eye4Dance organizes Dream Village Festival. It originally offered just two stages – Glamour Street and Slum Street. Furthermore, there were just a few hardstyle artists like Frontliner and Zany. Over the years, it has grown bigger and bigger. In 2012 they added a third area, but also providing a hardstyle only stage with huge names like Adaro, Radical Redemption, Frequencerz, Alpha2, Ran-D and many more.

Now, in 2015, they moved to a completely new area in Breda and could gather more people than ever before.

The line-up was awesome, with its nine areas, new location and interesting theme it caught my attention. I remembered the cool edition of Daylight Festival this year and decided to take a look at Dream Village Festival 2015.

It was around 09:00 a.m. when my alarm went off and somehow I instantly made it out of bed, which is not usual. But I mean c’mon, it’s time for a festival, who wouldn’t be excited?

I wasn’t going alone, but with four of my friends, for some of them it was the first time at a festival. We arrived around 01:00 p.m. at the festival ground, already hearing the pumping bass of the main stage and the indoor hardstyle area. I remember, that one of my friends asked me: “Is this the bass from the festival?! Holy Sh*t!” – A clear sign… it’s his first time!

Sadly it was raining, so the ground was very muddy and the weather forecast was not promising. It was a bit grey all day and it was an back and forth.

In the beginning, we took a look at all areas, starting with the main stage. It was hosted by Scantraxx, so probably a lot of Scantraxx artists up there, such as Bass Modulators, Atmozfears, The Prophet, E-Force, Digital Punk, Alpha2 and more. It was a good mix of new talents like Devin Wild in the beginning, a euphoric “Primetime” with D-Block & S-Te-Fan, Bass Modulators, Atmozfears, Noisecontrollers, Audiofreq and The Prophet and a rough ending with Alpha2, Adaro vs. E-Force and Digital Punk.

The stage looked like a toon castle, straight outta Pegasu’s Toon Card Deck from Yu-Gi-Oh (google it!), with some sort of green wings in the back and a dragon ranging from one side to the other. By the way Bass Modulators were responsible for this years Dream Village anthem. I really liked it, check it out below.

Near the main stage they placed a big tent with the members of hardstyle area, hosted by Frequencerz. Of course they invited all their rougher colleagues like Titan, E-Force, Ran-D, Delete, Jason Payne, Warface, Hard Driver, The Pitcher, B-Front and a few more. The stage had no particular design, but consisting of rings and circles, filled with Frequencerz banners.

The Vendetta stage was hosted by Tha Playah, spinning the best hardcore music and supported by big names like Miss K8, Angerfist, Nosferatu, Partyraiser, The Viper and more. Zany had the honor to host his throwback stage, so if you like some Oldschool and ever wanted to discover Donkey Rollers Live or even The Beholder, this was your area.

Last but not least, the Freestyle area with Ruthless as its host. Some crazy sh*t was going on over there with music ranging from freestyle, Tek, hard drop to hardcore.

The second main stage was hosted by Slam FM, bringing you the just the best house music, but who’s interested in that, right?

We started our day at the main stage. Atmozfears already played for 20 minutes, but I thought it would be the best entry for my friends, which were raving for their first time. We grabbed some drinks and began to shake our hips. As always, Atmozfears was not disappointing, making me feel like I’m dancing in the sun, creating this typical festival and summer vibe.

But suddenly – a raindrop! I just looked up to the sky, realizing the huge, dark blue cloud above us, thankfully Hard Driver hopped on stage in the members of hardstyle area, so we left the main stage, like, seriously, everyone else, to get blown away. It was a cool set, but nothing surprising, ending with Kronos – Boombaby.

Next up the main, crazy guys – Frequencerz! I just love their tunes recently. They’ve done a great job with their edit of The Punishment or as B-Freqz – Divine. This is real hardstyle. Supported by MC Da Syndrome they delivered a great performance, what a lovely set. It also seemed that my friends really liked them, which positively surprised me.

After Frequencerz the weather turned nice again, so we just hung up at different areas. We checked out Audiofreq and some minutes of Noisecontrollers, went to the freestyle and hardcore area.

Finally back, B-Front starts! Do I need to say more? If there would be an Olympic discipline for doing Kick Rolls, he would definitely be the gold medal winner. His sets are powerful and diverse, never losing the drive they create from beginning till the end.

Time to experience something different. He was one of the highlights and the first of three DJ’s I wanted to see. Taking over the freestyle area, here’s Mark With A K! I just love his tunes, his sets, his energy he has while performing and his insane mashups, edits and diversity in his sets.

And again, I was not disappointed and the one hour set felt like 10 minutes. Seriously, it was one of the best sets of the day. Was that a bird, was it a plane, no, it was a wild Frequencerz, appearing on stage next to MWAK and partying with him – really awesome!

After a break, some rest, drinks and food we continued with Delete’s set. The tent was literally shaking, the mood was great and slowly but surely the light show was getting intense as well. I wasn’t sure if my friends would like it, because Delete was playing some heavy sh*t, but they enjoyed themselves and the music. I guess I got them – please welcome four new people to the hardstyle scene. Again Frequencerz hopped on stage and played together with Delete, which made the set ever more enjoyable.

The second of three acts, the beast of Theracords was about to play. If you ever wanted to discover a highly energetic and technically perfectly mixed set, visit one of the Jason Payne’s performances. Seriously Sanjay, you did it again, although I already saw you the week before at Summer Cruise, you never fail to amaze!

And I guess it was also an overwhelming situation for him playing with Frequencerz b2b and just in the moment you thought “okay, I’m just right before an Eargasm” B-Front joined them as well! I mean, what the hell is happening?! B-Front b2b Frequencerz b2b Jason Payne? F*CK THAT! Please Eye4Dance, if you recorded this set, put it online – now! Best set of the day!

Last but not least Warface, which was the third artist I wanted to see. Together with Frequencerz he was playing the last set at the members of hardstyle area. They created some serious madness on the floor, but we, sadly, switched to the main stage for E-Force and Adaro. They finished off the day in style, ending with a hardcore edit of Men of Style if I’m right. My friends had the chance to take some pictures, enjoy the light show and finally the end show.

The stages were diverse and all of them had a different design. A few stages sticked to the theme, others were more random, which does not mean they did not fulfil their intent. If you take a look at the ticket price of just 38€, the really good line-up, the amount of areas and compare it to festivals like Megabase, the stages were absolutely satisfying.

So was the light and laser show, especially at the main stage. Although I missed some fire in the Members of Hardstyle area or at least some sort of FX, you really couldn’t complain about the show.

The end show just started and I was positively surprised. With Daylight Festival they really tried to end the festival with a big bang, same here. Therefore, they mixed together the anthem and a few euphoric tracks, underlined by a great firework and light show – seriously, it was great! Of course, it’s not playing in the major league, but if Eye4Dance keeps up this quality, I would always recommend one of their events.

Summarized, it was a cool festival. The new location offers a lot of space, even for next year’s edition. The line-up was sick, the show more than enjoyable, the sound well balanced and pumping, the areas were well designed and if that’s not enough, you could have partied at nine areas for a price of just 38€. This festival has a lot of potential and I would love to see it growing even bigger over the next years. I set Dream Village Festival on a same level as events by High Energy Events – the next generation of hard dance event organizers.