Under the slogan ‘It´s all in the game’ Intents festival 2016 took place from June 3rd. To the 5th. In Oisterwijk, Netherlands, covering a whole weekend comprising a pre party on Friday and two full festival days. Around Friday noon the gates to the camping areas were opened and from the parking areas are pretty muddy path led to the entrance, a tribute to the recent rainy days.
The Camping – Intents Festival 2016
Luckily the camping area appeared way more dry and thus led us all move to IntentsCity with our tents. Every path and road on the festival area had its own name, like Rawstyle rd., Reverse bass rd. or festival route. IntentsCity´s main square was named BPM Square, including the InfoPoint, the IntentsCity bank offering tokens, a cinema and a platform where DigitalPunk´s Unleashed Offensive Part III took place on Friday afternoon and elsewhere music before the actual start of the festival.
In addition, the BPM Square also offered a BBQ zone and several shopping facilities, serving all needs, starting from food and beverages up to camping tools. A Bavaria vehicle complemented the supply by selling six packs of beer for 3 tokens [Exchange rate 3,5 Tokens = 10 EUR] and 1,5-litre water bottles for 1,5 tokens. Compared to the festival area the prices at the BPM Square were way below – so you better grabbed some six packs with your crew!
Fitting the slogan two football grounds were available at IntentsCity providing all campers the opportunity to do some sports. Showers were offered for free only between 06:30 am and 8:00 am, outside this timeframe guests had to pay 1 token. For all guests not equipped with an own tent, the organizer offered to possibility to rent a tipi, bungalow or a tent. For everybody noticeable were the high numbers of zoned areas, which functioned as Friends camp. Similarly, like the roads and paths – every area had its own name as well.
The Pre Party – Intents Festival 2016
The pre-party on Friday evening was exclusively for campers and consequently smaller as in the following days to come. All in all, three stages, the main stage, Outrageous vs. Dynamite and Slum Dunk were playing on that day. The stages got accompanied by two merchandise stores, one fun ride and stalls for food and beverages.
The first set I attended was Da Tweekaz playing on the Mainstage. The stage itself was designed as a gigantic ice hockey field and served the festival´s slogan well. Da Tweekaz played a well composed set and once they played the track “Vodka” the crowd went nuts. Host of the stage was no one else than MC Da Syndrome, who unleashed his ADHD power to infect the crowd. That was power!
Afterwards we continued our journey to the Outrageous! Vs. Dynamite stage, comprising Freestyle and Hardcore sounds. The stage itself represented a formula one car and a motorcycle – a tribute to the racing sports. Arriving there we saw a Dr. Rude at the turntables heating up the crowd with nice freestyle beats. Among several we heard tracks like Ruthless’s remix of Jebroers track Banaan. After his set we had a short visit of the Dunk stage, which offered House music. The name of the stage clearly suggested a basketball court as the stage design. Very lovely details like a basketball hoop and some basketballs totally shined out. Meanwhile the time for D-Block & S-Te Fan playing on the mainstage had come, but actually only S-Te-Fan appeared, which was reasoned by a serious injury which forced D-Block to cancel his participation. The next act was the 2014´s anthem creator DJ Ran-D. As to be expected Ran-D played a sophisticated set that had its highlight when of course the anthem of 2014 “The Hunt” was played.
With the psychotic tendencies of Requiem live, Intents visitors were confronted with a premiere. Within these 30 minutes where Requiem relinquished to wear a mask or something else, the crowd heard a good live act, that included some edits and a complete new track only for Intents Festival. Especially tracks like Killa Hilla or Wrong Impression drove the crowd crazy.
With the pre party´s closing the time had come for Hardcore. The famous British hardcore act Destructive Tendencies played a powerful set right from the start and the crowd totally freaked out. Especially tracks like the well-known hardcore hit from 2015 Sound becomes one or Bring us some were accepted by the crowd favorably.
Saturday – Intents Festival 2016
The next day started with a cloudy sky and a foggy air. Of course not the perfect summer weather for the main day of Intents festival. At 10:30 IntentsCity´s platform played finest old-school and Hardstyle from Jones and tracks like Brennan Heart´s Just as Easy and other evergreens. Following that, Orphan played a freestyle set to prepare the crowd for the actual festival.
At 12:00 the time had come and the gates finally opened to unleash a wave of party people flocking the festival area. At the very beginning a sightseeing over the complete – still muddy – festival area was scheduled. The mainstage, also called Arena of Champions, was illustrating a stadium, with a large star and a football helmet in the middle. Another lovely detail was, that the DJs actually performed in that helmet.
Our next stop was at the indoor mainstage, the Ring of Glory. With a stage – designed as a box ring – the organizers showed a remarkable consistency. This ring was hosted by Adaro and Crypsis and therefore many B2B sets were played. The last stages were Radler Sports Island, the Boombox and the Bavaria café. Contrary to the other stages, these were rather small and therefore not designed to fit this year´s slogan.
After the sightseeing it was time to enter the mainstage to listen to Mark With a K, who coddled the crowd with Tekstyle. Basically evergreens like Forever young or his latest collaboration with Warface characterized his set. Indeed, a combination that might appear weird but surprisingly it matched well. My personal highlights of this set was the moment, when the cloud ceiling suddenly broke apart and the appearing sun spiced the ‘good-mood-tekstyle-beats’ up creating ultimate summer festival feeling, which we all missed so far.
After this good start into this festival day we continued to the indoor mainstage where Zany b2b Luna were playing. These old masterminds of the harder styles showed an impressive battle, while MC Nolz and MC Da Syndrome accompanied the stage as MCs. After enjoying some classics for a while the time had come to witness the battle of the two rawstyle heavyweights Adaro vs. Crypsis. Similarly, to the prior battles they started with evergreens like Strike or Under attack.
With the end of this battle we returned to the mainstage, to watch Cyber´s set. Actually the act I was most waiting for was Josh & Wesz Live. Luckily this set consisted many classics like Autumn Green or his latest track Retrospect. But after so many classics we demanded something harder and even faster, thus we went back to the dynamite stage to listen Anime´s performance. The Italian artist played her finest album tracks and heated up the crowd vastly, and this not only thanks to her track Anemo which was played at the end of her set. Our next destination was the Slam dunk stage, home of the Fanaticz and offering all types of raw and Xtra Raw Hardstyle.
The timetable quoted two TBA acts, whereof the first act X-Pander had just finished his set when we arrived. The next b2b at this stage was between Sub Sonik and Sub Zero Project. As an opener they played their collaboration and during the set the stage got filled to its capacity but more and more people tried to attend this set.
After attending so many brilliant sets we decided to check the food stalls and to recharge our batteries. The selection was surprisingly larger compared to the other festivals. Things like pulled chicken, burgers, nachos or fried chicken left nothing to be desired.
After the lunch the time for the second TBA had come and hell this one was astonishing: Gearbox Showcase ft. Luminate, Re-Mind, The Avengerz, Chemical Soldiers, MickeyG & MC Focus. Right after this fulminant show we made a short side trip to the Ring of Glory, where Adaro and Radical where facing each other.
At 7:25 pm it was time for the festivals anthem show from Coone and Hard Driver. Contrary to our expectations they started to play Queen´s ‘We are the champions’ and brought slightly back memories of Defqon.1 2015. But nevertheless it perfectly matched the festival´s slogan “It’s all in the game” and this year´s anthem followed. During the anthem hundreds of little Intents flags were passed around which created a really nice picture and represents definitely one of the highlights.
After this impressive show we went to Dynamite stage to witness Partyraiser vs. Miss K8 vs. N-Vitral. According to me a very interesting combination which resulted in a very good set. Songs like N-Vitral´s Crispy Bassdrum and Miss K8 & Radical´s Scream. We continued to the indoor mainstage to see Act of Rage vs Kronos. Witch tracks like Maddafaka Maddafaka or Raging Reckless this battle became one of my favorite sets of Intents Festival.
Now the time had come for Adaro and Crypsis´s second b2b. This time they faked a boxing match. Both Djs were wearing box coats while coming out of their corner to meet in the center of the ring. At this time the closing session of Jason Payne and Caine at the Fanaticz stage was in full progress. The stage was still completely packed and the crowd still going crazy. Both finished their b2b by playing some impressive hardcore tracks, like D-Fence´s Pompen. When we returned to the Ring of Glory we saw Adaro just closing his performance to prepare himself to do the closing of the mainstage together with Gunz 4 Hire later. Crypsis played some further hardcore tracks solely before the stage got closed.
So, we followed the crowed to the main stage´s closing show. After Frequencers left the turntables, here they came – Gunz for Hire. Rand-D and Adaro infected the crowed with their tracks like I am a criminal or No Mercy and after a little blackout, where all lights and sounds fell out, they closed the show successfully. The mandatory fireworks at the end created an impressive closing show.
Sunday – Intents Festival 2016
After a good night we opened up our eyes and contrary to the day before we saw a blue sky, a warm sun and approximately 22 °C creating a perfect feeling for Intents day No. 2.
My first set was old-school Hardstyle from Dailucia on the relieve stage. Only best classics like living for the moment were played, just to be followed by the giants Frontliner vs. Atmozfears at the mainstage. A very precious moment was when Frontliner played his very first Defqon anthem, which was followed by Atmozfears Qlimax anthem.
The next act was Mashup Jack Live, which I feel wasn’t really one of his best sets. Starting at the mainstage walking to the Outrageous Stage, we saw a Mark with a K at the turntables. Round about 10 minutes before his set was supposed to end, Warface suddenly appeared next to him on the stage just to play their collab. It showed similarities to Activator Francesco Zeta track Fear and Dark. By hearing this collab for the second time I have to say, I liked it even more.
After a short food break at the camping area we went to N-Vitral live, which was worth to attend. For the remaining festival we returned to the mainstage, to witness several interesting b2bs. Crypsis and Regain didn’t allow their crowd to rest by playing on big track after big track. But that’s not all. The next act is known for his pure power – Radical Redemption. He started his performance with the last year´s anthem The funfair of madness. One track followed the other and in total the crowd got served 30 tracks, comprising old and new tracks. His last track was a hardcore edit of his anthem which is now available for free download.
Warface vs. Delete vs Regain. These 3 mad guys and nearly destroyed the mainstage by playing tracks like Genocide, the Truth or For the street.
The closing of this stage were subject to two legends Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo. Right at the beginning there was a speech to the crowd in Dutch (Honestly I didn’t understand even one word except Old-school Hardcore). After this a Dutch singer entered the stage and started to sing at instance. I was a little bit confused but the atmosphere was amazing and unique. Afterwards they played their most famous hardcore classics and the crowd celebrated accordingly.
At the very end there was again fireworks and this year´s anthem was played for the last time. Just when I thought it was over now – they suddenly played Darude´s Sandstorm and the festival was officially closed.
My conclusion is, that Intents festival was a blast. We heard several great sets, a bride selection of food and nice weather. This was extended by lovely designed stages and funny happenings like the boxing match. The only thing I have to criticize is the fact, that no tab water was available, as known from other events. This would have been a good choice for a festival at temperatures above 25 degrees.
But anyway, Intents Festival grew to one of the biggest, most anticipated and highly enjoyable events you can visit! The love and effort they put into the festival can’t be unseen and we have the feeling, that this festival will have an even bigger impact into the scene in the upcoming years. Intents Festival 2016 again topped last year’s edition, which was a hard job, but they did it! Massive respect to all people that are involved! A perfect location, a perfect festival – Intents festival is one of the most important festivals we have in the scene. Be sure to visit Intents Festival 2017!
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