2017 is here! Let’s kick off 2017 with the very first event: Solution Germany in Oberhausen. If you guys thought “Germans are always on time” is just a cliche – you – were – totally – WRONG! The event already started at 19.00 with the first act. Believe it or not, It’s 19.00, saturday evening, in front of the doors of the Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen – It’s already crowded as hell! Damn, our dutch friends wouldn’t even think of moving to the event at this time. You might ask, why the hell are we arriving that early then?
However, “Harder is not Enough” – truth or lies?
Adrenalize
Adrenalize was the very first act today. Kicking off the main hardstyle area, the place got filled with each minute. Dedication? Die Hards? Fans? I guess the crowd was something of all three in the beginning. Still, the first people enjoyed the fresh and euphoric tunes by Adrenalize.
We think the opening set was really good! He played a well balanced mix of his own tracks, some new euphoric hits like You’ve got the Love by Code Black and some older tunes like Colors by Headhunterz or Psychedelic. Give this boy a bigger stage, he definitely deserved it. His tracks always makes us feel like riding wave. Great job here.
Josh & Wesz
The reason why we arrived that early as well were these two guys: Josh & Wesz! We love the classics and if there is one name in the hardstyle scene, implying the classic hardstyle sound, it’s Josh & Wesz!
Starting with Just as Easy and Rate Reducer (Headhunterz Remix) they brought us back to the golden era! Wait, wrong artist! Well known melodies, good old reverse bass or these specific, first nu-style kicks by Headhunterz were and are absolutely stunning! We didn’t expect them to play some of the latest hardstyle tracks, but they did it to our surprise. Mellow and their latest track Believe passed by. Finishing their set with Faster ‘N Further, they both absolutely nailed it!
Julian Spanhof – www.Spanhof.Info
Cyber entered the stage as the next act. A warm welcome by the crowd and MC DL! However, we decided to have a walk through the three areas. Besides the main hardstyle area, Solution Germany also offered a hardcore floor. The bass was pounding and hit us hard, when entering the area. Re-Style was playing and we need to admit: His mixing skills are crazy! The only track we recognized was Towards the Sun.
The third area was the second biggest, but you just had access to it with a combi ticket. Technobase.fm was celebrating 12 years Technobase. As a Hands Up fan in the past, I was curious. I gave it a try. Conclusion: The area was funny to watch. The atmosphere is very happy. The lovely melodies are one kind of a story. Later on we visited the area again, as two Djs are chosen live, to battle each other. Quite a funny concept. The Djs were even playing in different corners and on separated players and mixers.
Dr. Rude
Back to the main hardstyle area. Dr. Rude was already playing and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Great atmosphere during his set. We heard Santiago and Imaginary passing by. He went a little more funky with some fresh Mark With A K tracks. Besides that he also dropped a mash up of the lyrics from Forever Young and the climax of Scrap Attack by Headhunterz. Another great mash up was POW by Hard Driver and the vocals of Living on a Prayer. All in all a lovely set, actually. It had a great drive and Dr. Rude was absolutely giving his best.
Julian Spanhof – www.Spanhof.Info
After Dr. Rude we decided to have a look at the other areas again. Thorax was playing in the hardcore area. We caught the last minutes of his set. The Syndicate anthem was passing by, as well as Policy of Evil.
Time to get some drinks, some food. Time to relax, time to check out area after area and have a great time. In the main hall you could have experienced Atmozfears, who dropped some new tracks. Da Tweekaz who created an atmosphere we are used to from these two crazy boys. Psyko Punkz delivered a surprising set, with Strike Again by Donkey Rollers, Spaceship, some recent releases, Luminosity by Project One or Ran-D & Digital Punk Born to Die.
Miss K8
Let’s have a look at the hardcore area again. A less original or surprising set was played by Miss K8. Nothing that we didn’t expect. However, she played at a great tempo, the kicks were pumping through the speakers and the people made this set special. Great vibe in this small area! Besides the obvious productions like Bogota, some Angerfist tracks, like Fist in Your Face or Bring us some by Destructive Tendencies, she dropped Middle Fingers Up by Partyraiser at the end of her set. By reaching the 200 BPM the ending of her set was still quite sick!
It’s 2 at midnight, still 4 hours to go. All areas offered a slightly harder sound now. Deetox was playing in the main hardstyle area. A short visit at the Technobase stage: Rob Mayth and Giorno were about to battle! Like we mentioned earlier, quite funny to watch. The people really went nuts. The floor was finally packed. If you traveled from the hardstyle area to the Hands Up area, it almost felt like traveling from the Netherlands to Africa. A whole different atmosphere and mood.
Deetox had some great tracks lined up for her set. It felt different, but still like a great Deetox set. Compared to her set at Freaqshow she went slightly harder. We heard her collab with Break Zero, but also No Mercy , Chaos Reign and last but not least New World Order by Delete and N-Vitral, pitched to 160 BPM.
Followed by Frequencerz, who dropped an expected set. However, the crowd went crazy and made this set still enjoyable. You could mark the new collab of Ran-D and D-Sturb as one of the highlights.
A quick check, back to the hardcore area. Unexist was giving his best when playing the last beats of his set. In the main hardstyle area E-Force was about to play.
Julian Spanhof – www.Spanhof.Info
As we thought he’d drop some new album tracks, we were actually looking forward to his set. Besides Underground Tacticz, well known War Force tracks like Devastation, Supremacy or Reloaded he also played some new tracks. Or at least we couldn’t identify them. But maybe our drinks were kicking in and we just can’t remember. Drunk journalism at its best! Now we know how the boys and girls from Alive at Night always feel.
Sadly we couldn’t stay for the whole last set, as we had to catch our train home. Sub Zero Project were the choosen ones to close down Solution Germany. As first track they already state clear: This is going to be a crazy ride! The BPM reached 160, The Project was playing and when the pitched kick and the melody made your whole body vibrate, gave us goosebumps! We expected some harder rawstyle tracks, but however, their set was still fucking awesome! These guys are on a damn roll and nothing can stop them. 2017 will be their year, we guarantee it!
Julian Spanhof – www.Spanhof.Info
We really want to underline the great line up here. Either hardcore, hardstyle, classic hardstyle or rawstyle fans should have had a great time! The ticket price was not too high, especially not for this kind of line up. We’d rate the Ticket-Price/Performance ratio as pretty good. We did not had any trouble to find the location or to find a parking place. These are located directly next to the hall. Entrance-wise we wish for some sort of hints next time. Some people had to switch the lanes or couldn’t enter at the booth they were standing at. But these are just smaller aspects.
The stages done their job. We had some bigger LED screens surrounding the DJ booth in the main hardstyle area. Confetti cannons and lasers were heating up the crowd and underlining the sets. Sometimes the light show felt a little off the beat and too random. But no big deal again. The sound on the other hand was great! No doubts, compared to the last event in the Turbinenhalle Oberhausen, Pumpkin, this one was powerful, clear and well balanced. Even the smaller hardcore area had a fucking blasting sound system. Another good aspect: It was not to crowded and we had lots of space to go crazy. No sticky air, no sweaty dudes going crazy next to you, no extremely high temperature.
So, all in all, this edition of Solution Germany was apart from some smaller aspects an edition to remember! Thanks BE 24-7, see you all next time!
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