Like a bulldozer Hardstyle claims its position at more and more festivals across countries and continents. It seems that nothing is stopping the acceptance and appreciation for our beloved style. Hardstyle reached a new level by being played across various other genres and being played at numerous EDM events like Tomorrowland (mainstage). What might sound as the wet dream of agencies, event promoters and artists, actually going on our nerves! The acceptance does come with negative side effects!
Since ever MC’s are kind of essential when it comes to proper hard dance events. Artists like MC Da Syndrome, MC Villain or MC DV8 are in the scene for years, cheering up crowds and underlining a festival’s vibe. We agree that you can argue about certain MCs and their way of doing their job. There are people hating it and people who adore it, yes, even wearing merchandise of a specific MC.
As stated above, the appreciation for hardstyle is growing. The community is growing and people from all over the world getting attracted by distorted kicks and sing along melodies, the drive and energy hardstyle delivers.
With this evolution it was never more important to stand out as an artist. Playing a hardstyle set nowadays can be summed up as pleasing your old fans and attracting new ones. Making it possible for people to enter a set with no background knowledge, opening the imaginary gates for new, potential fans, is the new way to go.
With this said, spinning a set is not enough anymore. Artists have to deliver a show! A frightening and sad evolution. As it was all about the music back in the days, it’s now all about the perfect show, the perfect, but securely played set and animation of the crowd during every track. But what really sucks is the fact that more and more artist grabbing the mic and screaming some bullshit into it!
We’ve been watching this sort of evolution since quite some time now and we think it is going to far! We are in a state that EVEN Noisecontrollers starts mcing during his sets! NOISECONTROLLERS! Not to mention those artists, doing it already since quite some time: Headhunterz, Coone, Frontliner, Warface, Audiotricz, Radical Redemption, you can keep on counting. What makes artist think people enjoying that? It feels like a punch in the face of loyal fans.
The moment we realized it’s going too far, was probably during LNY TNZ at Electrisize festival. Screaming “1,2,3 GO!” or any other similar bullshit phrase before EVERY single drop was not enjoyable at all. It was horrible! It ruined the drive, the set, made us think:”Do they think the crowd is stupid?!” and even worse, it made us think “Is this the new way to go, when playing sets?”. Don’t get us wrong, being animated to clap or wave your arms by the DJs is essential and has always been a part of djing. We do criticize the excessive over usage of “crowd mobilization”.
How not to do it!
If we do enjoy a set is not measured by the amount of “1,2,3 LET’S GO!” or “Put something shiny” up moments, it is measured by the music and the way of mixing, the drive and those moments giving us goosebumps WITHOUT being reminded that this moment should be a “goosebumps moment”!
We normally hate the term of “commercialism”, but this is the exact way hardstyle is heading, if not already headed! Artists are no longer artists, they are products, handled like a consumable! Artists delivering a all-in-one show, or trying to, are just one problem, ruining the scene. If this continues, the hardstyle scene will loose it’s essence and won’t be better than the typical and already messed up EDM scene!