Poppodium 013 in Tilburg has had its fair share of weird events. But this edition of VISSA was definitely at the top of that list! With crazy performances and memes galore, it was an amazing night. So let’s look into how this event ended up being so great!
Tom Vos
Venue
Poppodium 013 is in my opinion one of the best venues for dance events in Noord-Brabant. Only the mainstage was used for this event, which can facilitate 3000 visitors. However, since it wasn’t sold out, the very back of the room was inaccessible. And still, there was more than enough room to dance.
The lighting was really great, with 3 big LED screens that displayed some crazy visuals! At the beginning the sound wasn’t that great as they were still adjusting it. However, 45 minutes into the event it already was much better, so props to the sound engineer for fixing it relatively fast!
Travel
With the venue being situated in the city centre of Tilburg, it was absolutely no problem getting there. I travelled by train from s-Hertogenbosch, which is around 15 minutes of train travel with a 10 minute walk to the event itself. Getting back home, however, was a different story. As the party ended on a Sunday at 04:00, there were no trains for at least 3 hours. But with quite a few people having the same problem it still wasn’t that big of a deal for me as I could talk and chill with a few people.
Drinks
Getting some hydration during events is always very important! Luckily, Poppodium 013 isn’t as expensive as some of the bigger venues. With a whole range of different sodas for €3,15 a glass (25cl) I had nothing to complain about. Beer wasn’t too expensive either, with a glass of Bavaria being €3,40 and La Trappe Blond or Dubbel being €5,50. It still is a lot, but luckily not the €3,70 per token you see quite a lot nowadays.
Speaking of tokens, there was no need (or even possibility) for buying tokens as Poppodium 013 is completely cashless, so you can just use your bankcard when paying for your drinks. Recycle tokens weren’t a thing either, as they were using hard cups with a €0,50 deposit. You can use them for a refill, donate it to Quiet which helps people in poverty (which I did at the end of the night) or get back the deposit. Do note that sometimes they have problems with their deposit-return systems, as was the case at this event.
DJs
Parsa: First up was Gladde Paling’s MC Parsa! Although he couldn’t get the crowd going at first, he managed to shake us loose with some classics like ‘Gecko’ by Oliver Heldens and ‘Too Cold (EQUAL2 Edit)’ by Rooler, which eventually led up to the set going ‘meme overload’ by playing stuff like an epic dubstep version of ‘Tequila’ and a very bad auto-tuned version of ‘Believe’ by Cher (even singing over it himself). It ended with uptempo hardcore with zaagkicks which got the crowd completely hyped! So what started as a bit of a disappointing opener became a surprisingly entertaining beginning of an amazing evening!
Eboman: I can’t really explain what happened next, but it sure was interesting! Eboman brought his DVJ set to the mainstage, in which he remixed funny internet video snippets into amazing DnB sounds live! If you have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, the video below may help with understanding it better.
Although the screens died a few times it was a cool experience nonetheless!
Russian Village Boys: After two sets that were already pretty chaotic, it was time for the main event! And what an amazing set it was. Russian Village Boys had so much energy that I already needed a short break after 20 minutes! With songs like ‘ViLLAGECATiON’, ‘Cyka’ and ‘Jumpstyle 2023’ it truly was a musical mayhem. Halfway through their set I got absolutely shocked when they even played a zaagkick edit of ‘Go Stupid’ by Sickmode which I didn’t expect at all! They were also really looking out for their fans, even stopping the music when someone lost their glasses in a moshpit and a few minutes later telling someone that was crowd surfing that they loved it but that he shouldn’t do it again because they were worried he might fall. They were amazing and I would 100% recommend going to go see them if you have the opportunity!
Gladde Paling: And if that wasn’t crazy enough, Gladde Paling was going bonkers once again! Opening very stylishly with ‘Barbie Girl’, there was no way this set wasn’t going to be hilarious.Constantly hitting us with the trembling sound of DnB and Meme Techno, he made sure we were having a great time! Among the classics like ‘Zeemeeuw’ and ‘Turbo’ he played remixes of ’Gas Gas Gas’, ‘Ik Heb Een Toeter Op M’n Waterscooter’ and of course ‘99 Luftballons’. It was an amazing set that really made me laugh!
Dikke Baap: When Dikke Baap started I took a quick break to get my energy level back up. However, when I returned, it was straight back down to how heavy their set was! Although it wasn’t the best set of the evening, they did really well. Remixes of ‘Push Up’, ‘Kernkraft 400’ and ‘Hardcore Vibes’ definitely made me enjoy it! The guy doing the visuals almost gave me nightmares by displaying some pretty creepy graphics, but it did fit the vibe so I’ll give it a pass. Definitely an act that had its place on the lineup!
Lobsta B: Last but not least, a brit in a lobster suit. I honestly don’t know any event that has been weirder, but I sure loved it! Lobsta B started off strong with a remix of ‘Sandstorm’(yes, THAT song by Darude), and having a very groovy set all together! With many more songs to end the night in a joyful manner, everybody I spoke to that stayed until the end said that this guy was amazing. Remixes of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and ‘Calabria 2007’ among a lot of other well known songs made me wish the night would continue forever!
Conclusion
I absolutely enjoyed it. The combination of amazing music, great lighting and a very wholesome atmosphere made it 100% worth it. I am definitely going to the next VISSA event!