Travel
Left my home in Amsterdam at 8.34PM. Oddly enough the sun has not set yet but the nightlife crowds are starting to creep into the city centre. The quickest way i know is to ride the tram 4 from Amsterdam Centraal station to RAI, which takes about 30min, give or take 5 minute depending on city centre traffic.
By the time i got to Centraal Station, there was a mass exodus of young Dutch mostly in hoodie jumper or leather jacket descending to the tram or the metro station. Just the party-boys filling the Damrak precinct which is at the mouth of the Centraal Station.
When i boarded the tram route 4, there were like 20 who went with me. Some spoke Dutch, others just pairing up of Italians, French and English. The tram also filled with tourists and creepers who are just going any of a half a dozen bar precincts dotted around this city.
By the moment i arrived in RAI, there were about a hundred queuing at the press/VIP section. All lined up in rows as dictated by the 6 fences to ‘quarantine’ them for drugs, weapons or any flammable liquids which can become a hazard in the party. It took a fair bit of time to sort just about 200 altogether VIP/Press crowds. One security guard checked my wallet and padded my body while the other checked my small bag which only included a spare jumper and a camera.
“You can proceed”
So i’m finally inside this big exhibition centre made out of corregated iron, like a one big multi-use warehouse. Well made for the party like In Qontrol. A lady behind the counter asked me to put my left arm out to tag me with a band on a wrist so it gives me access to VIP deck and our own cloakroom.
After that, the first store i saw was an official In Qontrol merchandise selling point. There were heaps just eagerly wanting to buy any of the merchandise. The biggest hit was the brown hoodie with In Qontrol logo at the back. I bought a ‘L’ (large) for 40 Euro. I paid more for a hoodie elsewhere, so i think it’s worthwhile. Besides, i want to get every official hoodie of these big parties as many as possible. So far i got Qlimax and In Qontrol. Thunderdome, Sensation Black and possibly Defqon1 will be next.
You can always tell how excited the party-animals are by how thrilled that they are wearing the official merchandise. It’s the brand name of ‘Q-Dance’ that is really synonymous for its theatrical and over-sized parties ready to be entertained by solo DJs choreographed by the lighting arsenals. In Qontrol shouldn’t be any different. And so these blokes who bought the merchandise had high hopes that this party will push them into a new benchmark level of ‘raves’.
Within the hall where that merchandise store was located was filled with ‘picnic chairs’ and a table and around the sides were food stores, bars and toilets in a corner. There were like three halls like this within the RAI for tonight…all between the venues so that crowds can help themselves and go dancing again.
Okay, i’m totally lost. You can literally travel around in a golf-buggy in this huge indoor mini-town. There are two pedestrian sky bridges connecting from the smaller venues to the main arena and in each sector there is this big map locating that ‘you are here’ and somehow you gotta follow this coloured wiggly lines to your destination.
(Click thumbnail map below)
It took me ten minutes today to figure out where the heck was everything. I think i started between the ‘underground’ and the ’sincity’ DJ list bubbles and slowly walked clock-wise all the way to the South of this map. That’s there the general entrance was and a hall of ‘lockers’.
When i arrived in the main arena, it was just patchy crowds and a small bunch way at the front.
May as well take this opportunity to walk around this exhibition centre to familiarise myself with the surroundings.
This was taken in Evolution Sector venue. Ultraform was playing.
I took them in an elevated VIP deck which was located on the left side of the hall. Pretty great view. I enjoyed watching him DJing as he seems to be an entertainer pleasing the crowd. The interior design was great too. The my serial pyramid shape steel beam foundation with CRT TV boxes on three bottom levels with DJ on the top of the peak.
Then here is the SinCity venue.
A mix of gabber and hardstyle as a taste of this venue. DJ Mad Dog was playing.
Then here’s The Underground venue. The sphere is the ‘control nerve’ for the lights and queues.
Closer look at the front
Adlay doing the gabber dance.
Gabber all the way. Bass V & The Viper was playing.
Back to the VIP deck. Nice view ay? An elevated room at the back with our own bar and chill-out room area at the rear.
Tommy Pulse & Fausto
For those kandy kids back in Australia, here’s the European version. This group is from Ireland. Fluro wear with fluffy boots. No coloured beads on their wrist nor the usual baby-wear, angel wings and so on. There are many kandy kids but definitely not as prominent as in Sydney’s party. Most of the ones i have met are either Irish or British.
This is the rear of the main arena. You can see the elevated VIP deck on the left. Walking towards the chill-out area.
A bloke waiving the French flag.
The laser cannons were decent. They didn’t centralise it like in Qlimax. Less dramatic, but able to fill the space by attaching some from the ceiling.
The grey spectrum is just pure bliss to watch.
See what i mean? The laser cannons just soaking it from the ‘above’ vantage point.
Flame-throwers going off.
This bloke pretty much danced till no tomorrow!
When DJ Nosferatu was playing.
The chill-out area from behind.
Now it’s getting filled up in the Evolution Sector venue
At 4:22AM Dano was playing.
At 6:01AM The Outside Agency was playing in SinCity venue.
Last pic at 6.09AM
Conclusion
Overall it was a party i will remember. The crowd was much younger than Trance Energy or even Qlimax. Many more at my age. The type of crowd was pretty diverse. From skinheads to kandy kids, lads, clubbers, bar, old-skool and so on. Many nationalities as well, but most are Dutch. Most behaved well without much incident of brawl. Beers continue to get pumped and drugs are handed in like candies. The blokes i met there asked me a few times if i wanted it.
When Dana started playing, i was quite disappointed. In my opinion, she has gone downhill for 2 years. The MC was chanting that she’s the ‘Queen of Hardstyle’, but either the speakers are playing up or that she is getting worse at mixing. It sounds like she is really trying diligently to scratch with hardstyle track which makes high screeching tones, but that’s just irritating. The crowd in the main arena did start to thin-out as i could tell that the rear end was showing large patches of emptiness in dance area.
Another point to note. Donkey Rollers only played for 30 minute. What’s up with that? He is worth more than 30 minute, and as far as i’m concerned he was playing better than Dana in which she had 75min worth of tune pumping.
Overall, it was a well planned party. The layouts and interior designs for the stages were fantastic with well queued laser shows.
Next week is Sensation Black in Antwerp, so watch this space!
