My five favourite raves/gigs

5) Qlimax.

Picture courtesy of Q-Dance. http://www.q-dance.com/global/en/

Qlimax is an annual event held by the Dutch entertainment enterprise Q-Dance. It is considered one of the leading hardstyle events on the calendar and a major attraction of Q-Dance and contains some of the most sophisticated production and setup as well as sound system for any event in the world.

In the beginning, Qlimax used to have several editions every year. But since 2004, it was changed to be held annually in the third or fourth week of November.

At first it was held at the Beursgebouw (Eindhoven) and then moved to various other venues such as the SilverDome (Zoetermeer) and Heineken Music Hall (Amsterdam), but has made its home at the Gelredome (Arnhem).

Many artists consider being chosen to play at Qlimax a highlight as the event is used to showcase the most successful artists in their respective genre. The beginning saw the lineup featuring genres ranging from hardhouse to techno. This was changed to traditionally begin with one hardhouse act, numerous hardstyle acts and then finish off with one hardcore/gabber act.

This was changed in 2008 with the removal of the jumpstyle act and in 2009 with the replacement of the hardtrance act to one playing early hardstyle.

My list as a hardstyle lover couldn't be complete without having Qlimax in it, it was the first event that got me interested in the genre and I always wanted to go and when i finally did I was not disappointed. 

4) Sensation white.

Picture courtesy of http://manhattan2ibiza.com/

Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event inspired by the P-Man and Dangerous Dave which originated in the Netherlands and organized by ID&T. The original event, which ran exclusively in the Amsterdam arena for a period of five years until 2005, is now located throughout Poland, Spain, Austria, Chile, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Czech republic, Latvia, Russia, Denmark, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, Brazil, Norway, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and starting from 2012, the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey and Romania. They recently announced that Sensation is arriving to Italy on April 13, 2013 and South Africa on September 7, 2013.

In 2008, it was announced that for the first time Sensation would be held on New Year's Eve in Melbourne, Australia as well as in Düsseldorf, Germany and Barcelona, Spain.

ID&T announced in 2011 that Sensation would finally tour to the United States of America in 2012. The first Sensation USA event took place back-to-back nights on October 26 and 27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. The event was webcast on Xbox Live.

ID&T also announced on April 3, 2012 that Sensation would also be making its debut in Asia, making stops in South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. In a press conference held in Seoul, Korea, it was revealed that the first Sensation Asia will be held in Seoul, Korea, on 21 July. After Sensation Korea the ‘Ocean of White’ show heads over to Bangkok, Thailand for a show on 18 August and to Kaohsiung, Taiwan on 29 September. All of which are a Co-Production between ID&T and Heineken Beer Company.

On February 5, 2013 a Canadian debut was announced, presented by Bud Light Canada.

Sensation White used to be a trance event, but in later years it has become a pure house event. All the attendees are required to wear white and the Amsterdam ArenA itself is decorated to match. Sensation White's slogan is "Be Part Of The Night - Dress in White". Every event has around 40,000-45,000 tickets available. The Amsterdam ArenA event takes place every year on the first Saturday in July while the German event in the LTU Arena in Düsseldorf is held on New Year's Eve. In 2009 it was organized for the first time on two subsequent nights on 3 and 4 July in the Amsterdam Arena where the opening of the Wicked Wonderland took place.

Notable DJs that have appeared at Sensation include Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Swedish House Mafia, Hardwell, André Tanneberger, David Guetta, Erick E, Erick Morillo, Ferry Corsten, Marco V, Paul van Dyk, Johan Gielen, Sander Kleinenberg, Steve Angello, Fedde Le Grand, Sebastian Ingrosso, Sander van Doorn, Mason, Felix Da Housecat, Laidback Luke, Tocadisco, Rank 1, Martin Solveig and Dada Life.



3) Mysteryland. 

www.mysteryland.com

Mysteryland is a series of electronic dance music festivals held by the Netherlands-based promoter ID&T. Being the first of its kind in the country when it was established, its organizers have billed the event as the oldest dance music festival in the Netherlands. It has most recently been held at Haarlemmermeerse Bos in Haarlemmermeer; an exhibition ground that hosted the 2002 edition of the Dutch gardening festival Floriade.

It is traditionally held on the final Saturday of August; in 2013. It will begin its expansion into a two-day event by offering events on the preceding Friday. However, for the first year of this format, the first day will only be open to those who are camping on-site.

In 2011, an international edition of Mysteryland was held in Chile, the first to be held outside the Netherlands.

Mysteryland’s multi-faceted approach has been a winning formula for no less than two decades. The festival offers its guests a creative journey, combining music with theatre, movies, interactive installation art, street performers and spectacular shows at bizarre decorated stages. To create this amazing spectacle, the festival organizers collaborate with a wide range of creative people from all over the world. As a nomad Mysteryland travels across the globe to find international artists willing to work with the festival and to make it an even richer experience.

The musical offerings are also all about discovery. In addition to legends from the international dance scene, the festival provides a stage for new and local talents: the next generation.

Mysteryland has been a leading pioneer on the dance festival scene in Europe and the US since 1993 and has inspired numerous other organizers and events. The famous Tomorrowland festival, also produced by ID&T, emerged from the key values of the Mysteryland festival. . Furthermore Mysteryland has also been a major catalyst for the electronic music revolution since the early 1990s.

And Mysteryland continues to evolve to this day as an innovator on the festival scene. One example is the sustainability program ‘Celebrate Life’, which ID&T uses to draw attention to topical issues such as engagement, nature and talent by linking them to activities before, during and after the festival.

2) Defqon 1

www.q-dance.com

Defqon.1 Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands and Australia. It was founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance. The festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as hardcore techno, jumpstyle and hard trance. Many prominent hardstyle and dubstyle artists perform there annually. Defqon 1 in the Netherlands is probably the main and most popular festival in the hardstyle genre people travel from all over the world just to the Netherlands just to attend it. The festival was previously held in mid-June on Almeerderstrand in Almere. Since 2011 it is hosted on the event site next to Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. Since 2009 the event has also been hosted in Sydney in mid-September, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. The festival runs for 12 hours, from 11 a.m to 11 p.m, and ends with a firework display. Each edition also has an anthem, an official song that is played in conjunction with the festival.As of 2010, the audience has grown to 40,000 (for the Dutch event), with tickets selling out after 39 minutes. In 2013, the Sydney event attracted 18,000 attendees. Acts performed across seven stages. Defqon 1 is the first major event I went to in Holland, it is one of those festivals you always dream of going to, check out the line-up on its website and watch its after movies with sheer jealousy. I went to Defqon 1 2009 scrap attack and needless to say it was fantastic It was also the first time I had ever been to Holland in general. The people are extremely friendly in Holland and needless to say I still have friends in Amsterdam to this day that I met at Defqon 1.

1) Qountdown 

www.q-dance.com

Qountdown is an annual event that took place on new years eve from 2008 up to 2012. It was organised by Dutch festival organizer Q-Dance You will find New Year's Eve 2011/2012 in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam , notably: the last time under the name The Final Qountdown . It was a major success for the years that it run, it was seen by many as the best event in the Q-Dance calendar even higher rated than Qlimax and Defqon 1. The fact that it was a new years eve part added to the magic of the party as it had an electric atmosphere.For the 2012/2013 event it was re-branded as Freaqshow and moved from the Heineken music hall to the newly built Ziggo dome a couple of hundred yards away. However Qoundown itself is actually a re-brand of another event that Q-dance created before hand called Qrimetime which also ran on new years eve.The reason Qountdown is rated my number one is because even though the re-brand Freaqshow has a similar line-up and a beautiful venue nothing will ever replace the memories of my first time in Amsterdam on new years eve.