NDSM Wharf is an open public space, formerly a shipyard, located on the banks of the River IJ. The space is home to a vibrant community of artists, live performance venues, bars, and restaurants covering the ground larger than ten football fields. For today, NDSM is transformed into the ADE oasis with a relaxation area, hot tubs, a large record market, multiple fire pits, and DIY horses and tigers on wheels (which you can sit on while your BFF attempts to drag it across the park) and it’s all free.

Near the entry in the open-air food hall area is a wall of token ATM’s which you need for all food and drinks and the precious reusable drink cup. The token system is slightly confusing but some reading and basic math will get you through just fine. The hangover (as a physical state) is celebrated at the Amsterdam Dance Event so most of the “stages are covered to protect your tired eyes from the throbbing“ headache you may be still dealing with. The smallest party is in what I’m guessing is the Treehouse: a tiny hotbox hut with a curtain door seeping smoke clouds through every single crack.

The Barn programming kicked off at noon with Pablo Discobar Soundsystem, mixing some really “old shit with the sounds of modern disco” and Mahabe137. By 4 pm Tenzers (Vincent and Siemen Tenzers brothers), the Barn is a hot room packed with people, swaying, two-stepping, and full force dancing to house and techno illuminated by the moving strobe lights. Tenzers’ very special recipe to blending house and techno (Detroit and Chicago) with subtle hints of jazz, funk, and soul (sampled from often rare and exotic records) is a much-needed treat this afternoon.

Further into the park is an open dance area, near an oddly shaped tower, alien crash site, craft beer stand, and a couple of hot tubs to the side (both very much in use). At the front is a small but funky stage occupied by Radio De Koperen Hond, hosted by Into The Woods festival (regulars at NDSM). De Koperen Hond stage is visibly the most happening and energetic area in the park, people in all sorts of dress and undress, are dancing in the cold to an eclectic mix of house, techno, and disco (try Magazine 60 “Don Quichotte (No Están Aquí)” to get into the mood).

The best place to see the sunset, however, is from the A’DAM Tower, at the Loft with 360 views on the water. The event is another party hosted by Audio Obscura featuring the German grandmaster Sven Väth, spinning records out of milk crates. The dance floor side of the Loft is incredibly hot, everyone wants to be closer to Sven and many people in attendance are friends and family, welcoming us into their circle with open arms (quite literally). With over three decades of experience, Sven Väth has had a great impact on the advance and evolution of electronic music. Väth is known for hosting inclusive, welcoming parties that promote positivity that dance music can bring and this party is no different – there is a visible sense of community clearly inspired by the producer’s charismatic personality. As I post up by the speaker, trying to sneak in a few shots, Väth throws me a smile (top photo) before returning to his milk crate in search of the next record (to get a sense of his flavor listen to “Dein Schweiss”).

***

In retrospective, we were barely able to scratch the surface of ADE. With over 1,000 events across 200 locations, it is humanly impossible to not get FOMO but you can’t win them all (someone once told me about missing out on a show). This year’s edition of the festival brought together 400,000 visitors from across 150 countries and we are happy to say we tried our best to share the event through these brief highlights.

Mark your calendars, ADE 2020 is the 25th-anniversary edition and will take place from the 21st to 25th of October.

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This is a big year for the ADE and Deezer partnership – earlier in the month they launched a dedicated ADE channel for electronic fans. In your preparation for the festival, or to keep the party going in post, Robin tirelessly worked with artists and labels on creating 70 specialty playlists with performing artists like Floating Points, Ellen Allien, Martin Garrix, Paula Temple, Modeselektor, Joris Voorn, among many others. As someone who has also been coming to ADE for 10 years, Robin has a special insight into this world. “What’s interesting is pop music is now drawing on EDM as well and that’s quite exciting,” he points out when reflecting on the state of the genre today, “over the last three years especially, EDM has been a gateway for a lot of people to discover house and techno,” and while the underground scene might not be the biggest percentage of the EDM consumers, those who “actually go down the funnel and go deeper into the sounds, see the history of house and actually discover new music, it is possible,” because many of today’s EDM superstars come from an underground scene themselves.

ADE hosts quite a few smaller, underground-type parties, and the subgenres the festival spans go far beyond what a typical music listener would define as electronic music. Among our own friendly encounters is a meeting with the folks from World A Reggae, a platform for reggae music and Jamaican culture, whom I met at Jamaica’s Reggae Sumfest festival earlier this year. The small group of us decided to take it easy and explore showcases which cross our genre preferences: Chicago house, R&B, soul, and of course – dancehall.

Gathering in a small and slightly divey 50:HERTZ House Café (which the internet generously refers to as a nightclub) we joined a group of relaxed people jamming to the Chicago Beatdown, a showcase designed to shine spotlight on “togetherness, inspiration, and to salute the accomplishments of Chicago producers, artists, and DJs.” Spinning to the most multicultural crowd we’ve seen all week is Lee Farmer, who has been entrenched deep in the Chicago music scene since the ’80s (cover photo). For a solid hour, Lee Farmer brings joy to the dance floor with new renditions of classic dance songs like Atlantic Starr’s hit single “Circles” and MC support by RUSSOUL, another multi-talented Chicago native. Farmer gave way to KOKO, who played a mix of soulful house and some heavier tracks like Emanuele DJ’s “Grounge” – a remix of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

A few canals over through the crowded Amsterdam center is Akhnaton, a club and event space, where a very niche group of people are gathering for the Dancehall Episode, a monthly event (this time a part of the ADE agenda). The room is buzzing with upbeat energy as a handful of dancers from the UK and Netherlands are hyping up the crowd with a mini-battle slash dance along to hip hop and R&B favorites. Across from the DJ booth is a small corner stage, framed by a shiny tinsel wall wrapping around the corner. As the DJs are starting to take turns in the DJ booth – DJ Jah first – mixing in old and new reggae, dancehall, and soca this small stage becomes a platform for all of those looking to show off their dance moves. Admittedly a Dutch dancehall party doesn’t compare to the island one but it sure is a nice change of pace.

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Now, back to our regular music programming.

The first highlight for ADE By Night this Friday evening is an intimate pre-dinner listening party at the Nes 118 mansion with Deezer, the French online music streaming service. For this evening, a.k.a. the Barbershop, Deezer’s global dance, electronic, and alternative music editor Robin Wilms selected a small collection of unreleased albums: “Jdid” by Acid Arab, “Thirst” by Sebastian (about time!), “Balance” by Armin van Buuren, “Yearnite for the Infinite” by Max Cooper, “Magdalene” by FKA Twigs, and a few others. This unique space has a bit of a steampunk vibe, with retro furnishings and grey/green undertones. As we sip on cocktails, unrushed, listening to these great unreleased tunes, some people are sitting back in barber chairs, getting styled by Amsterdam’s best.

A quick tram ride from Amsterdam Central Station is the main concert hall for contemporary classical music, called Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. Up a bridge that hangs over the water pass, around the corner, through the lower deck is the Sudbeat x The Soundgarden day party. Dutch DJ and producer Dimitri, the innovator of hi-tech-soul (Detroit sound-infused techno) who started spinning way back in 1987, is playing all day in the Bimhuis area, a round-shaped room with cascading low steps. Back down on the sunny indoor Deck with sweeping views on the water, is Amsterdam-based Miss Melera, playing her flavor of melodic techno to a packed room of dancers, basking in the sunlight.

The rooms and levels in Muziekgebouw are unusually situated across the mixed building levels, some can only be accessed by one staircase, others by another, and across the balcony, overlooking the Deck, is a small Chappel where Sudbeat X The Soundgarden artists from across the globe are taking turns. At around 5 pm Gustin, the resident DJ and promoter for Nick Warren’s The Soundgarden Ibiza, stepped up to the tables spreading his unique blend of pumping, tech-prog, funk-fuelled house music. Many of these producers have been around for decades, defining the electronic music genre and building the foundation for what we are listening to today, so it’s quite special to be here, watching the masters effortlessly do their thing.

Further inland and later into the night an obscenely large group of people are gathering in the Scheepsbouwloods’ warehouse space for a DGTL all-nighter. Known for throwing some of the best parties and festivals around the world Amsterdam-based DGTL is one of many organizations putting an effort into making a sustainable impact on the global festival landscape. When purchasing a drink an extra euro is charged for a reusable plastic cup which you can then commit to for the rest of the night, a system used during many events at ADE. Losing a cup would cost you a euro more per drink while ending the night with one will earn you a recycling token, what it could be used for, however, we never figured out.

The venue is split into two rooms: a smaller one that looked like an oversized shipping container, out of which jam-packed dancers are spilling all the way into the food court-type area, and the big room, which has its own bar, a perpetually sticky floor, cool lights, and TV’s hung under the sealing. The mid-programming treat is Orbital, an electronic dance music brother duo (Phil and Paul Hartnoll) from England (cover image). Orbital have been around since the 80s and have an extensively impressive resume. The duo is known for their memorable live shows which – much like today – feature a creative imagery showcase and live improvisation by the DJs. Fittingly to the day’s green motif Orbital begun the set with “There Will Come a Time” which opens with a monologue by professor Brian Cox (English physicist): ‘There are few certainties in science, but one fact of which we can all be certain is that one day we will die. Our atoms won’t disappear, they will return to the Earth.’ – one of many environmentally and politically-charged songs we hear tonight.

Just around the corner Amsterdam’s smallest festival, aptly named Festifest, teams up with Berlin’s Wilde Renate crew for a wild ADE dance party at the Noorderlicht Café. As we approach the venue its greenhouse-style shape greets us with warm lights and a casual outdoor sitting area, a few brave souls relaxing around a fire pit. The coat check is outside and the inside is hot like an Arabian desert, packed wall to wall on the main floor. The balcony has a much more relaxed vibe with a handful of people laying back on the couches, a couple quite literally napping, and a small group of people dancing in the circle.

“Beer please.” The bartender nods in acknowledgment as if he just scanned me for tasting notes and read my mind. I hand over my recycling token (given to me by security at the entrance), he hands over a pint of lager. Looking over the balcony ledge the energy around the DJ is infectious and you cannot help but dance as well. Taking us into the sunrise are Kornél Kovács, PEAK & SWIFT, Johannes Albert, Alison Swing, and SHMLSS, casually spinning a mix of house and techno, mixing in their particular takes on tracks like Wiley’s “Boasty,” Robin S’ “Show Me Love,” classics like Mr Fingers “Can You Feel It” and even “Ghostbusters.”

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One of Thursday’s highlights is ADE Live, a festival-curated showcase focusing on the best of up-and-coming electronic acts for the sole purpose of discovering the hidden gems. Tonight the Live showcase takes place at the Melkweg (Dutch for Milky Way), a multi-level cultural and music venue in the heart of Amsterdam’s nightlife square, just off the Lijnbaansgracht canal (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue?).

Feeling a bit more at home we find our way into the venue. Step 1: locate lockers, put away the warm stuff. Step 2: get a beer. Step 3: find a good vantage point.

Upstairs UK’s Catching Flies (real name George King) is patiently warming up the room. King’s music takes inspiration in a variety of genres from jazz and soul, to house and electronica. Since entering the music scene Catching Flies toured as support for Bonobo and played shows with the likes of ODESZA and Submotion Orchestra. His music is melodic, fluid, with minimal vocals, and some tracks, like “Stay Forever,” are visibly reminiscent of early Odessa, while his remix of “Mt. Wolf’s “Life Size Ghosts” creates an almost religious experience.

Somewhere downstairs, in a slightly larger room called the Oz, UK-based Grammy-winning producer and composer William Phillips is gathering the new arrivals: “Hello Amsterdam, my name is Tourist.” A few cheers passed through the crowd. Tourist’s newest album Wild is dropping tomorrow (October 18th) via Monday Records so the timing of this show is quite opportunistic. In Phillips’ own words Wild is an album in which he tried to “set aside self-doubts” thus producing in a much more liberating way. The album, played out almost in full during the show, features sampled vocals, gentle emotive piano lines, and deep arpeggios that encompass the room in its entirety as the melodies grow louder and more pronounced (check out “Elixir” and “Bunny”).

Overlapping the Tourist set, in the biggest room across the hallway, is Apparat (real name Sascha Ring) and his very atmospheric 4-piece band. Thin, angled fluorescent lights hung across the stage, blinking, creating an incredibly moody atmosphere while Apparat is working through his latest studio album LP5. Playing a mix of string instruments, singing, and occasionally interacting with the band (who were also skilled in a variety of instruments), Sascha showcased his unique flavor of melancholic techno and deep orchestral pop ballads, taking the audience on a journey packed with dark fragmented twists and dramatic turns (press play for “Dawan” and “Caronte”).

Amsterdam proper is not a particularly large city and can be easily walked but a quick tram can take you across town to the Central Station with a lot less precipitation. Here, between the trains, buses, and ferries, down a wide staircase into a large, low ceiling room, is Lil’ Amsterdam, which by all definition feels like an underground nightclub. It is dark, hot AF, smells funny, and you need tokens for everything including the bathroom (entry into which earns you another stamp on the already marked up arm).

Step 1: locate lockers, put away the wet stuff. Step 2: buy tokens, hydrate. Step 3: gently find my way to the front of the stage and put those fancy earplugs to work (one must not forget the good advice of public messaging: protect your ears).

This evening’s programming at Lil’ Amsterdam is brought to us by Audio Obscura, an event organization “born out of love for underground electronic music” on a mission to bring people together in the most iconic historical venues of the world. Through the packed dancing crowd, at the back of the dance floor area, is the German house pioneer Danilo Plessow, aka Motor City Drum Ensemble (MCDE). Inspired by the sounds of Detroit and Chicago house, MCDE spins soul-infused house and techno. Danilo is visibly comfortable on stage: this deck is his home, these people are his people (even if they followed someone in they are fans now), and this inadequately sound-proofed room is a perfect space for the beats to bounce of (“Raw Cuts #3” is a great flavor sample).

Unlike many other festivals around the world, here in Amsterdam, the headliners seemed to go on early at club night events. Admittedly, early still means 1, 2 or 3 am but given that the parties go on till sunrise one can certainly appreciate that their favorite musicians are on at the time of night when you can still form complex sentences, leaving just enough time for a healthy nap before starting it all over again.

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But navigating Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) can be an overwhelming experience. One can be completely aware of the fact that there are twenty-five hundred artists participating, and still be perplexed and overwhelmed by the logistics and scheduling whilst navigating the countless canals of the city. The program published on the ADE website is quite detailed, but missing a couple of essential pieces: set times and a digital venue map. Having only start and end times of each individual showcase (each lasting anywhere between 4 and 10 hours), first day of the festival is spent frantically trying to figure out the inner workings of, well, everything – locations, times, entry logistics, transit options (is Uber faster than walking? Short answer: No).

A glass of wine at one of the networking events will ease the stress of planning and smooth the transition into the night which, for this team, begun at the W Amsterdam with BROBOT, an American house music label founded by DJ and Producer Junior Sanchez. BROBOT artist range is quite eclectic and the team showcased that spectacular variety tonight with the likes of Blaqwell, Hiroko Yamamura, Todd Terry, and Junior Sanchez himself (to name a few) on the decks. The room is packed with a relaxed crowd, sprawling on abstract lounge seats drinking Red Bull and Heineken, while a smaller group is crowding by the DJ forming a mini dance pit. BROBOT crew walked us into the night with a wide range of remixes, from Missy Elliott’s “I’m Really Hot” to Moska’s “This Is House,” naturally sprinkled with some disco.

This all doesn’t seem so hard any more, but that could be the second (third?) Red Bull talking.

Somewhere between the canals a yellow ADE flag pole calls attention to Feijoa, a small corner bar with a spillover patio where a loud crowd is cooling down while smoking cigarets, leaning on shaky patio tables, and spilling beer on the ground. Some music could be heard through the door which, each time it opens is promptly shut by the bouncer who, in a very similar fashion, shut the door behind us, thus pushing us both into the mosh pit that the entire bar seemed to have become. On the decks: Germany’s Rauschhaus followed by Soul Button, from Plaisirs Sonores Records. Packed like sardines, leaning on walls, performing acrobatics while reaching for the bar, and fanning themselves while dancing people in this room were boiling in contagiously euphoric energy.

Many of city’s concert venues’ programming is split in two parts: evening showcase and club night. Paradiso, arguably one of the best live music spots in Amsterdam, was one of such venues and was promptly cleared out after ADE Live for a club night event featuring Hayden James on his Between Us tour. After a brief wait in the club entry line, the tail end of the lineup was let in just in time for Hayden James, who was already bathing in applause and cheerful shouts.

To most people, at least in North America, Hayden is an up-and-coming producer who makes melodic summer house (following in the footsteps of Flume, his fellow Future Classic artist). This evening, however, we got to see a whole new side of Hayden James – darker, heavier, deeper house side that raised the temperature all the way through to the back of the balcony with bangers like Duke Dumont’s “Red Light Green Light” and Hayden James originals. Hayden’s stage is in part a performance floor, wrapping around him like a glowing marquee box. Two long-legged dancers walked out just behind him, whipping their long skirts while energized, young crowd continued to cheer almost non-stop through the night.

Walking across the venue a mixed cloud of smoke and stage fog drifts down the hallways like a settling storm – there are covered heated smoking rooms, but not everyone chooses to obey the privileges of such conveniences. Club nights like these draw a younger crowd and, naturally, a lot of tourists. People (wrongly so) treat Amsterdam as a sin city, where you can let your freak flag fly and try all things new because here, in the city of red lights, it is okay. But while Amsterdam admittedly is a very liberal city and has been so for many decades, the truth is, locals are very calm and classy about their cannabis (and other drug) intake and a lot of prohibitive rules are still at play when it comes to public consumption. All throughout the city and festival grounds “Celebrate Safe” posters are taped to the walls, doors, and even displayed in bus shelters: think for yourself, care about others; don’t push your limits, take your time to chill, protect your ears, always have safe sex. “Pace yourself: eat, sleep, rave.” I’ve never read that statement in the context of safe partying guidelines before, but it makes sense. Although, Fat Boy Slim probably didn’t think he wrote a timeless party motto back in 2013, whatever the context might be.

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For anyone who likes electronic music across decades and sub-genres, this is paradise. ADE takes place across various venues in Amsterdam hosting lectures, workshops, art installations, and of course dance parties. This year the festival will feature 2,500 artists and 550 speakers in almost 200 venues so if you are interested in meeting the who’s who of the electronic genre this is the place to be. The exact dates and line up are yet to be announced but to illustrate the level of royalty and variety here in the past years ADE brought out Lee Burridge, San Holo, Adam Beyer, Afrojack, Soulwax, George FitzGerald, Gui Boratto, Actress, Voodoo Children, Leafs, and over 500 other names across the globe. In a nutshell, ADE is a cultural movement: 

Bilbao BBK live
Basque woodland, Kobetamendi, Bilbao | July 11-15

A Spanish festival located in a clearing in the Basque woodland, “Basoa invites discerning revelers to get lost to the finest in electronic and experimental sounds amidst the idyllic woodland surroundings” – sounds pretty damn good to us! Bilbao brings together world-renowned artists to emerging young talent. So far the 2019 line up features Laurent Garnier, Honey Dijon, The Strokes, Octo Octa, Todd Terje, Thom Yorke, Princess Nokia, Bicep and more.

Elements Lakewood Music & Arts Festival
Lakewood, PA, USA | May 24-27 

Over the Memorial Day weekend Northeast, PA will become home to a solid line up of performers and campers in search of a unique festival experience. In its 3rd edition, the festival brought together the likes of Disclosure, Big Gigantic, Damian Lazarus, FISHER, Justin Martin, Seth Troxler, Shiba San, and more.  The campground will also feature what they call “immersive environments” and wellness and summer camp activities. 

EXIT Festival
Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia | July 4-7

The location is in a forest on a bank of a river EXIT had originally started as a student protest against political change and freedom in 2000. Today, EXIT is an award-winning annual festival that continues to spread positive vibes, promote change and positive educations while supporting humanitarian missions and communities. At the end of the day, however, EXIT is a party. The line up for 2019 is already making waves: Carl Cox, Tom Walker, The Cure, and Elioh, are already on the bill, to name a few. 

FME – Festival de musique émergente
Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada | August 30 – September 2

The festival takes over the entire town of Rouyn-Noranda for indoor and outdoor shows, special performances across various venues, and pop-up events in the most inconspicuous places. Members of the music industry across the world gather in this small town to talk about music, eat poutine, and meet new people. The artist line up is to be announced soon but typically features performers across various genres and countries. 

Reggae Sumfest
Montigo Bay, Jamaica | July 14 – 20

With nearly a week full of special events, parties, park-wide festivals and special performances across Mobay, this festival brings the island to life unlike anything else. Presented by Downsound Entertainment Sumfest it is the world’s biggest Reggae Festival and the most prestigious one. The line up is yet to be announced but it will undoubtedly be an epic one. 

Vujaday Music Festival
Barbados | April 3-7

Vujaday is entering their second year in 2019 and the lineup is already a promising one: Bob Moses, Lee Burridge, Octave One, Nitin, and many more! To offer up a unique experience each day the festival events will take place in different venues across the island. New to the schedule this year is a daytime party series details for which are yet to be announced. 

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