FestPop’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) 2017 Review | The Disneyland for EDM Fans & Artists

Moe Catch

7 years ago

As December is the first association of Christmas, so is the month of October the first association for all the EDM lovers for nothing more than the Amsterdam Dance Event! This year from 18-22 of October, almost 395 000 people were in Amsterdam attending this unique event. The entire city was covered with yellow black flags with a well-known ADE sign. Amsterdam has become the capital of the EDM world last week. There is no nation we did not meet. All the people in the EDM industry were there, making new contacts and talking about improving the scene. On over 140 locations around the city, there had been different conferences, workshops, talks, and playgrounds.

Quick Stats: 499 Festival events, 395,000 EDM Fans, 2,502 Artists performed

More than 550 speakers and almost 2500 performers made this ADE unforgettable for everyone. Everyone was saying that this was the best ADE ever. The organization was perfect, guests were worth getting up for early in the morning after the crazy parties. And the parties, how wild was that??! DeLaMar Theater has taken on the central stage for the ADE Conference. The beautiful theater, covered from the first to the last floor in the red carpet, became the main venue for meetings, talks, and negotiations on how to improve the EDM scene and festivals. Already on the first day we could listen and choose between 113 speakers and 454 artists. Between ADE Green, Pro, Sound Lab and the University, Wednesday’s conference schedule was really difficult to decide on which side to go first. We ended this evening really impressed by the show of Richie Hawtin on Nieuwmarkt Square.

The next day, started again with meetings and socializing, and you could attend among other things, different day programs such as; Born4Jobs, ADE University Kick off, conversation with Matthew Dear and many others. The second part of the day we were invited to the Armada Label offices, and have spent a great time with the most famous people in the world of trance music. Armin van Buuren, Andrew Rayel, Mark Sixma, David Gravell and Ruben de Ronde are just some of those we met there. They were broadcasting the ASOT show for 14 hours, so that was quite impressive to see and hear. This evening ended in a trance. In the sold-out AFAS hall Armin Van Buuren, Aly & Fila, Protoculture, Ben Gold and many others brought the audience into delirium.

The third day didn’t disappoint as well. We were listening to pros and cons of running a label, we found out how the EDM scene in Morocco exploded and had a privilege to be in the studio with Joris Voorn. The highlight of the day; in De Brakke Grond, Nina Kraviz was speaking about her evolution of sound. A lot of people couldn’t even attend this event as the interest was too big. After all the meetings, talks and discussions you could choose to end your night with Dave Clarke, Fedde le Grand ,Martin Garrix, Marcus Schulz or many other parties almost in every corner of Amsterdam. One of the most famous party for sure was HYDE. HYTE’s events during Amsterdam Dance Event were some of the most talked about parties of the week.

The Berlin-based,but world wide, HYDE never disappoints with its line up.Adam Beyer, Chris Liebing, Hot Since 8 and Loco Dice were just some of the Djs performing at the ADE. 21^st of October we spent mostly during the day, at De Brakke Grond, listening to some amazing speakers like Gary Numan, and spending time in the studio with one and only Ferry Corsten and Chocolate Puma. Interesting fact, they had a pioneer DJ room too, with a quite impressive equipment, so everyone could try how is it to be a DJ. Note to people who think that’s an easy job, trust me – it isn’t. Simpatico duo from Kiasmos had an interesting talk too, was worth listening to them. End of the day was reserved for the AMF party in the most famous Amsterdam Arena. The first part of the AMF was all about DJmag announcement of the top 100 Djs in the world for 2017. For the second year in the row, young and talented Martin Garrix got the title.

After the announcement, Armin van Buuren and Hardwell had a b2b set, which was absolutely amazing, and after them, David Guetta took the stage. The night ended with perspective VINI VICI who left people barely standing on their feet. Last day of ADE was less about people finding the power to attend last events. Awakenings had a huge show, there was also an ADE Full Moon Disco party and much more. ADE is really something special. Amsterdam is usually a town with a strong vibe, but during the ADE it becomes maybe the best city to be in. I think that every single one of this 395 000 people are going home with nothing but joy, great memories and thinking about how to pass as soon as possible this next 365 days until the ADE 2018. See you everyone in a year, it was a pleasure!