2016 marked the 21st edition of Amsterdam Dance Event – the five-day electronic music festival that takes over the dutch capital every October. Apart from attracting swathes of tourists all gagging for space cake and selfies by the canals, Amsterdam gathers 365,000 fellow music lovers from all around the globe with more than 2,000 DJ’s and musicians playing in the some of the coolest locations. Here’s a handful of stuff that happened throughout the memorable week…
The Dutch Know How To Throw A Party
Crane Hotel Faralda Amsterdam played host to the elevated annual #Cranesessions, situated in the NDSM Werf these private parties exhibited collaborations with the industries leading DJ’s. Think; Jackmaster, Hot Since 82 and Route 94 in a limited 100 capacity venue live streamed around the world, and all the while you’re hundreds of feet in the air – very lekker indeed!
Obviously not a great recommendation if you suffer from the odd bout of vertigo, however with the best panoramic view of Amsterdam, you’ll be daft to not bag yourself an invite for next year that’s for sure!
Craig David Is Everywhere
It’s not all die-hard techno fans and music aficionados chin stroking their way around DJ booths, for all you chart-topper fans out there you can count on Craig David to level it out – the guy is everywhere these days, so it’s no surprise he made an appearance at ADE.
His TS5 performance at the ever so cultural Paradiso Club (a converted church that once housed hippy squatters back in the day) was an eye-opener to say the least. A mash-up of old skool anthems, Garage, R&B and Bashment (Note: Bashment is another term for dancehall) the crowd was easily pleased with his selector skills he’s acquired over the years.
Check out this video of Craig David mixing and MC’ing at the same time – erm, you show em’ how it’s done…
Thank you for the amazing energy tonight #Amsterdam for my @TS5 show! INCREDIBLE??? #TS5 #ADE O2 Academy Brixton here I come??
You can buy #FMI here – http://smarturl.it/CDFMIiTunesDLX
Posted by Craig David on Wednesday, 19 October 2016
There’s Always Time For A Game Of Footy
Let’s take a little break from getting fucked up and smashing our way through as many clubs nights as possible here. Resident Advisor and new dutch club on the scene De School took a charitable approach to ‘networking’ and put together quite an interesting 5-a-side football tournament before all the madness truly kicked off.
Record labels Dekmantel, Rush Hour and Numbers took part whilst various DJ’s played sweet, sweet music at Het Gymlokaal, Amsterdam’s club gymnasium, with 100% of all donations going to Help Refugees charity.
I personally hate football, but this was jokes!
Dockyard Festival Is The Place To Be
The dystopian-like festival was at its best this year; the one hell of a huge lineup filled with techno heavyweights Monika Kruse, Dubfire and Paul Ritch quite simply blew my hat and scarf off (it’s autumn after all now).
Battered cars plonked on top of shipping containers, an abandoned navy submarine casually resting in the docklands showed off a bit of the Netherlands industrial heritage giving it futuristic vibes. A perfect place for fucking good techno.
Red Light District Has Its Own Radio Station
Yes, that’s right. Hidden amongst those tiled, seedy and sterile rooms is the Red Light District’s own online radio station. A surprising find for the novice ADE goer, you can tune in and watch DJs spin everything from your standard deep house to dub techno and even afro beats whilst enjoying the cities unique cafe culture!
I’ll definitely being going back to Amsterdam next year.
