With the start of the summer vacation the festival season has officialy been launched in Belgium. I plan to go to quite a few this year (and I've already been to some) so you can expect a lot of music inspired reviews this and next month!
Summerfestival
Location: Antwerp, Nieuw-Zuid, Belgium
Date: 25 june 2011
Summerfestival was the first festival which I attended all by myself, luckily the music promised to be quite worth it. And you know what? I didn’t regret it one bit. Summerfestival lives up to its slogan “the best way to start your summer”. Although… the summervibes were long gone with the weather. Thick clouds were looming above the festivalsite, waiting to rain upon an unsuspecting audience. Some were smart enough to bring an umbrella or a rainjacket, but most people ran around on flipflops, bermudas and hotpants hoping the sun would break through. Too bad that didn’t happen.
But on a brighter note there were a lot of artists and DJ’s I wanted to see. I made a personal timetable to know where and when I needed to be at a certain time, but over the course of the day I strayed a bit from my original plan. (Thank goodness, otherwise I would’ve missed the best part of the festival!)
As soon as I was through the main gate I decided to explore the festival area and the many different stages and tents. There were about eight in total. Because my line-up was sort of predetermined I didn't watch every stage, and some I only visited briefly to get a quick impression on the style of the music and the mood of the audience.
Stages I did watch:
Pepsi Max Mainstage
Genre: various/house/commercial
DJ Licious, Oliver Ingrosso, Adrian Lux, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Funkerman, Don Diablo, Basto!,
Far East Movement and Regi.
I probably was running around the most on the main stage. I stood about everywhere you could stand, in the middle, at the side, right in front of the dj and everywhere in between. The design of the Main Stage was simply stunning, with a large phoenix towering above the stage for the performers and two screens visible, one in its eye and the other one cut out as a heart in its chest. I've been a bit spoiled since my first time at Tomorrowland concerning the visual style and design of a festival, but Summerfestival certainly lived up to its standards. Anyways, onto the music!
I only knew one of Funkerman's songs (Speed up) as it was in the Belgian music charts for a while, but it was enough to convince me to watch him. I was surprised as he brought a more rougher sound, but nevertheless he played a nice set. It got my legs moving!
After Funkerman it was time for Don Diablo to take over the turntables. In Belgium he's probably most known for his hit "Animale". I really enjoyed the first part of his set which was more house influenced, but I didn't like the second part much where he went experimental and even played some dubstep. I have to give him some credit for trying though, his sound probably varied the most of all the things I've seen that day.
Basto! was probably my most favorite DJ on the mainstage. He didn't have the typical looks of a DJ (more like an IT-technician) but wow, he could spin some records! Like every DJ that day he closed his set with his most known track being the lovely "Gregory's Theme".
The crème de la crème of the evening was without a doubt the act of the stylishly clad gentlemen and lady of Far East Movement. And to think I would've skipped them if the MNM Summer Club tent wasn't so full, I'm glad I remained at the Mainstage! They really got the crowd going and ready to sing along with some of their most notorious songs like “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer”, but they weren’t afraid to overstep their boundaries. For example they brought their own version of Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer”. Something I, as I listened a lot to Linkin Park in my youth, could really appreciate. All in all Far East Movement was a blast and I hope this wasn't their first and last gig in Belgium.
MNM Summer Club
Genre: dance/house/commercial
Siege, M.O., Rebel, Robert Abigail, Wout, Laurent Wéry & MC Six, F.R.A.N.K., Lasgo, Peter Luts,
Freemasons and Alex Gaudino.
MNM Summer Club had a pretty impressive line-up, but most of the time the tent was too overcrowded to see anything at all, and not to mention incredibly hot. Because of this I missed more dj's and dance acts than I had expected, but in the end it didn't matter much. I managed to pick up Alex Gaudino in the evening right before leaving and that was good enough for me, as I had seen all the others before.
Bass Events Hardstyle Outdoor
Genre: hardstyle
The Vision, Da Tweekaz, D-Block & S-te-Fan, Coone, Zatox, Isaac, Headhunterz, Wildstylez, Deepack,
Frontliner, Psyko Punkz, Korsakoff and Darkraver.
It was obvious that most of the people were only at Summerfestival for the Bass Event stages. Most likely one third of the festival population didn’t even care to watch anything else. Hardstyle is getting more and more popular in Belgium and Summerfestival tried to cater to that need. A job well done one could say.
Besides oggling at the beautiful outdoor stage (it reminded me of Mayan art) the only thing I was interested in at the Bass Event stages was DJ Coone. I usually don't like hardstyle, but I like some of his tracks as they sound more like hardhouse. (The Return and Protect the Innocent to name a few)
Too bad I didn't get what I was coming for, Coone only played more recent tracks. Ah well, in the end it wasn't that bad, I even could experience the atmosphere that was present at the Bass Event stages, and believe me, it was massive. Hardstylers are some crazy people!
Trance Town
Genre: trance
Treadstone, Airwave, Nash & Pepper, Fast Distance, Ferry Tayle, Leon Bolier, Marcel Woods and
Kristof Van den Berghe.
The amount of people in Trance Town was surprisingly low. It’s like trance doesn’t get the love it deserves, at least not at Summerfestival. I guess the trance family will be more present at Tommorowland… But although the attendance was small, I could feel the love of my fellow trance enthousiasts and got many friendly nods and winks as I was standing there underneath my umbrella, twirling it to the music in the rain.
Miami Pool Party
Genre: house/groove/lounge
Greg Bouvin, The Twins, Raffa Ciello, Guy'Do, DiMaro, Roma, Stereoclash, Dimitri Wouters,
Rockstarz,Yves V, Dave Lambert and Sakso.
I was happy to see DJ Roma again, I sort of discovered him by pure luck at Laundry Day previous year and was pretty much impressed by his set. Back then there weren't much people at his stage, a real shame! Luckily on Summerfestival his audience was notably bigger. He will also be playing on Tommorowland this year so maybe, just maybe I can pick up another set of him there.
Red Light District
Genre: house
Romeo Blanco, Amro, Ralvero, Quintino, Nicolaz, The Opposites, Vato Gonzalez & MC Tjen, Mystique,
DJ Daddy K and The Partysquad.
DJ Daddy K and The Partysquad.
I actually thought the Red Light District was really good, but sadly there were too many other things I wanted to watch. If I had time enough to discover something new, this would surely be the place.
Stages I didn't/couldn't visit, or not long:
Bass Events Teknology Zone
Genre: hardstyle/tekstyle
Mode Seven, Def Toys, Jones, Teka B Live, Demoniak, Transformers Live, iTraxx, Junior Waxx Live,
Gave, Bestien, Davoodi, Dr Phunk, Ruthless, Mark with a K, Lethal MG and Fenix.
Blacklight Arena
Genre: electro/techno
Mr Magnetik, VNNR, The Oddword, Harmony, Science, Syndaesia, AKS (DJ-Set), Blame feat. Quest One
and Murdock feat. Quest One.
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Summerfestival was a great way to start my summer and was, for me at least, one of the better dance festivals I've attended in Belgium. Hopefully I'll be able to convince some friends to go with me next year and have the sun on my side!
