[Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] My ADE 2017 Experience [Day 1 (October 18)]

2017/11/4

ADE2017 Day1｜ Eye Catch — AI-generated illustrative artwork.

I will bring you ADE 2017 event reports in five installments.

This is Day 1, October 18, opening five event-filled days. I arrived in Amsterdam that same day, a little after 1:30 p.m., after nearly 20 hours of flying, so my not-exactly-young body was already in a tough situation—I just wanted about 8 hours of sleep, haha.

Then I went from the start of the first event, #POPUP, at 6 p.m. all the way through to the last event, the end of In Trance We Trust ADE Festival at 6 a.m., for about 12 hours of activity, haha.

*If you are wondering what ADE is, see the following article.

[Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] What I Really Felt Attending ADE2019 (Amsterdam Dance Event) [My First Experience] November 1, 2017

ADE Day 1 Begins!

Richie Hawtin and Loveland Pres. #POPUP

After relaxing a little at the hotel in the evening, I first headed to “Richie Hawtin and Loveland Pres. #POPUP.” This was reportedly the memorable very first Festival Event of ADE 2017.

Thinking back to Richie's visit last November (2016) for Enter.Sake, Richie's own event, when I attended both the talk show and ageHa event, I arrived at the venue, Nieuwmarkt square.

It was just before the 6 p.m. start. As you would expect in Europe, it was still bright.

Day1 popup 2
Day1 popup 1

As Richie began playing with the usual abundance of tricky effects, the square filled up in no time.

And apparently it became this amazing scene below, haha.

A post shared by Richie Hawtin (@richiehawtin) – October 19, 2017 at 1:02 p.m. PDT

Nieuwmarkt normally hosts stalls selling food, secondhand clothes, flowers, and so on—a literal marketplace. Perhaps for that reason, there was a flower bed right in front of the DJ booth, which felt very fresh.

*Richie's set was streamed through Facebook Live below and is still available, so please check it out!

Open the Facebook video

Rush Hour ADE ’17 – insures – Nina Kraviz

A little after 7 p.m., with Richie still playing, I reluctantly pushed through the excessive crowd to head to “Rush Hour ADE ’17 – insures – Nina Kraviz.” Rush Hour is a record shop, and this was a so-called in-store event.

This was the situation as soon as I arrived. Entry was restricted, so for a while I could only enjoy Deniro's playing from the sound leaking outside, with a wry smile.

After waiting several dozen minutes, I finally got inside.

Day1 rushhour 2

the music was blasting, everyone was dancing intensely, and everyone was drenched in sweat, haha. It no longer felt like a record shop, but more like a gymnasium.

A huge difference from Japanese in-store events. No concerns about numbered admission tickets, fire regulations, or bothering the neighbors with noise.

And these people would probably still casually head to all-night events afterward, haha.

Then Nina entered the booth, going for the usual acidic, hard Techno, but that day it was no CDJs, vinyl only.

Day1 rushhour 3

The records on these shelves seemed to consist entirely of the ADE Sampler vinyl from Nina's label трип, pronounced “trip,” since this was also promoting it.

Though buying anything in this situation was probably almost impossible, haha. Day1 rushhour 4

*I got the pink vinyl on the shelf at a later date.

“Rush Hour ADE ’17 – insures -” was also held at other dates and times, featuring Kenny Dope, Little Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, Gilles Peterson, and other names irresistible to longtime House music lovers, like people who frequented the early, now-defunct Yellow in Nishi-Azabu.

Pan-Pot presents Second State

After dinner, it was time for all-night events. This was where things really began.

First to “Pan-Pot presents Second State.” As a Trance fan, I also planned to go to the competing “In Trance We Trust ADE Festival,” but after agonizing over which to visit first, I chose this one.

Centered around Pan-Pot, this featured the currently unstoppable artist I came for, Amelie Lens, along with Michael Klein, Joey Daniel and veteran Nick Curley. It felt like a gathering of exactly the people hottest in Techno now.

The venue, De Marktkantine, had two floors, Main room and Middle room, both with an underground atmosphere and impressively spacious. The sound brought out Techno's thick, powerful character beautifully.

The main floor was quite crowded a little after midnight. Michael Klein created an aggressive progression from deeper territory and played an absolutely wonderful set.

A post shared by Michael Klein (@michaelkleinberlin) – October 19, 2017 at 7:25 a.m. PDT

Then my target, Amelie Lens, appeared. I had seen Amelie DJing at this summer's Awakenings, one of the Netherlands' premier Techno festivals, on YouTube and was instantly captivated.

The atmosphere changed when Amelie stepped into the booth.

A post shared by De Marktkantine (@demarktkantine) – October 19, 2017 at 2:42 a.m. PDT

Amelie's playing is characterized by acid and a driving sense of speed. Amelie also occasionally plays long sets—8-hour sets!—and has the skills to start from deep territory too.

Amelie played Tomorrowland this year and will close Awakenings at the start of the new year, and is set to become an even bigger name who will be increasingly hard to see up close. In that sense, I was satisfied to catch this set at this moment.

Nick Curly, playing directly opposite Amelie in the Middle room, was also good, with a different sound from the Main room and a floor with a lovely atmosphere.

In Trance We Trust ADE Festival

I reluctantly moved on before Second State's Pan-Pot began playing—and a long set at that! I want another chance!!

I headed to the venue of In Trance We Trust ADE Festival, WesterUnie.

My heart was racing at the prospect of experiencing my first Trance event in its Dutch homeland!

When I arrived, my favorite Tech Trance DJ, Jordan Suckley, was playing on the main floor.

Besides Jordan, there were Sean Tyas and Darren Porter's B2B and Adam Ellis, while on the second floor, Black Hole Recording, there were ALEX M.O.R.P.H and someone I had interacted with a little at FSOE Taiwan in 2016 and during a visit to Japan, RAM, and others—a luxurious lineup even after 3 a.m. (In fact, famous DJs who had finished playing were simply hanging around there, haha.). I also met up here with Trance-loving friends visiting from Japan, so we talked at length, danced, and interacted on the floor with probably dedicated local Trance fans.

And here is what I felt. The venue was wrapped in a warm atmosphere.

People often call their fellow Trance lovers the Trance Family, and I wondered whether this atmosphere gave rise to that phrase. Honestly, Trance is neither the trendy sound now, nor growing huge, nor a genre whose cutting-edge quality stands out.

But DJs and audiences meet through Trance, coexisting without distinctions of nationality, status, race, or gender, all loving the moment, the time, and their Trance Family.

Of course, having experienced other genres too, I know every kind of dance music has a happy atmosphere, but perhaps Trance is the genre where that warmth stands out particularly strongly. Day1 ITWT 4

The event ran until after 7 a.m., but with those thoughts, I left a little after 6 a.m.

Wow… I was truly exhausted, haha.

[Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] My ADE 2017 Experience [Day 1 (October 18)]