[Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] My ADE 2017 Experience [Day 2 (October 19)]

Here is my event report for Day 2 (October 19).

Today I attended the daytime Conference event “ADE Sound Lab 2017” and the nighttime Trance event “Luminosity pres. ADE special”—two events in total.

*If you want to start with the Day 1 (October 18) report, or are asking “What is ADE?”, see below.

[Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] My ADE 2017 Experience [Day 1 (October 18)] November 4, 2017

[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 2 Begins!

ADE Sound Lab 2017

1. Ableton Artist Masterclass with Laidback Luke

I went to bed around 7 a.m. after the previous night, but woke around 11 to eat. Back in bed, I naturally fell asleep again and finally got up after 2 p.m., haha.

Terribly late, I headed to today's first event, “Ableton Artist Masterclass with Laidback Luke”, at De Brakke Grond.

This venue, under the title “ADE Sound Lab 2017”, hosted talks and workshops by famous DJs, artists, and music-industry people, equipment exhibitions, and business meetings.

The venue's interior had an impressive, Apple Keynote-style (Apple's event for announcing new products and sharing information with engineers) stylishness throughout.

Laidback Luke was discussing music production with Ableton Live (the core software used for making tracks) open. I only caught a little of the end, during audience questions, but the main points seemed to be “set your EQ carefully” and “take breaks while working” (sorry if my poor English listening skills led me to misunderstand).

Looking at the audience from time to time, I saw young people who appeared to aspire to become future global DJs, listening earnestly with serious expressions and taking notes diligently. At the center of the global scene, the idea “If you want to become a fully fledged DJ, hone your track-making skills!” is naturally ingrained in the next generation—something this space also let me glimpse.

2. DJsounds with Wally Lopez

After the talk, I entered the separate Pioneer DJ Room, where “DJsounds” was being recorded publicly.

To briefly explain DJsounds, it is a video program featuring a fixed camera trained on the equipment and the DJ's hands while playing.

So although it is a show, it is valuable educational material for DJs eager to improve too (the captions include track lists). When I first started DJing, I went to clubs where I could see the booth and watched from above, or summoned the courage to ask DJs track names. Things are truly convenient now.

Anyway, when I arrived, Spanish House DJ Wally Lopez was playing. It was an authoritative, freely flowing set focused on tribal and progressive sounds.

Open the Facebook video

Come to think of it, long ago, at the now-defunct Space Ibiza, I think I saw Wally Lopez on the Terrace. I probably downloaded and owned his tracks when I DJed with records or CDs (nothing immediately comes to mind). In any case, he had been off my radar for a long time.

So taking this opportunity to listen again, I found the sound quite appealing to my current tastes. What you might call trancy, deep Progressive House.

I will follow him as a reference from now on.

I had not heard the name Wally Lopez lately, but he is certainly appearing at ADE Festival Events too. It probably revealed the weakness of using the internet as an information source (or rather, unconsciously tuning my radar only to the internet's interest-based recommendations). This alone gave me an important realization through ADE.

I did not see them, but that day's DJsounds featured Gorgon City and DJ SNEAK.

Gorgon City

Open the Facebook video

DJ SNEAK (& Roger Sanchez)

Open the Facebook video

*I also went to ADE Sound Lab 2017 on Day 3 (October 20), so if you are interested, check the report when it is uploaded!

Luminosity pres. ADE special

After leaving ADE Sound Lab, strolling around Amsterdam, having dinner, and resting briefly in my hotel room, I went to “Luminosity pres. ADE special”, for Panama.

Luminosity is one of the events most strongly supported by Trance and Uplifting Trance fans. Held in June, “Luminosity Beach Festival 2017” celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, running an incredible four days at “Beachclub Fuel” on the seaside in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands. Sea breezes and Trance must have been amazing.

I entered around midnight. Actually, this event started at 5 p.m.—haha.

At ADE, events often run from evening until the following morning. There were probably hardcore attendees staying from opening to closing that day too, haha.

Panama has the appearance of a place that has been around quite a while. Its floor is divided into “MAINSTAGE” and “SIDEROOM.”

The “MAINSTAGE” felt like a slightly larger version of Ebisu's Liquid Room.

Honestly, the “SIDEROOM” had very harsh high frequencies, so the sound was not comfortable.

Just inside the entrance, they were selling pizza and Luminosity merchandise, haha. My friend and I bought T-shirts (€25).

My must-see acts that day were Marco V and Jorn Van Deynhoven, both of whom had returned from EDM to Trance. Both delivered very committed Tech Trance sets and were excellent! Tech Trance really is incredibly cool and hot right now.

Personally, I think Tech Trance is a hybrid of Uplifting Trance and Psy Trance (with a little Hard Techno), the present form of Trance around 138–140 bpm.

In Japan, Uplifting Trance and Psy Trance listeners seem quite sharply divided, but if you are avoiding it without trying it, please listen to Tech Trance too! *For example, Psy Trance icon Astrix and the rest of the crew (VII) are musically quite close to Tech Trance DJs such as Will Atkinson, Simon Patterson, and John Askew.

Around the end of Jorn's set, my friend and I returned to our hotels.

Another fulfilling day, haha.

*A huge number of live videos were on Facebook, so I will embed them all. Have a look if you are interested, haha.

Open the Facebook video
Open the Facebook video
Open the Facebook video
Open the Facebook video
Open the Facebook video
Open the Facebook video

Archive

Digital Flyer

[Conference] ADE Sound Lab 2017

10/19 ~ 10/21 (12:00 ~ 23:59) @ De Brakke Grond

[Trance] Luminosity pres. ADE special

17:00 ~ 7:00 @ Panama
Open the Facebook post

Club Map

Additional Information

ADE Sound Lab 2017 admits you throughout its run with the purchase of an ADE card (€10). I bought the Luminosity ticket for €31.66 through TicketSwap (a resale site).