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

2017/11/1

AI-generated illustration accompanying: [Held in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a Leading Dance Music Nation] What I Really Felt Attending ADE2019 (Amsterdam Dance Event) [My First Experience] — AI-generated illustrative artwork.

This year's event ran for five days, Wednesday, October 18 through Sunday, October 22. I cut my sleep drastically and was staggering by the end, but looking back, “absolutely amazing!” sums it up, haha.

I plan to report on ADE2017's events separately from Day 1 through Day 5. First, though, here is an introductory article giving a rough idea of “What is ADE?” and “Where does it happen?”

*Apart from the event reports, I would also like to put together a separate, detailed article with useful advance information for anyone thinking, “I want to attend ADE next time!”—how to book flights, choose events, and what to watch out for during your stay, for example.

I hope it helps even a little.

What Is ADE?

First, a brief explanation for those who do not know ADE.

ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) is held every October in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and is one of the world's leading dance music festivals.

Yellow flags and event posters appear throughout Amsterdam, and dance music plays around the clock in clubs and event venues.

Besides events, conferences and business meetings are held frequently.

ADE has a very long history and an enormous scale.

2017 was its 22nd edition, with 395,000 attendees (from more than 90 countries), 2,502 DJs/artists, and 499 events, all record highs.

Many people associate huge festivals with TOMORROWLAND and EDC. Although ADE lacks the immediately obvious enormity of those two, it is certainly on a par with them.

Above all, ADE is deeply integrated into Amsterdam itself.

In other words, dance music is a familiar part of life for Amsterdam residents (without being ranked above or below other things), and has a strong presence.

Visiting makes you realize that the Netherlands recognized dance music's importance as both culture and business early on and nurtured it over many years.

I Finally Attended ADE! - Introduction -

*ADE2016's official aftermovie, “Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) presents: PERSPECTIVE”

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What Kinds of Events Does ADE Have?

ADE categorizes events as Conference (DJ/artist talks, workshops, equipment exhibitions, business meetings, and so forth) and Festival (what we normally call club events).

Conference offered content from three perspectives: DJs/artists, business (events, labels, and so forth), and technology.

I fall into the DJ/artist category, so I considered talks by Laidback Luke, Oliver Heldens, and Nina Kraviz, and workshops by Joris Voorn and Jay Hardway.

I also have a friend who used to be a fellow DJ and now works with dance music as a business at a Japanese artist management company. That friend spent their time in back-to-back business meetings with label managers and other music-industry people.

For Festival, first, so-called “ADE special editions of world-famous, popular events” all gather together.

To list just a few of them:

Techno/House

- AWAKENINGS PRESENTS 7 ADE SPECIALS

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- Loveland ADE 2017

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- Dockyard Daytime Festival ADE 2017
- DGTL Amsterdam 2017

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Trance

- A State Of Trance – ADE Special

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EDM

- AMF Festival

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- SLAM! MixMarathon
- 5 Years of Protocol | Nicky Romero & Friends ADE 2017

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Sosumi Records ADE Boat Party

And that is just a sample.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Dance Music Event (TDME), which began in 2016, held KODO, where only Japanese DJs played, and there were domestic UK events too.

There was also M.A.N.D.Y.'s Deep House Yoga ADE special, starting at 9 a.m.

Genres cover Techno, House, Trance, EDM, Psy, and even Hip-Hop, and events have all sorts of characters, so you will almost never struggle to find something you like.

*You can check all events on the ADE official site's Festival Events page.

Which Events Did I Attend?

Since Techno/House had once again become the genres I could get excited about, most of my schedule consisted of prestigious Techno/House festivals and events.

Meanwhile, in recent years I had mostly listened to and played at Trance events, so I also attended some leading Trance events. I scheduled Conference events for around three daytime periods.

Day 1 (10/18)

Day 2 (10/19)

[Conference] Ableton Artist Masterclass with Laidback Luke
[Trance] Luminosity pres. ADE special

Day 3 (10/20)

[Conference] Studio XL: Oliver Heldens
[Conference] The Evolution of My Sound: Nina Kraviz
[Techno] Awakenings x Paul Kalkbrenner presents Back to the Future
[Techno] DGTL x Paradise Records

Day 4 (10/21)

Day 5 (10/22)

Besides those, the Conference venue De Brakke Grond also hosted “DJ SOUNDS” public recording events, where I got to see Wally Lopez [Techno/House] and Ferry Corsten [Trance] play.

I will explain this in detail in another article, but almost all ADE events require tickets purchased in advance for admission.

Popular events often sell out before they take place, making it very difficult to decide on a whim as you might when clubbing in Japan, so planning your event schedule in advance is essential.

Where Are the Venues?

I collected the locations of the events I chose to attend on Google Maps (My Map).

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For the list view in Google Maps, use this. https://goo.gl/maps/NW5YaBB2mCu

All venues can also be found on ADE's official website or the paper CITY MAP available at conference venues, INFO&TICKET CENTER, and elsewhere, but you can hardly call it easy to understand, haha.

Making full use of Google Maps is best here.

Japanese clubs tend to be concentrated in particular areas (Shibuya and Roppongi in Tokyo), but as you can see, there are overwhelmingly more venues than in Japan, and they are quite far apart. That makes advance planning and scheduling important.

And because Google Maps is crucial, your smartphone's battery and internet connection matter. More details on that in another article!

Finally

This was a rough introduction to “What is ADE?”

ADE is well known among people around me, but apparently even some frequent club and festival attendees and DJs do not know much about it. I would be happy if this helps them picture ADE a little better or sparks their interest.