Time for ADE

When I was still a full-time student and wasn't held back by things like getting up and productivity it was festival season and then ADE was the time I looked forward to all year. Together with my regular festival friend, we made plans in May for which festivals we wanted to visit, and as soon as we could, we bought tickets. Once summer was over we soon had to get back to the drawing board, because the last weekend of October is for ADE. ADE stands for Amsterdam Dance Event, and around 2000 DJs from all over the world perform in more than 100 clubs for about 300,000 visitors in total.

I always set aside a week or two for this weekend (which starts on Wednesday) because you can bet we were always at the front. On Thursday morning at 08:00, home from Wednesday night, a bit of sleeping during the day, and then Thursday evening at 21:00 back on the bike to party 2 and that continued until the last gasp on Sunday. So, recovering. But it was always so incredibly worth it. This week ADE starts again, and I briefly considered taking next week off so I could go from club to club like the old days without ever going home. But well, obligations, right? Ulgh so boring.

Anyway, I can highly recommend taking a good look at the agenda. A lot is of course already sold out now, but maybe you'll find an undiscovered gem, and otherwise, you can always try your luck and buy a ticket from someone. If everything fails and you still want to taste ADE, I have the following two suggestions for you.

Red Bull Studios PLAYROOM

During Red Bull Studios PLAYROOM, an ode is paid to the history of Dutch club culture. Because Paradiso is nice, back in the day people went wild in the legendary RoXy or iT. To relive the atmosphere of that time, DJs are brought in who know how to capture that feeling perfectly, Francois K and Joost van Bellen ‘do’ Club RoXy, DJ Jean and Roog dedicate their set to the It, Tod Terry and Risksoundsysteem play on behalf of OWAP, and Benny Rodrigues and Gomes represent Speedfreax. Does all this mean nothing to you? No worries, the only thing you need to know is that it’s really cool. The best part might be that all this takes place behind the windows on De Wallen and that it can be followed live at redbullstudios.com/playrooms. So you have the music and the party but not the hangover and the crowds, and that seems like a prrrrrima solution, right?.

Sonos Studios

This is a concept from L.A. and is originally a listening gallery. You should see it as a kind of lab for artists and creators to explore artistic and musical boundaries. From October 16 to 18, this lab can be visited at the Mayer Manor on Amsterdam's Nes. Sonos Studios is freely accessible to everyone and offers listening sessions, performances, screenings, and Q&As with various artists. On the menu, among other things, a preview of Scripted & Prepared, the new project by DJ Henrik Schwartz (oh boy, how often have I danced my legs off to his sets). Furthermore, the preliminary program includes Modeselektor (very very nice), Jackmaster, Lunice, and much more.