Once a year, the world’s largest club-based festival and conference for electronic dance music touches down in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Imagine five days and five nights of electronic dance music across an entire city—the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). This year’s gathering welcomed almost 500,000 ravers, artists, DJs, and industry professionals from all over the world.
With hosted events taking place across over 200 different locations within the city and somewhere around 2,900+ artists, that’s one insane lineup. There was always something we could be doing or some party to be at, and you never knew what sort of side quest you might come across along the way.
People might not understand the extent of ADE, but coming from someone who’s been to many festivals, this was among the most impressive multi-day events yet. Keep reading to hear some highlights about our week at Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) and what all goes down during a citywide takeover of dance music:
Vibes: A
Hundreds of thousands of ravers wandering the streets of Amsterdam during all hours of the day and night, you can imagine the vibes were incredible. With so many people in town for ADE, it was pretty easy making friends, we would be grabbing dinner and overhear someone talking about an event and the conversation would begin “Are you here for ADE? Where are you from?”. Next thing you know, you’re out with your new friends till 7AM the following day, heading to an afters.
Yes, ADE is one big festival, but it’s more than just a party. It’s also a fantastic place to network, learn, and explore more of the world of dance music. Daily conferences, meet-ups, and other organized gatherings can be an incredible opportunity to connect with people in the industry. There were talks with tech leaders from Google and platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and others, all sharing their knowledge on the future of festivals and dance music.
The crowd vibes at each show we attended varied a bit based on the genre or size of the event itself. The smaller, more intimate venues had the highest vibes as far as people actually interacting with each other. Although the energy was good at the more significant events, groups tended to keep more to themselves. It was fun jumping from one venue to another, shifting from a happy drum and bass crowd to wandering into an intense techno warehouse.
Although it can be enjoyable to be in a massive crowd with crazy visuals, pyro, and everything at the larger venues, the simplicity of these more intimate warehouse shows is where the vibes are. The darker and the less there was to look at, the more incredible the energy was because no one was on their phones, and everyone was dancing and having the time to listen to some fantastic music. Again, though, the beauty of ADE is that there’s something for everybody. You might miss out on seeing an artist, but it’s almost impossible to miss out on a good time wherever you end up.
Production: B+
Attending close to 15 different events in five days, we had the chance to experience various levels of event production, from small clubs to massive warehouses, arenas, and more. Not to mention the production that goes into organizing a citywide event across hundreds of locations; it was an impressive and successful feat for the ADE team.
The production around the whole city was incredible to see, especially considering that there was a time when this entire industry was underground. Advertising for a dance music conference covers banners, posters lining the streets, and trams. Every venue that was a part of the festival and conference would have a little yellow light box with “ADE” on it, and it was like every other building we walked into was hosting something. We also loved using the ADE app, which listed all the official events and provided clear descriptions and directions, making our life much easier.
With so many events in such a short time, it was interesting to witness how the different festivals approach production. For example, Awakenings hosted events, whether at Gashouder or Ziggo Dome, and they put on a unique sound and a unique visual display. There’s Tomorrowland, with its fantasy approach to visuals and distinctive way of storytelling. Verknipt was another notable one, which just had this dark, edgy energy in all of its production.
Speaking of Tomorrowland, we attended Tomorrowland presents: Our Story, which celebrated 20 years of the festival’s musical history through an orchestra. The combination of classical and electronic music live was something different and really beautiful to hear. Then there was Tomorrowland presents Afterlife, which was insane to see on the big screens at Ziggo Dome.
However, the production of shows like Verknipt might have been our favorite. Hard techno in a giant warehouse with some dark visuals, lasers, a little bit of pyro, and an incredible sound system that was somewhere we could have stayed for days.
Another fun aspect of the ADE production is all the random pop-up events across the city. You might wander into a grocery store where a DJ plays a set at the checkout counter or hop on a tram to find Boris Brejcha playing. Amsterdam Dance Event is full of surprises like that.
Music: A
Five days and 2,900+ artists, you can imagine the set conflicts here. There were so many influential and legendary artists to see, but a few we were able to catch included Anyma, Reinier Zonneveld, Charlotte De Witte, Dimension, I Hate Models, Amelie Lens, Patrick Mason, Tale of Us, Adriatique, and more. Experiencing these artists in venues different from the normal festival stages added to the novelty of it all.
On day one, we surprisingly only attended one event: the Tomorrowland Afterlife show at Ziggo Dome. Many people have mixed feelings about its whole production, but it is worth experiencing if you haven’t. The storyline and quality of the visuals and music are unmatched and well-presented.
The next day, we ventured to see Dimension because you can’t go wrong with some drum and bass. Walking up to this large tent somewhere outside the city, we questioned whether we were at the right place, but once inside, we knew this was, in fact, the drum and bass fam. It’s one of the top sets of the week. Then it was that 3 AM hour where you either decide to go to another event or call it a night. So, of course, we went to see Charlotte De Witte instead of going home.
Night three was the perfect example of what ADE is, and it was a fantastic night of various genres—beginning with Verknipt, where we saw artists Indira Paganotto and Shlømo. Shlømo’s set had us at the front, hand on the rail, completely lost in the music, and it was one of our favorite moments. From there to the iconic Gashouder, we saw Adriatique, which is incredible. We stayed until the lights came on at 7 AM and found ourselves at an afters until 5 PM that evening. This is ADE.
Throughout the rest of the week, we saw Martin Garrix at AMF, Amelie Lens present Exhale, Reinier Zonneveld at Free Your Mind Festival, and closed out the week with an iconic I Hate Models set. Even with all these events, we didn’t even come close to seeing everyone we would have liked to see, but we enjoyed every moment.
Venue: B
When the entire city of Amsterdam is the venue, there’s a lot of ground to cover. ADE was everywhere, from the large scale of Ziggo Dome or AFAS Live to penthouses, warehouses in the middle of nowhere, and random grocery store pop-ups. If you’ve been to Amsterdam before and know what it’s like usually, you realize how impressive this citywide takeover is.
Signage throughout the city and check-in instructions to pick up our ADE Pro Pass were all very clear, along with the app, which made it easy to see all the details and programming. The Pro-Pass is completely worth the purchase because it can get you into all the events. Otherwise, people will just purchase individual tickets to the events they want to attend.
Something we particularly enjoyed about every venue was the locker access. This way, we were never stuck holding our jackets or bags, and cost-wise, it’s reasonable when you split it with friends. Small lockers were typically around 10 Euros (USD 10.89), and larger lockers were around 30 Euros ($32.67 USD). Each venue had its area to chill, some food, and plenty of bathrooms available.
Transportation during the day was never an issue. The city is very walkable; public transportation is easy to use and goes almost anywhere. Once the trains close in the evenings, the ride-share situation gets chaotic, and the taxis will rip you off on pricing. We learned it’s best to leave an event earlier to have a better chance of getting a ride faster. Most venues don’t allow rideshares where they allow taxis, so most of the time, you have to walk a couple of blocks from the venue to get to your ride, which isn’t the ideal situation when you’re tired from a night of dancing.
Overall, we felt each location we visited was organized well and offered everything we needed to spend multiple hours there. Besides the challenge of getting a ride share on a few nights, we’d say it was a week of positive experiences and interactions with everyone.
Overall: B+
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is a festival that asks, “Does something this cool really exist?” Yes, yes, it does. It’s a festival experience that gives a unique perspective on the dance music world.
We would say getting the ADE Pro Pass is probably worth it to make the most of the festival. This way, you have full access to all the ADE conferences and festival events over the five days, or opting for individual tickets might be the best option if you only want to attend a couple of events. Having the Pro Pass was also nice because there were separate lines at the events, which usually gave us priority. The only thing to consider is that it is based on capacity, so if you want to make sure you’re going to get in, plan to arrive a bit early.
We can’t say enough good things about the variety of music and topics at ADE, and it really is something we look forward to attending year after year. The people we met from different parts of the world, the productions we witnessed, and the memories we made were so worth it.
If you want to try something new, learn about the dance music industry, and enjoy the Amsterdam scenery, ADE might be a festival you should add to your bucket list. We hope to see you there sometime.
