Event Profile

 Awakening Festival Details...

Awakenings is a large Techno festival held in Amsterdam every year...

The weather forecast said that it was going to be a very hot day. And it was, not only because of the nice weather, but also because of the environment.

Awakening Festival Review...

The 6th edition of the Awakenings Festival started for us at noon when we entered the festival site. Without taking time to acclimatize, we immediately decided to check out Wouter de Moor in Area 002. Nice summerish sounding tech house attracted quite some people. Unfortunately his set was almost finished.

After checking out the festival site we decided to sit down under a tree and enjoy the smooth and groovy minimal sounds of Labeij & Lauhaus at the main stage. More and more people gathered in front of the open stage as Labeij & Lauhaus kept the crowd dancing. Shinedoe, who took over, quickly delivered a bit more energy with tribal influences, but in a modest way.

In the meantime Geigercounting's live act was interesting as weird sounds filled the Area 003 tent. At the same time Marko Nastic started to rock Area 001. I was surprised to hear him play a remix of the classic trance anthem Universal Nation from Push. The crowd didn't seem to bother at all. When Umek took over the tent was completely filled.

"Lots of expectations, but after more than an hour most people were disappointed as Richie failed to build up his set."

At the same time 'pretty' Gayle San started in Area 002. Starting tough, but mixing flawless as always. Something Valentino Kanzyani didn't have under control this day.

At 14.30 PM Canadian and Minus label honcho Richie Hawtin started with his three hour set at the main stage. Lots of expectations, but after more than an hour most people were disappointed as Richie failed to build up his set. Almost every track had a break and as if this was not enough he closed his set with an almost 10 minute long beatless outro.

In the meantime Ricardo Villalobos brought some more tempo to the main stage, which was really necessary after three boring hours of Richie Hawtin. In my opinion Ricardo's set was not really special, but what he did worked out fine. All of the crowd's enthusiasm was back again when Paul Kalkbrenner started his live act. Amazing synth sounds and techno rhythms brought the energy to peak level. This was what everybody had been waiting for. People were screaming and jumping and went absolutely mental.

"Aril Brikha rocked and made the crowd cheer with his typical mix of Detroit and Basic Channel like sounds."

After this electronic experience we decided to check out Magda in the minimal tent. It was not an easy task to keep the spirit by taking over Karotte, but fortunately she managed pretty well with her distinguished minimal flavours.

Simultaneously DJ Rush was banging the roof off Area 001. Taking over, Miss Djax brought everybody in the right mood with New Order's Blue Monday. People were even waiting outside of the tent for a place to get in.

Eventually we decided to end our day with a visit to legend Joey Beltram. The closing acts on the other areas were also good, but as we saw Joey for the last time on Dance Valley 1997 we didn't want to miss this opportunity. With almost only playing his own stuff and mixing as flawless as possible he managed to explode Area 002. The heat was overwhelming, but he didn't seem to bother as he dropped one bomb after the other.

Tired but satisfied we left the festival site. The weather was nice, the crowd was friendly and enthusiastic, the organization was excellent, and the food and drinks were tasteful. Last but not least, the music and the DJ's were awesome. Highpoint for me was without doubt Swedish Aril Brikha. I can't wait to go to next year's Awakenings Festival.