Defqon.1 Weekend Festival | |
---|---|
Genre | hardstyle, hardcore, Rawstyle, Uptempo, Frenchcore and Electronic Dance music, hard dance |
Dates | Netherlands (since 14 June 2003) Australia (19 September 2009-September 16, 2018) Chile (12 December 2015 & 10 December 2016) |
Location(s) | Netherlands (since 14 June 2003) Australia (19 September 2009- 16 September 2018) Chile (12 December 2015 & 10 December 2016) |
Years active | 2003–Present (Netherlands) 2009–2018 (Australia) 2015–2016 (Chile) |
Founders | Q-dance |
Attendance | 110,000 (2024) |
Website | Defqon.1 Weekend Festival |
Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as rawstyle, hardcore, early and classic.
The festival was previously held in mid-June on Almeerderstrand in Almere. Since 2011, it is hosted on the event site next to Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. Since 2009, the event has also been hosted in Sydney in mid-September, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. Until 2011 (2014 for the Australian edition) the festival ran for 12 hours, from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, and ended with a firework display. Since 2012, the festival was extended to three days. Since 2015, the Australian edition was extended to two days. Each edition also has an anthem, an official song that is played in conjunction with the festival. The festival is also livestreamed with video from the largest stages and audio for all the other stages through YouTube, [1] and the Q-Dance [2] website for people all around the world to tune into.
At the Dutch event the audience has grown to 65,000 visitors per day. In 2013, the Sydney event attracted 18,000 attendees. [3] The same event saw the death of a male, around 20 drug overdoses [3] and more than 80 arrested on drug charges. [4]
On 17 September 2018, the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced her intention that Defqon.1 would not take place again, due to two deaths that took place at the 2018 festival. [5] At this event seven hundred people sought medical assistance. [6] Shane Rattenbury, the Greens leader in the ACT, has invited Defqon.1 to take place in Canberra where pill testing could be carried out after a successful trial with Groovin the Moo. [7]
On 29 May 2019, Q-dance announced on its official Facebook profiles that Defqon.1 Australia, after a decade being held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith), [8] would be indefinitely suspended, since they were "unable to secure a suitable replacement venue for the event to take place [...]" [9]
2020 did not see Defqon.1 held after the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte declared that all events in the Netherlands were cancelled until September 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Defqon.1 was held virtually in 2021, with sets from participating performers streamed from the Defqon.1 website. [10]
The festival was held in person again in 2022, with over 100.000 unique visitors. [11]
Year | Location | Anthem & Theme | Number of visitors* | Number of performers | Ticket Price | Token Price | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Almeerderstrand, Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands | 25,000 | 48 | 14 June | |||
2004 | 79 | 19 June | |||||
2005 | Emergency Call (The Prophet) | 85 | 18 June | ||||
2006 | The Colour of the Harder Styles (Showtek) | 103 | 17 June | ||||
2007 | Get Wasted (Brennan Heart) | 124 | 16 June | ||||
2008 | Biological Insanity (Luna & Deepack) | 119 | 14 June | ||||
2009 | Almeerderstrand, Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Scrap Attack (Headhunterz) | 30,000 | 104 | 13 June | ||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Maximum Force (Zany) | 52 | 19 September | ||||
2010 | Almeerderstrand, Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands | No Time To Waste (Wildstylez) | 40,000 | 115 | 12 June | ||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Save Your Scrap for Victory (Headhunterz) | 72 | 18 September | ||||
2011 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Unite (Noisecontrollers) | 127 | 25 June | |||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Psychedelic Wasteland (Toneshifterz) | 72 | 17 September | ||||
2012 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | World of Madness (Headhunterz, Wildstylez & Noisecontrollers) | 55,000 | 21–23 June | |||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | True Rebel Freedom (Wildstylez) | 15 September | |||||
2013 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Weekend Warriors (Frontliner) | 55,000 [12] | 312 | 21–23 June | ||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Scrap The System (Brennan Heart) | 18,000 [3] | 14 September | ||||
2014 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Survival of the Fittest (Coone) | 55,000 [13] | 207 | 27–29 June | ||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Unleash the Beast (Code Black) | 20 September | |||||
2015 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | No Guts, No Glory (Ran-D) | 60,000 [14] | 250+ | 19–21 June | ||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | No Guts, No Glory (Frontliner, Dillytek & 360) | 21,000 | 97 | 18–19 September | |||
Centro de Eventos Munich, Santiago de Chile, Santiago Providence, Chile | Unleash The Beast (Wildstylez) | 30,000 | 33 | 12 December | |||
2016 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Dragonblood (Bass Modulators) | 100,000 | 24–26 June | |||
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Dragonblood (Toneshifterz, Code Black & Audiofreq) | 25,000 | 17 September | ||||
Centro de Eventos Munich, Santiago de Chile, Santiago Providence, Chile | Dragonblood (Frontliner) | 20,000 | 10 December | ||||
2017 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Victory Forever (Frequencerz) | 150,000 | €143 Weekend + Camping | €2,70 = 1 Token | 23–25 June | |
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Eye of the Storm (D-Block and S-Te-Fan) | 30,000 | 16 September | ||||
2018 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | Maximum Force (Project One) | 185,000 | 226 | €155 Weekend + Camping | €2,89 = 1 Token | 22–24 June |
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia | Dedicated To The Core (Coone) | 30,000 | 15 September | ||||
2019 | Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands | One Tribe (Phuture Noize, Keltek, Sefa) | 78,000 Unique visitors [15] | 235 | €3,00 = 1 Token | 28–30 June | |
2020 | Primal Energy (D-Block & S-te-Fan) | - | - | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, an @Home event took place. | |||
2021 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
2022 | Primal Energy (Haunted Grounds) (D-Block & S-te-Fan; under their live act Ghost Stories) | 100,000 [11] | €226 Weekend + Camping | €3,60 = 1 Token | 23–26 June | ||
2023 | Path of the Warrior (Sub Zero Project) [16] | 250,000 [17] | €249 Weekend + Camping | €3,80 = 1 Token | 22–25 June | ||
2024 | Power of the Tribe (Sound Rush) | 300,000 | €280 Weekend + Camping | €4,00 = 1 Token | 27–30 June | ||
2025 | Where Legends Rise (Vertile) | €325 Weekend + Camping | 26–29 June |
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe.
Tulip festivals are held in several cities around the world, mostly in North America, usually in cities with a Dutch heritage such as Albany, New York; Ottawa, Ontario; Gatineau, Quebec; Montreal, Quebec; Holland, Michigan; Lehi, Utah; Orange City, Iowa; Pella, Iowa; Mount Vernon, Washington; and Woodburn, Oregon, and in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, India, and England. The tulips are considered a welcome harbinger of spring, and a tulip festival permits residents to see them at their best advantage. The festivals are also popular tourist attractions. The tulips are displayed throughout the cities. In certain years the peak of tulips does not coincide with the actual festival due to climatic conditions.
Hardstyle is an electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from techno, new beat and hardcore.
Sydney born Nik Fish is an Australian DJ.
Dov Joseph Elkabas, known professionally as DJ The Prophet, is a Dutch hardcore techno and hardstyle DJ and producer. The Prophet is also the owner of one of the largest hardstyle record labels, Scantraxx.
The Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC), located in Penrith, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is a rowing and canoe sprint venue built for the 2000 Summer Olympics. It is now a popular sporting venue, with the Head of the River Regatta held annually.
Willem Rebergen, better known by his stage name Headhunterz, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. Rebergen is also a voice actor. He has done dubbing for several movies and TV series. He started his career in 2005 working on Hardstyle music.
Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals that focuses on the harder styles of dance music – mainly hardstyle, hardcore, and hard trance. Popular events and festivals organized by Q-dance are Defqon.1 Festival, Qlimax and Dominator. Q-Dance has organized multiple events and festivals in the past such as Qapital, The Qontinent, Impaqt, Q-Base, EPIQ, and X-Qlusive. The events of Q-dance are easily identified by the letter “Q” on the event names. The logo of Q-dance is inspired by the knobs on DJ mixers, which if turned 120 degrees to the right creates the letter “Q”.
Joram Metekohy, better known by his stage name Wildstylez, is a Dutch hardstyle DJ and record producer. Having previously released hardstyle records under the alias 'Seizure', Joram Metekohy had his first solo release as Wildstylez in 2007 on the Scantraxx sub-label Scantraxx Reloaded. In 2010, he started the record label Digital:Age in collaboration with Noisecontrollers. After he stopped releasing on Digital:Age, and its subsequent collapse, Wildstylez had a string of releases on Q-Dance Records and also released many tracks for free via social media. In 2013, Wildstylez founded his own hardstyle label, Lose Control Music, under the parent label Be Yourself Music. As of 2014, he and Max Enforcer now release their own music through Lose Control Music. Later, in 2018, Wildstylez founded the label Art of Creation with Headhunterz.
Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The style differs from other forms of hardcore in terms of a faster tempo, usually above 160 –185 BPM, and a loud and distorted offbeat bassline.
Thijs Ploegmakers, known musically as Adaro, is a Dutch DJ and producer. He has produced music in several dance styles, and in 2008 started producing raw hardstyle, for which he is considered to be one of the originators of.
Corey Soljan, better known by his artistic name Code Black, is an Australian hardstyle-DJ and music producer.
Randy "Ran-D" Wieland is a Dutch DJ and music producer.
John-Paul Pirrello, known onstage as Outbreak, is an Australian DJ and music producer. Since 2002, he has been active in producing and performing hard dance music, specifically hardstyle since 2002.
Tim van de Stadt, known his stage name Atmozfears, is a Dutch hardstyle artist. Atmozfears was previously a trio, consisting of Tim, Kevin Keiser and Michael Jessen, formed in 2009. By the end of 2012, Jessen had left the group. In February 2012, Atmozfears joined the hardstyle label Scantraxx Records. Atmozfears has played at such festivals as Defqon.1, The Qontinent, Q-Base and Tomorrowland.
Bas Oskam, better known by his stage name Noisecontrollers, is a Dutch DJ and hardstyle music producer based in Veenendaal, Netherlands. Noisecontrollers was formerly a duo before Arjan Terpstra left the project in 2013, prompting Oskam to continue as a solo act. They are regarded as one of the pioneers of hardstyle music. Since leaving the project, Terpstra has been producing music using the stage name Bloqshot, focusing on different musical styles.
Sub Zero Project is a Dutch hardstyle producer duo, consisting of Thomas Velderman and Nigel Coppen, most known for making the Qlimax 2018 anthem "The Game Changer". They are the youngest Qlimax anthem makers in history.
Listen Out is an annual Australian music festival held in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane since September 2013. In 2018, an inaugural alternative version of Listen Out, titled Listen In took place in South Australia and New Zealand. The standard festival is held from late September to early October. Each Listen Out concert is a one-day event attracting both domestic and international hip-hop, indie, and electronic musicians. Listen Out uses three stages; Atari stage, 909 stage and Third base.
Floriade Expo Amsterdam - Almere 2022 was a Dutch horticultural exposition held in Almere, Netherlands. It is the seventh Floriade, held from 14 April to 9 October 2022. On 15 November 2017, Floriade Expo 2022 was officially recognized as a horticultural exhibition by the Bureau International des Expositions. The theme of the Expo is "Growing Green Cities", which focuses on the need to combine nature and cities.
Stefan Petrus Dekker with his sister Nora, better known by his stage name Dr. Peacock, is a Dutch frenchcore DJ and record producer. He has performed on the main stages of major festivals like Thunderdome, Defqon.1, Qlimax and Dominator.
'This is an unsafe event and I'll be doing everything I can to make sure it never happens again,' she added.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)