Thunderdome (music festival)

Last updated
Thunderdome
Thunderdome logo.jpg
The ID&T wizard, in later years only used for the Thunderdome concept
Genre Electronic music, hardcore techno and gabber
Location(s)
Years active1992–2012, 2017–present
Founders ID&T
Website www.thunderdome.com

Thunderdome is a concept in hardcore techno and gabber music that was mainly used for a series of parties and CD albums. It was organized by the Dutch entertainment company ID&T. The first party was organized in 1992 and the party held in December 2012 was advertised as being the end of Thunderdome. The party was brought back in 2017 for the 25th anniversary with a 2019 edition announced the following year. [1] In 2022, Thunderdome celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Jaarbeurs convention centre, Utrecht. [2]

Contents

History

Before the Thunderdome concept was started, ID&T organized a big rave called The Final Exam, that was held on 20 June 1992. This was the first attempt to bring hardcore and gabber to a wide audience and the first event organized by ID&T. Later in 1992, they organized the first Thunderdome party, which was titled The Thunder Dome, which was held on 3 October 1992 in Heerenveen. [3]

In 1993, ID&T / Arcade Records started a Thunderdome compilation CD series with popular gabber music. ID&T sold other kinds of merchandise such as T-shirts, bomber jackets, caps and an energy drink (Thundertaste). The Thunderdome concept was considered important to the popularization and spreading of gabber music during the 1990s. [4]

In late 1999, ID&T took a break from the Thunderdome concept and stopped producing the parties and CDs. The break lasted until 2001, [3] when they resumed throwing parties and producing CDs. After the restart, one or two parties each year were held. In 2002, the concept for the party was the 10th anniversary of Thunderdome. A CD [5] that was recorded live at the party and an anniversary DVD [6] were released, both entitled Thunderdome: a Decade. In 2007, the three CD set XV: 15 Years Of Thunderdome was released in celebration of Thunderdome's 15th anniversary.

The December 2012 event was advertised as being the end of Thunderdome. [7] An anniversary compilation album was also released. A press release for this album announced that: "It all comes full circle now. It's time to let Thunderdome become what it always has been: a legend." [8]

On 3 November 2015, ID&T announced that while the Thunderdome concept was retired, they introduced a new similar event called "Thunderdome Die Hard Day" due to massive demand. The event took place on 5 December 2015. [9] On 3 October 2016, the 24th anniversary of the first edition of Thunderdome, ID&T announced a second Die Hard Day event to take place on 3 December 2016 in Amsterdam.

At the Dominator Festival on 16 July 2016, a plane with a banner that read "25 Years of Thunderdome - See You in 2017" was seen flying over the festival grounds. [10] The Thunderdome Facebook page uploaded a post that read "See you in 2017", which confirmed rumours about a 25th anniversary edition of Thunderdome. [11] After Die Hard Day II, ID&T announced that the third edition would not happen in 2017 due to their preparations for the 25th anniversary edition of Thunderdome. Instead, Die Hard Day III was held on 27 October 2018, again in Amsterdam.

On 17 February 2017, ID&T released the trailer for the 25th anniversary of Thunderdome, which took place on 28 October 2017 at Jaarbeurs Utrecht.

On 24 July 2018, a plane flew over the festival grounds at the Dominator Festival again, similar to the 2016 festival, with a banner that read "Thunderdome - See you in 2019". [12] This was followed up with a trailer uploaded to Thunderdome's YouTube channel on 30 January 2019, stating that the 2019 edition would take place at Jaarbeurs Utrecht on 26 October 2019. [13]

On 14 October 2019, during the lead-up to the 2019 edition, Thunderdome released a trailer on their YouTube channel about an upcoming documentary titled Thunderdome Never Dies - The Full Story. The 82-minute documentary, produced in conjunction with Deep Thought Productions and 2CFilm, details the history and impact of Thunderdome, including its origins. The documentary was released in theatres in the Netherlands on 14 November 2019. [14]

On 8 September 2021, Thunderdome released a short 10-second teaser on their YouTube channel announcing the 2021 edition of Thunderdome, due to take place on 11 December 2021 at Jaarbeurs Utrecht. A full 1-minute trailer was released on 6 October. [15] [16] This edition was subsequently postponed due to special event rules in the Netherlands following the COVID-19 pandemic. It took place on 10 December 2022 at Jaarbeurs Utrecht, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Thunderdome. An updated trailer was released on 10 August 2022. [17]

Events

In The Netherlands

In other countries

Albums

The Thunderdome CD series began in 1993. Originally, the CD albums were released by Arcade Records. [22] According to ID&T and Arcade, "more than 1.500.000 Thunderdome albums" had been sold worldwide by 1995. [23] In 2000, no album was released since ID&T took a break from the Thunderdome concept. From 2001 onwards, the albums were released by ID&T's own record label, [24] and, from 2004 onwards, by Universal [25] In 2008, the series was handed over to Dance-Tunes. [26]

The last Thunderdome compilation album is named "High Voltage", and was released on 2 October 2020.

In 1998, there was an attempt to launch a separate Thunderdome series in the US under the Arcade America label, but only one album was released. [27]

Main series

Special CDs

Vinyl releases

Reception

When the first Thunderdome album was re-released in 2010, Ben Martijn (a new member of Party Animals) wrote a favorable review on the FOK! website closing with the words "[the album is] full of history and indispensable in the collection of a real hardcore fan!" [57]

Allmusic gave Thunderdome: The Best of '98 3/5 stars. [58]

Songs that make references to Thunderdome

Because of the popularity of the Thunderdome concept, some artists have made tributes to it in their songs. These are some examples:

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Dicker, Holly (2019-10-30). "Thunderdome: the Dutch rave with the world's fastest, hardest music". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  2. ↑ "About Thunderdome". Thunderdome. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  3. 1 2 Thunderdome a Decade event site Archived 2010-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Billboard July 26, 1997 p. 44 at Google Books
  5. ↑ Various - Thunderdome X - A Decade - Live at Discogs
  6. ↑ Thunderdome a Decade at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ↑ Thunderdome.com - Thank you for 2012
  8. ↑ Thunderdome.com - Thunderdome compilation out now [CD + Digital]
  9. ↑ THUNDERDOME DIE HARD DAY ANNOUNCEMENT
  10. ↑ Bassmusic's announcement
  11. ↑ Thunderdome's Facebook page
  12. ↑ Coretours announcement
  13. ↑ The official Thunderdome 2019 trailer
  14. ↑ Thunderdome Never Dies - Official Trailer
  15. ↑ Thunderdome is BACK in 2021
  16. ↑ Thunderdome 2021 | Official Trailer
  17. ↑ Thunderdome 2022 | Official Trailer
  18. ↑
  19. ↑
  20. ↑
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ Various - Thunderdome - F*ck Mellow, This Is Hardcore From Hell at Discogs
  23. ↑ "The Best of Thunderdome" booklet (1995) Arcade
  24. ↑ Various - Thunderdome at Discogs
  25. ↑ Various - Thunderdome 2nd Gen Part 1 - Malice To Society at Discogs.
  26. ↑ Various - Thunderdome (the 2008 album) at Discogs
  27. ↑ Various - Thunderdome (The American album) at Discogs
  28. ↑ hitparade.ch
  29. ↑ austriancharts.at
  30. ↑ hitparade.ch
  31. ↑ austriancharts.at
  32. ↑ hitparade.ch
  33. ↑ hitparade.ch
  34. ↑ hitparade.ch
  35. ↑ hitparade.ch
  36. ↑ austriancharts.at
  37. ↑ hitparade.ch
  38. ↑ austriancharts.at
  39. ↑ hitparade.ch
  40. ↑ austriancharts.at
  41. ↑ hitparade.ch
  42. ↑ austriancharts.at
  43. ↑ hitparade.ch
  44. ↑ hitparade.ch
  45. ↑ hitparade.ch
  46. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  47. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  48. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  49. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  50. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  51. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  52. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  53. ↑ dutchcharts.nl
  54. ↑ austriancharts.at
  55. ↑ hitparade.ch
  56. ↑ hitparade.ch
  57. ↑ CD: VA - Thunderdome I review, Martijn, FOK!, 2010-09-11 (Dutch)
  58. ↑ Thunderdome: The Best of '98 at AllMusic . Retrieved 5 May 2013.
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