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
Founded by 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 an 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

Related Research Articles

Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dune (band)</span> German band

Dune is a German electronic group known for songs such as "Hardcore Vibes", "Can't Stop Raving", "Are You Ready to Fly" and "Rainbow to the Stars".

Neophyte is a Dutch hardcore, or gabber, group formed in 1992 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The three original members are Jeroen Streunding, Danny Greten and Robin van Roon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairground Attraction</span> British folk/soft rock band

Fairground Attraction are a London-based folk and soft rock band. They are best known for the 1988 hits "Perfect" and "Find My Love", both from their debut studio album, The First of a Million Kisses. The band won two Brit Awards in 1989, but broke up the following year to pursue solo careers. They reformed in 2024.

<i>ABBA Gold</i> 1992 greatest hits album by ABBA

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released on 21 September 1992 through PolyGram, making it the first compilation to be released after the company had acquired Polar Music, and thus the rights to the ABBA back catalogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ The Prophet</span> Dutch DJ and producer

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.

<i>Love Songs: A Compilation... Old and New</i> 2004 compilation album by Phil Collins

Love Songs: A Compilation... Old and New is a compilation album by English musician Phil Collins. The album was released by Atlantic Recording Corporation and Rhino Entertainment on 28 September 2004. The album was released only a few months after the compilation album The Platinum Collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A-ha discography</span>

The discography of A-ha, a Norwegian synthpop/rock band, consists of eleven studio albums, eight compilation albums, six box sets, ten extended plays, and fifty singles. This list does not include solo material or other projects recorded by A-ha band members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Sabbath discography</span>

The discography of Black Sabbath, an English heavy metal band, includes 19 studio albums, eight live albums, 13 compilation albums, nine video albums, three extended plays and 37 singles. The band was formed in 1968 by John "Ozzy" Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi, Terence "Geezer" Butler, and Bill Ward (drums). The band has undergone multiple lineup changes. Though the second most recent line-up of the band to work together were Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice, Iommi, and Butler, for three new songs for a compilation in 2007, the original line-up was still considered the "current" lineup at the time and had been since their reunion in 1997. The 2007 sessions were deemed a one-off which led to the Heaven and Hell side project, resulting in a new studio album in 2009 titled The Devil You Know. In June 2013, a partial reformation of the original line-up released 13, which was the first album to feature Osbourne on vocals since 1978's Never Say Die!. After 49 years together, Black Sabbath announced their breakup in March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primus discography</span>

This is a discography for the American rock band Primus. For individual songs, see the category listing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poison discography</span>

The following is a comprehensive discography of Poison, an American glam metal band that achieved huge success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Poison sold more than 16 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and the Hot 100 number-one single, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". The band became icons of the 1980s MTV era and have had widespread commercial success. The band's breakthrough debut album, the multi-platinum Look What the Cat Dragged In was released in 1986 and they hit their peak with the second album, the multi-platinum selling Open Up and Say... Ahh! which became the band's most successful album ever. The popularity continued into the new decade with their third consecutive multi-platinum selling album Flesh & Blood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scorpions discography</span> Cataloging of published recordings by the German rock band Scorpions

The following is a comprehensive discography of Scorpions, a German rock band. The band have released 19 studio albums, six live albums, 13 video albums, 29 compilation albums, one cover album, 92 singles and 43 music videos. They have sold between 75 and 100 million records worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Stansfield discography</span> Catalogue of published recordings by Lisa Stansfield

British singer and songwriter Lisa Stansfield has released eight solo studio albums and one with her band Blue Zone, four compilation albums, three remix albums, one soundtrack album, one extended play and forty-four singles. As of 2004, Stansfield has sold over 20 million records worldwide, including 5 million of Affection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas discography</span>

The discography of Scottish pop rock band Texas contains 10 studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums and 45 singles. Their most successful single to date is "Say What You Want" (1997), which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at Scotland's University of Dundee. They took their name from the 1984 Wim Wenders movie Paris, Texas. The band released their debut album Southside in 1989, along with the debut single "I Don't Want a Lover", which was a worldwide success, charting at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and other high charting positions in Europe. Southside debuted at number three in the United Kingdom and number 88 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. Despite the success of Southside, follow-up albums Mothers Heaven and Ricks Road were less successful in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarja Turunen discography</span>

The discography of Finnish symphonic metal singer Tarja Turunen, consists of ten studio albums, one compilation album, six extended plays, eight live albums, eleven video albums, one box-set, fifty five singles and forty eight music videos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mando Diao discography</span>

The discography of the Swedish indie rock band Mando Diao currently consists of ten studio albums, twenty-nine singles, three compilation albums and three extended plays (EPs). The band is composed of Gustaf Norén, Björn Dixgård, Carl-Johan Fogelklou and Mats Björke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Grönemeyer discography</span>

The discography of German singer Herbert Grönemeyer counts 16 studio albums, five live albums, as well as two compilations, six video albums and 40 singles. According to Bundesverband Musikindustrie, Grönemeyer is the best-selling artist in Germany, with over 18 million records sold. IFPI Austria lists sales of more than one million records, while the singer sold more than 650,000 records in Switzerland, according to IFPI Switzerland.

Gabber is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of hardcore techno, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, which is characterised by fast beats, distorted and heavy kickdrums, with dark themes and samples. This style was developed in Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the 1990s by producers like Marc Acardipane, Paul Elstak, DJ Rob, and The Prophet, forming record labels such as Rotterdam Records, Mokum Records, Pengo Records and Industrial Strength Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portugal. The Man discography</span>

American rock band Portugal. The Man have released nine studio albums, four extended plays (EPs) and 15 singles. The band were formed in 2004 in Wasilla, Alaska and currently consist of John Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Sechrist and Eric Howk.

This is the discography of British singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram.

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. Various - Thunderdome - F*ck Mellow, This Is Hardcore From Hell at Discogs
  19. "The Best of Thunderdome" booklet (1995) Arcade
  20. Various - Thunderdome at Discogs
  21. Various - Thunderdome 2nd Gen Part 1 - Malice To Society at Discogs.
  22. Various - Thunderdome (the 2008 album) at Discogs
  23. Various - Thunderdome (The American album) at Discogs
  24. hitparade.ch
  25. austriancharts.at
  26. hitparade.ch
  27. austriancharts.at
  28. hitparade.ch
  29. hitparade.ch
  30. hitparade.ch
  31. hitparade.ch
  32. austriancharts.at
  33. hitparade.ch
  34. austriancharts.at
  35. hitparade.ch
  36. austriancharts.at
  37. hitparade.ch
  38. austriancharts.at
  39. hitparade.ch
  40. hitparade.ch
  41. hitparade.ch
  42. dutchcharts.nl
  43. dutchcharts.nl
  44. dutchcharts.nl
  45. dutchcharts.nl
  46. dutchcharts.nl
  47. dutchcharts.nl
  48. dutchcharts.nl
  49. dutchcharts.nl
  50. austriancharts.at
  51. hitparade.ch
  52. hitparade.ch
  53. CD: VA - Thunderdome I review, Martijn, FOK!, 2010-09-11 (Dutch)
  54. Thunderdome: The Best of '98 at AllMusic . Retrieved 5 May 2013.