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Dancevalley 2004 - unbelievable.
Been to quite some parties sofar, but at Dancevalley everything was perfect: people, sun, music, vibe...
Facts: 10:00 - 23:00, 50.000 tickets sold, over 160 DJs, quite some "big names" (check the lineup at www.dancevalley.nl)
Pictures were taken with several Digi-Cams (from friends, no clue which models) and a Nokia 6230 phone.
Our group: Frank, Manuela, Harald (all three from Hamburg, Germany) and Lota from Switzerland:
After using the hotelbus from our hotel to the Airport Bus we took the sneltrain from Schiphol to Amsterdam Sloterdijk. We thought so at least... Direction was ok, but it didn´t stop at Sloterdijk but at Amsterdam Central. Ok, so that´s what sneltrain means 
Back in the same train, this time it stopped at Sloterdijk, where the shuttle busses to Dancevalley departed. Perfect organisation, you got immediately in a bus and off it took, without waiting.
About 25mins later we arrived at a parking lot, where 10 bussed could simultanously "dock" and everyone got out. First we thought, ok, maybe 5mins walking and we are there, because we could see and hear the first tent from the parking lot. Well, it was like 2km and half an hour. Queues in front of the entrance were ok, controls too, we got in around 13.15 (over 1 hour later than planned, oh well).
Parking lot for the busses:
We went pretty directly to the Armada tent with Markus Schulz. From there then "sightseeing", first to the Mainstage (openair), where Pako and Frederik played, stayed there a while, then over to the HQ (openair) for the last few minutes of JP.
Mainstage:
HQ:
Then again back to the Armada tent. But as we were just passing the Concept tent, Manu wanted to go in there. Frank and I: "Nah, that´s Adam Beyer and way too hard!" Ok, 50m later we made a 180° and straight into Adam Beyer hell. I went out after a couple of minutes and chilled outside, watching Manu and Frank dance like crazy. Looks like we need to get to Frankfurt in the next few months, Overseas needs to take us to the U for some good techno. Unfortunately Beyer went on only for 10mins, after that it was The Advent and we went over to Armin van Buuren at the Armada tent.
Armada Tent with decoration:
Armin played stuff like
Armin van Buuren - Burned With Desire (Brian Cross Remix)
Sarah McLachlan - Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Anti Gravity Mix)
Tiesto - Adagio For Strings
Filterheadz - Yimanya (Original Mix)
Delerium - Silence (A&B Remix)
during his 6 hours, those were some of the tracks we caught when we were at the tent. Huge bubble machines, f*cking amazing. Met JP (this time a friend and not the DJ from HQ) and some of the German TAs there and after some Armin went sightseeing again to the Mainstage with Sasha and Digweed. The sun finally came out! Very nice, laying on the blanket, listening and just watching people passing by. But it was too slow for JP, Frank and Manu and we went to HQ, where Lisa Lashes played. Amazing, when there is a slight change in rhythm and thousands of ppl jumping up over and over again. After that it gets slightly hazy... I think we went to Armada tent again for Armin (1.5km distance, we did like at least 12km walking yesterday at the DV). Met there all other German, Swiss and Austrian Tas.
Armin on stage:
Frank, Manu and I went then over to Eurogrooves (outdoor) for the very last minutes of Jean, after that Paul Oakenfold started and destroyed the place. Really. Unbelievable. I wanted to see him since ´98 and finally managed to (only been twice to Germany as far as I know). Awesome set. Best set/vibe of
Dancevalley. F*CK. A helicopter circling overhead, throwing thousands of flowers out. Imagine dancing to Oakenfold with the sky full of flowers...
He played:
Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire (Junkie XL Remix)
Tilt - The World Doesn't Know
Sam Sharp - Deep
Tiesto - Traffic
Ferry Corsten - Sweet Sorrow (Thrillseekers Remix)
The Thrillseekers - New Life
Smith & Pledger - Believe
U2 - Beautiful Day (Perfecto 2004 Remix)
Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (DJ Tiesto Remix)
Igor S - Boomerang
Need I say more?
Oakenfold at Eurogrooves:
Wandered over to the Decade of Dance tent to get some vodka/redbull (none left at the Eurogrooves area), was pretty empty though and we needed to get back to Oakenfold.
After that back to the Armada tent, where now M.I.K.E. was playing. YES! Lots of really nice stuff, Filterheadz - Yimanja, Sunglasses at night(CL remix), a remix of Born Slippy, everything was good. Then again to the mainstage for Carl Cox.
What can I say? The mainstage area was PACKED with ppl, we got a pretty good place though. Around 21.45 it got darker and darker and finally at 22.00 the lasers started. Unbelievable. Pictures just can´t capture it. Imagine thousands of hyped-up ppl screaming and dancing to a really good Cox set, then laser after laser powering up, red, green, from behind. Then the fireworks in addition. Then cannon shots of silver snipplets in the air, illuminated by the lasers. And of course Tomaz vs Filterheadz - Sunshine, last heard at Carl Cox@Space Ibiza in 2003. Yes...
The end at 23.00. Too bad, but knowing this ppl partyied hard the last hour. Then back to the entrance and the 2km trek back to the busses. Got it, but the bus waited another 10mins before driving back to Sloterdijk. Getting out of the bus we saw the 00:34 train pull out of the station, and yes, it was the last train for the night, next one at 05:11. Ok, out to the taxis. Seemed like lots of other ppl had the same idea. 40-45 Euros per taxi - wh00t! Finally got a taxi for eight ppl and payed 65 Euros. Mind you, it was not even 10km to the hotel, maybe 10mins. Not bad...
Next year: Dancevalley, for sure. We are not going to Mysteryland like last year - can´t imagine that you can top the DV. Unbelievable weekend... I just hope that Ibiza in a month is nearly as good
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