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My review of DGTL Amsterdam and Awakenings Gashouder
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| Donnie Gryphon |
I don't really know where to start but I guess I'll give a pretty good run down of my trip start to finish.
Firstly, I will never fly airberlin again on a long haul flight. That was the most cramped I have ever been on a flight and I'm not even a big guy. Luckily, it was on miles and cost me $5.60. Arrived on April 1st in Dusseldorf to meet to stay with Pat for night and head to AMS in the morning. Well leaving Miami from 85 degree weather and getting to Germany in 30 degree and snow is always fun, needless to stay I took a proper nap for 8 hours lol.
We were on the fence about Gashouder on Thursday night since the girlfriend had flew over night, then a 2 hour train and we were out and about in Amsterdam all day long, so she was pretty beat but Joris had sorted us out with list and figured we should definitely go check out Gashouder. Thanks for talking the lady into it Pat lol.
We had never been before and ended up doing a massive loop around the outside trying to find the entrance. The lines in Amsterdam move so quick and smoothly. Walked right up to guest list line, had a bit of an issue since the girlfriend was a late addition to the list and her name wasn't on there. Luckily the door girl just asked we show her the text and phone number from Joris so she could confirm it was true. She took a look at the number and let us right in. Big thanks to Joris and Niels for the backstage bands and hospitality. The bathroom situation is slick for the guys, eco toilets and troughs so the guys move quickly, hell the girls lines move quick as well. I didn't like having to put my jacket in a locker but it turned out well as it was hot inside the venue.
So, we walked into the dome from the locker area and my jaw immediately hit the floor. I have never experienced a venue like that. It's so massive and beautifully setup for the ease of the customers. I REALLY REALLY like the credit system at events, all cashless and keeps the bars moving quickly. Not many drink options but that also eliminates the slowness of bars which was great since I drink beer. We made a few laps to check everything out. Massive smoking area out back, food vendors, a full on massage station (full body massages), the stadium seating in the back is ace! Plenty of bars and token stations all around and the crowd was super!
On to the music, we really wanted to catch tINI but got a late start moving so we missed her but caught the Martinez Bros from start to finish and WOW! I've seen the boys plenty of times around the world now and that was by far the best set I've ever seen from them! They were absolutely pounding techno from start to finish. When they dropped Lazer Beams and the lasers at Gashouder went absolutely mental my mind was blown. We kicked it backstage a bit because we had private bars and bathrooms and was nice hanging out with peeps I don't get to see often. So Sven comes on after the Bros and honestly the first 40 mins was a super let down after my last experience with him at Amnesia. We were looking to head out and saying our good byes and then all of sudden a massive fireworks display goes off in the venue. I've seen fireworks displays in venues but nothing like this. It looked like all the fireworks were on tracks around the dome and going in all different directions with a massive finale at the end. Sven picked it up at this point and was just dropping tune after tune. We were beat at this point and left around 6am, since we had sighting seeing plans the next day.
Friday we didn't do much, met up with Pat that night at Greenhouse (highly suggest you go here! top notch buds and the location on Haarlemstraat serves up some delicious food) We had a solid dinner, dessert and coffee that night just kicking and showing the lady a proper coffeehouse night in the Dam. That ing iceolator though!! Wowzers watch out for the stuff.
So Saturday is the first day of DGTL. This is the only complaint I had about the whole experience. Getting on the ferry to the docklands on Saturday around 3pm was an absolute show, probably 1,000 people trying to get on a 250 person ferry. We took another ferry and cabbed it over to the venue. Upon arrival you walk up to a massive ticket booth and guest list tent, probably 50 lines to claim tickets. So smooth, had our bands in 1 minute. As you walk in you walk through a really cool container structure with the letters DGTL carved out on them with flame throwers from the top. We knew this was going to be a good day. The search waling in was quick and painless (5 grams allowed for each person) lady looked at my handful of bags counted them and sent us on our way. We forgot to top off our bands before hand and had to go to the credit booth to fill up our bands with credits, since DGTL is completely cashless. Amazing! I think we got 50 credits for 110 euro. Figured we needed to eat a bit we rolled over the the BBQ stand and grabbed a pulled pork sandwich. We took a seat by the fireplace structure ate and rolled a couple spliffs. Headed over to catch the last hour of David August. He was playing great and it blows my mind what he does up there every time. His tunes were a bit slow for what we wanted and we were cold again so headed back to the fire pit to warm up. The one fire pit was outside of the Digital stage where surprisingly HS82 was absolutely bringing the funk with tech house jam after jam. Caught 30 minutes of him and then headed over to the Ellum stage to catch Danny Daze. Danny was playing some mind bending weird ass techno! Was top notch. Cool thing about the Ellum stage it was a massive container village stacked two or three high with a huge tent covering the structure. Oh the lights, sound and lasers were absolutely on point. We stepped over to the Audio stage after about 40 mins to catch the end of Andhim and as usual the boys were bringing the heat and warming up that structure. It was a huge clear tent type thing, like the roof at space. At this point I looked at my watch and let out an Oh !!! We immediately headed back to the Analog stage (massive 16th century brick warehouse type building probably 7 or 8,000 people in there) to catch the ghost that is Finnebassen. I've tried to see him 3 or 4 times now in the states with no luck and heard that he's cancelled a couple times in Europe so was hoping he showed. We walk and there he is absolutely shredding that stage to packed crowd. Could barely move in there. I was so happy to have caught him and he didn't disappoint at all. Heavy beats with those ever so sexy vocals laced over everything. We left with a few minutes left in his set to head back to the fire pit to warm up and roll up lol. Headed back in to catch a bit of Adriatique, again they never disappoint. Bringing that hypnotic diynamic technoess type tunes. With a bit left in their set we decided to head back to the Digital stage to get a nice spot for Jamie Jones, I was a bit on the fence since we would have to put up with Art Department for 40 mins or so. I don't get these guys. They were dropping the heat and then boom turned into fart dept K hole music. Thankfully they only had 10 mins or so left. We worked our way right into the front middle for Jamie. I honestly didn't even think about going to Mano or Maceo, sorry I'm a jamie fanboy. This guy just never disappoints! He started out with something super familiar that I can't just think of the ID, very ambient sounding synths and then boom that signature JJ groove after that signature cut the music off Jamie lol. Always happens, luckily it was the beginning and didn't happen again. This guy is truly next level, this was up there with one of the better Jamie sets I've seen. Probably number 2. He had that crowd in an absolute frenzy from start to finish. We left about 15 mins before the festival ended to beat the traffic to the ferry. Was a breeze
So Sunday we head back. Ferry was quick and easy this day. As soon as we got there we grabbed some beer and fresh made brick oven pizza and headed over to catch the last 20 mins of Motor city drum Ensemble, dude was really good and dropping that signature groovy sound of his. Bounced over to Innervisions after this where Recondite had just got on. The room wasn't too full at all but after about 20 mins into his set it just kept getting busier and busier to the point you couldn't move. He was killing peeps with those massive low ends and had the place eating out of the palm of his hand. Set of the day was by far the #1 DJ in the world Dixon. I've seen him 4 times now and this was the best. He absolutely murdered that stage. Minds were definitely blown in that 2 hours. He just really solidified why he should be number 1. We stayed for about 30 mins of Culoue De Song. This guy is the ing truth!! He's coming to Miami April 25th, GO SEE HIM! It's like innervisions meets african tribes. After Culoue De Song finished up we bounced over to Phono Stage to catch the last 30 mins of Sidney Charles. Ufffff this guy had that place going mental with a lot of his own productions. We kicked it after his set and caught De Sluwe Vos for about 30 mins. This guy was playing some jams. He started with a downtempo dubsteppish remix of La roux - In For The Kill. It was mental. After about 30 mins we headed to the Stereo stage to catch Scuba!! This dude was just ripping heavy techno bombs in there. Dude almost knocked me over because of that music. Was mind blown. The girl didn't enjoy him as much since it was that really heavy Hotflush sound and it wasn't really up her alley, so we bounced back to De Sluwe Vos who was still playing some mind bending dubstep type tunes, was really good and definitely would see him again. To close it out we finished back at Innervisions with Ame! He was on fire. It's hard to believe but that set was leaps and bounds a head of the Mexico set at Solomun +1.
All in all my rating of that festival was a 9/10. I really really like the cashless system. They scan your band for everything and it keeps all the vendors moving quickly. No idiots digging in their pockets for money or figuring out where their cards are. The PEOPLE are amazing! Crowds are so much better, sure you had your drunken brits running around but even they were well behaved and friendly. The production of that festival blew my mind. Every stage was mint from the lights to the sound to the atmosphere! I don't think we could ever recreate anything like that in the USA. |
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| bdr222 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Donnie Gryphon
I don't think we could ever recreate anything like that in the USA. |
Sure we can... when we invade & occupy Holland. |
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| ucforange |
awesome writeup of your Dutch adventure Donnie.
DGTL, Awakenings, ADE as a whole, Dekmantel, all the smaller summer festivals and shows...there's so much going on there throughout the year. It's a part of their mainstream culture at this point. Combine that with easy-going views of the music, partying (and yes drugs), you promoters who have the freedom to put on truly amazing events without having to deal with the politics side of things. The Dutch have seen their fair share of top-notch events going back to the Dutch superstar trance days (Tiesto, Armin, etc) so they have quite a high standard when it comes to production. Those fans are older but a lot of them have moved onto techno and deep house.
Another thing: AMS isn't very expensive. I always tell people the prices were like being at home in Orlando...3 bucks for an average beer like Heineken (sometimes cheaper), 75 bucks for a really nice room, etc. Nothing like the crazy Miami prices where you're shelling out $150 minimum at the bar alone. These are all reasons why I think the scene is so damn good there. Not only is the music and production top-notch, but it's not breaking the bank and the people (especially the local Dutchies) have the greatest vibe.
If you couldn't tell, if I could instantly learn another language and get a job in another country, it'd be Holland. :toothless |
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| Rissinite |
| Great write-up... I'm peanut butter and jealous |
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| Donnie Gryphon |
| quote: | Originally posted by ucforange
awesome writeup of your Dutch adventure Donnie.
DGTL, Awakenings, ADE as a whole, Dekmantel, all the smaller summer festivals and shows...there's so much going on there throughout the year. It's a part of their mainstream culture at this point. Combine that with easy-going views of the music, partying (and yes drugs), you promoters who have the freedom to put on truly amazing events without having to deal with the politics side of things. The Dutch have seen their fair share of top-notch events going back to the Dutch superstar trance days (Tiesto, Armin, etc) so they have quite a high standard when it comes to production. Those fans are older but a lot of them have moved onto techno and deep house.
Another thing: AMS isn't very expensive. I always tell people the prices were like being at home in Orlando...3 bucks for an average beer like Heineken (sometimes cheaper), 75 bucks for a really nice room, etc. Nothing like the crazy Miami prices where you're shelling out $150 minimum at the bar alone. These are all reasons why I think the scene is so damn good there. Not only is the music and production top-notch, but it's not breaking the bank and the people (especially the local Dutchies) have the greatest vibe.
If you couldn't tell, if I could instantly learn another language and get a job in another country, it'd be Holland. :toothless |
I completely forgot to mention pricing. Here was the break (for 2 people)
Flights over 40,000miles + $11.60 (flew Miami to Dusseldorf)
Train to Amsterdam = 67 Euros (around $75)
DGTL Tickets = $180
Drink Credits = 150 Euro
Room in AMS = $625
Coffeshops and Stuff = $200ish
Travel around town (trams buses and taxis) = 70 Euro
Spending (dinners, museums, gifts etc) 500 Euros
Flights home (AMS to Miami for 2) = $550
When I left I got 1.04 Euro for every US Dollar as well. So a lot of the Euro prices are less in US Dollars.
Everything is really cheap there.
Hell Pat and myself ran out to grab bratwurst on Wednesday and I think it was 6 euros total for two brats and two pepsis. |
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| OrangestO |
Nice review, Donnie. Love the insight.
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| Faceplant |
I will finally be making it back to holland next year. I haven't been since 2002. I used to go every other summer as a teenager. Very happy to to see the euro getting almost equal to the dollar. I'm not going to any huge events, will just be going to visit fam and show the wife around. Of course we will catch some night life. Most my fam is in Rotterdam, den Hague, and the south around Breda and Tilburg. Can't wait to show my wife delft and where my great grand pa used to work in the huge old catholic church.
Sounds like u had a blast Donnie. Always good to be home, but sometimes I don't want to come home. |
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| Donnie Gryphon |
| quote: | Originally posted by Faceplant
I will finally be making it back to holland next year. I haven't been since 2002. I used to go every other summer as a teenager. Very happy to to see the euro getting almost equal to the dollar. I'm not going to any huge events, will just be going to visit fam and show the wife around. Of course we will catch some night life. Most my fam is in Rotterdam, den Hague, and the south around Breda and Tilburg. Can't wait to show my wife delft and where my great grand pa used to work in the huge old catholic church.
Sounds like u had a blast Donnie. Always good to be home, but sometimes I don't want to come home. |
I wanted to take the girl down to Delft just didn't have the time!
Haha yea man I never want to leave Europe or the UK. It's just one of those places I really feel a connection with and more at home when I'm over there. Truly looking to make a move at least for part of the year. |
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| OrangestO |
I don't think I'll ever feel at "home" in any one place.
I feel at home when I'm on the road. Hopefully that road leads to a place where I finally feel content.
Anyways, good philosophical discussion to have over some beers. |
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| Faceplant |
Last time I went to holland at 17 for 2 years I was stuck on moving over there and becoming a bike messanger. My fam being true Europeans wanted me to go to a university over there to stay with them and that wasn't my perogotive at the time. None the less I been to Belgium, Germany and holland and I truelly feel at home In holland spececifally both the dams as English is spoken by everybody
Also anybody who has a chance to go to holland in the summer go to den Hague and check ou lt Scheveningen. It's a real sweat beach resort area. Casinos, nude beaches and fancy night life |
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| OrangestO |
Yea man, I agree Donnie. There's an energy about Europe unmatched anywhere else I've been.
Personally, my artistic spirit comes alive there. My writing flourishes.
That's why I'm heading back this summer. I quit my day job and sold all my to just hit the road and backpack. I'm getting my Polish citizenship, too. I'm leaving my options open as far as where I end up moving too, but it could very well be Berlin once the fall arrives.
Funny. I could stay here working 9-to-5 earning 45k/year going through the motions and be miserable. You know, scratching my itch for travel with a vacation or two each year. Or I could be living day to day, out of a backpack, and be completely content with life as long as I'm in a new place doing new .
The first step is the hardest. |
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| Rissinite |
| quote: | Originally posted by OrangestO
Yea man, I agree Donnie. There's an energy about Europe unmatched anywhere else I've been.
Personally, my artistic spirit comes alive there. My writing flourishes.
That's why I'm heading back this summer. I quit my day job and sold all my to just hit the road and backpack. I'm getting my Polish citizenship, too. I'm leaving my options open as far as where I end up moving too, but it could very well be Berlin once the fall arrives.
Funny. I could stay here working 9-to-5 earning 45k/year going through the motions and be miserable. You know, scratching my itch for travel with a vacation or two each year. Or I could be living day to day, out of a backpack, and be completely content with life as long as I'm in a new place doing new .
The first step is the hardest. |
Totally admireable... |
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