What an insane summer it has been up until now! In this post I want to talk about the two drum and bass festivals I visited this summer. One more is coming up, but I’ll tell you more about it at the end of this article. I hope you enjoy reading my festival diary ♥ (P.S. I didn't take any pictures at the festivals, so you have to look at two portraits of me - sorry! But I'll link the official websites and Facebook pages of the two festivals so you can have a look at pictures and videos there).
➳ Liquicity Festival 2017
First, I went to Liquicity Festival in the Netherlands in July. My flight departed at 7 o'clock in the morning, so it wasn't the best idea to stay out until 2:30 am and get really drunk. I had one hour of sleep when I boarded the plane and I felt like absolute shit. I kind of regretted my decision to fly to the Netherlands on my own to go to a festival. That quickly changed when I got to the end of the escalator of the train station at Schiphol airport. Two guys called me over because I was wearing a Liquicity t-shirt. It turned out they were British and came to Amsterdam for the same reason as me. So we took the train to Alkmaar (which is supposedly the cheese capital of the Netherlands - I have to go back there and explore the town!) and then jumped on the shuttle bus. When we arrived on the campsite, we moved my Kartent - a tent made out of cardboard basically - next to theirs. I was so happy I met them. We had a really similar taste in artists which was a really good thing. So after we put our luggage into the tent and had a beer with our Dutch tent neighbours, we went to the actual festival area to see Malaky, Technimatic, a bit of Fliwo, Maduk, High Contrast, Mind Vortex and Dimension. For some of the later sets we just sat outside Galaxy stage and enjoyed the music. However, when they played a tune we loved, we jumped up and danced. It was so much fun! We went to bed really late and had a few hours of sleep before the festival continued on Sunday.
The first set we went to see was by Actraiser, because we were waiting for Monrroe. It was our warm up before going to my absolute favourite set of the weekend - Whiney b2b Hugh Hardie. The songs they played were so so so good, it was incredible! We then headed to Hybrid Minds and after that - obviously - to Maduk's Yearmix Set. He played the best tunes out of the Liquicity Yearmixes from 2012 - 2016. So every song was very well known and everybody was singing along and just going crazy. We had to take a break after that and then saw 1991 - my second favourite set of Liquicity festival. MC Fava was on the mic during this one and I basically just love him. He's the best MC in my opinion. Sub Focus was on my list of acts I just had to go to also. I went to see him on my first ever drum and bass rave back in 2013 and listening to his songs always brings back so many memories. To finish the festival, we headed back to Solar stage (my favourite) to catch Muzzy play. And what a great ending it was - his set was really good and made everyone rave like crazy. As they had to stop the music on the stages at midnight, we decided to throw a little after party right by our tent. So we invited the people we met during the weekend, bought loads of beers and listened to drum and bass until around 4 o'clock in the morning. It was so amazing! People walking by actually stopped and started dancing with us. I love this community ♥
On Monday, it was time to head back to Amsterdam and then fly home. I joined my two British friends at their hotel for check in and in return they came to the airport with me, where we said our goodbyes. When we were walking in separate directions, I actually almost started crying. It was such an emotional moment.
In conclusion, I had the loveliest weekend in the Galaxy of Dreams and it felt like “coming home”. I met strangers on Friday and they had become my friends when I left on Monday. The Liquicity family is so beautiful! The festival location was so pretty and the stages (two were tents (Galaxy Stage and Lunar Stage) and one was open air (Solar Stage)) were really cool. My favourite moment was when we met Hugh Hardie while walking around and got a picture with him – he was so lovely! That’s what I love about this community: even the artists are so incredibly friendly and open minded. They are dancing with the crowd after their sets and you can just go up to them and ask for pictures, autographs or have a conversation.
➳ Let It Roll 2017
My second drum and bass festival this year was Let It Roll in the Czech Republic – the biggest dnb festival in the world. And let me tell you: It was insane! When we arrived, we felt like walking into drum and bass paradise. I met two Spanish girls at the airport and asked if I could join them, because we found out that we were on the same campsite (I booked the Comfort Camp with a tent that was already set up when I arrived). So we put our luggage into our tents and then went to the first stage – Hangar stage. As the name suggests, it was located in an old hangar. The location in general is incredible: Let It Roll takes place on a disused airfield in Milovice. Back to the story: It felt so nice raving at 3 o’clock in the afternoon with a beer in one hand and the other one up in the air, dancing. I love festivals! In the evening we went to the bigger stages and tents. There was Factory stage, which looked so cool and was open air. Then there were the tent stages: Madhouse (one of my faves ♥), Port Stage, Underworld Stage and there was also a Techno Stage, which was nice in case you wanted something a bit different. One of the smallest stages was Shredder stage. It was host to the harder spectrum of drum and bass. I had such a good first night and stayed up until around 6:30 because I met a guy from Hungary and we decided to go for a walk through the Czech countryside. A good ending to the first evening.
I woke up again at 9:30 (thanks to the insane heat in my tent) and felt so hungover. I decided to take it easy on the second night. However, line up wise, this day was my favourite. First, my Spanish friends and I went to see Hybrid Minds (one of the best sets of the weekend – I love them ♥). Then I had to see Pola & Bryson obviously. So I went to Madhouse Stage on my own, because the others wanted to see different artists. After that I sat outside Madhouse for a bit and listened to Ed:it’s set. A group of Spanish guys approached me and we decided to spend the evening together. One of the highlights of the festival was the opening show of the Main Stage. The theme of the festival was “Rise of the Immortals” and it was basically all about robots. The main stage even looked like one! So the robot began to tell the story of his kind and in between the different parts of the story there was music, fireworks and lasers. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this before – it blew my mind! The opening show and the main stage were incredible! After witnessing this craziness, we went back to Madhouse stage to listen to Rockwell’s set. Next up was Technimatic. What a beautiful set! I spent about half of it with my eyes closed in the front row and just feeling the music ♥ Then it was time for some harder stuff as we went to see Forbidden Society on Shredder stage. After that followed Killbox (Ed Rush & Audio), Icicle and Dimension. I also wanted to see Etherwood and B-Complex (her song “Beautiful Lies” was one of the first dnb tracks I absolutely loved), but it was 3 o’clock already and I was very tired, so I went back to my tent and slept for a few hours.
On Saturday, I felt kind of sad when I woke up – knowing that this was going to be the last day of the festival. We decided to head to the festival area in the afternoon to get some food and enjoy the day time activities (one of them was a dnb workout. Well, I was sitting on the ground, eating a pizza and enjoying the music ^^). Suddenly, I heard some Swiss german. I started talking to the two guys and then spent the rest of the afternoon with them. It was so nice to be able to have a conversation in Swiss German – even though I enjoyed speaking English and a bit of Spanish. We met again in the evening and had a great night together. First, we saw Nu:Logic. It’s a project by the two brothers Nu:Tone and Logistics and I always love their sets. This one was no exception. We stayed in front of the Main Stage for almost the entire evening. We also saw The Prototypes, Matrix & Futurebound, Camo & Krooked (their set was incredible! Can’t wait to see them again in November in St. Gallen). Then we switched to Madhouse Stage where State of Mind were playing. By that time I was pretty drunk (just being honest here!) and I was going crazy in there, jumping around and sharing my beer and some cigarettes with other ravers. Definitely one of my favourite moments of the festival. After that madness we went to Port Stage to see Alix Perez. The tent was full, which wasn’t really a surprise because his set was amazing. I remember saying “this is sooo damn sexy” a few times :D Then we decided it was time to just sit down and relax for a bit and eventually go to sleep. But I think we definitely showed the festival crowd that Swiss people are good at partying and raving ^^
I didn’t want to get up on Sunday morning, because I knew that I had to pack my bags and leave this paradise. However, my Spanish friends had to catch a bus to the airport. So we said goodbye to our tents (numbers 601 and 602), grabbed something to eat and then exited the area. We hugged and went our separate ways – the two girls flew back to Spain and my other Spanish friend and I took the shuttle to Milovice train station and then drove back to Prague. I booked a hotel for two nights so I could explore Prague. I was so happy to have an actual bed and a warm shower again. In the evening, Carlos and I went to the Let It Roll Afterparty at Storm Club, but I was very tired and not really feeling the music, so we left early. I’ll show you the pictures I took in Prague in a separate post.
This weekend was probably the craziest of my entire life and I’m definitely coming back next year. I really want to go to one of the bus parties (yes ,there’s a very cool looking bus driving around the airport area with DJs on there and you are able to dance). If you’re into drum and bass, this will be your paradise and you’ll walk around with your mouth open or a really big smile on your face the entire time. While it’s not as familiar feeling as Liquicity Festival, it’s still the best festival I’ve ever been to. The production is insane and the line up is so huge and diverse. I really recommend going to this festival if you love dnb. You’ll be able to meet me there next year for sure ;)
➳ Upcoming: Sun & Bass
Festival season isn’t entirely over for me (luckily). I’m flying to Sardinia on the 2nd of September and I’ll be there for an entire week to attend Sun & Bass. They organise day parties on the beach or in clubs and the parties at night take place in an open air club (which is right opposite my hotel – hell yeah!). I can’t wait to enjoy more drum and bass on this beautiful island.
Thank you so much if you read this entire article! I hope you enjoyed my little stories. Something I want to add: If your friends are not into drum and bass and you consider going to a festival on your own – definitely do it! You will meet so many people and make a lot of new friends. Believe me, I was terrified of going solo, but it was the best decision, because if I missed out on these amazing events, I would have been so sad and annoyed. So please: never be afraid to go to a festival on your own and just do it! Live your dreams ♥
My questions for you: Do you like festivals? Which ones have you gone to this summer? And if you listen to drum and bass: Are there more festivals that I need to know about? If you have any questions about the festivals I went to, feel free to ask me in the comment section. I’ll gladly answer them. Have a nice day, take care and see you soon. Lots of love, Selina ♥
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Pictures taken and edited by me
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