I set out in the early afternoon full of happy anticipation as I headed out with the train to Utrecht for the Riverdance Festival. A boy on the free shuttle bus from Utrecht Central Stations asked “Mevrouw, ga je dansen?” My reply was “Ja, zeker!” When we arrived at about 14:30 it was not too busy and you could get through the gate and security reasonably quickly. People were searched for weapons only.

 

This festival took place from 11:00 to 23:00 The festival grounds were located out in the countryside surrounded by cow pastures. It was situated on the banks of a pond and  was much smaller than I had expected compared to other festivals. Still, it was exactly the right size for the crowd it drew. There were 4 podia with different decors of cities on rivers. The decor was nice.

 

The London main stage was outdoors and was for house, techno, tech house music. D Js were Erik Heijting, Pinxt, Freemasons, Dada Life, Benny Rodriques, Marco V, W&W, and Marcel Woods. They were hosted by MCs Apster and Roga.

 

The Paris podium was under a large colorful tent. Inside it was rather dark and had a romantic, sexy decor with hearts, red feathered chandeliers and can-can girls legs adorning the DJ booth. The D Js were Audiophox, Vato Gonzalez vs. MC Tjen, Afrojack, Hardwell, Bingo Players, Lucien Foort, and Eric-E. It was hosted by MC Gee.

 

The Rome podium was dedicated to Italian hardcore and  industrial hardcore. That was located under a large tent which had laser lights. The D Js were D-Saster vs. Sceletor, Recype, DJ D, Bike vs. Meccano Twins, Art of Fighters vs. Amnesys, Noize Suppressor (live), Stunned Guys, Placid K, Mad Dog vs. Tommy Knocker. It was hosted by MC Iinez. The Venice podium was outdoors and had some murals of Venice. It was dedicated to harder styles like hard dance, hard style, jump and hard trance. The D Js were JP, Fausto, Alphaverb, Josh & Wesz, Scope DJ, Noisecontrollers, D-Block & S-te-Fan. It was hosted by MC Renegade.

 

There was also a small tent in the middle called the Talent Room- where the D Js played from the back of a truck. The young talent included D Js Corne Baas & David Wolff, Anucci, Oakmadness, Deep n Lazy, Imad-Jay, TomE, Theisn, 2-Motion, Morris U, Son-E, Mart Funks and DiVasco.

 

After taking a quick look at the grounds, I bought tokens which were 10 euros for 4 tokens. Beer and soft drinks cost 1 token, bottled water 1/12 and mixes were 3. You could also use the tokens for  food which included pizza, warm and cold sandwiches and fruit. The portolets were .50 a visit or a stamp for unlimited use for 2,00.  The portolets became quickly very,very dirty and sometime there was no toilet paper.( Please people! “If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie, wipe the seatie”!) I found that they were too understaffed to do much more than just collect money and check hand stamps. I was glad that I had my own hand sanitizer because the one dispenser was often empty. There was no where to wash your hands.

 

 I was also very disappointed to see that most people just threw all their cups and trash on the ground instead of putting it in the trash containers. They could have had more trash containers at the festival and people to clean up.

 

The weather was cloudy with dark heavy rain clouds sometimes hanging threateningly over the festival. But luckily for us it did not rain. When the sun broke through at the worst threatening period, people actually cheered. But it remained mostly cloudy and not too hot all day.

 

The crowd was mostly young-17-25 but I also saw some older festival goers like myself. There were more men than women, especially around the hard style/hardcore areas. So it could be happy hunting for the girls!

 

I checked out the Freemasons at the London podium first. They were playing some remixed rock classics. That is not what I usually dance to so I left. I decided to begin my dancing at the Talent Room tent.. DJ Imad Jay was on the decks and he was playing some very nice electro, progressive, tech-house and trance and that was just my thing. I must add  him to my list of very good D Js! We had a nice little group on that dance space except for one very drunken young woman who was going all out with her wild and vulgar moves to get as much attention as possible. I did not like to see it but some of the men seemed to enjoy it.

 

Vato Gonzales had a packed full tent at the Paris podium. I wasnt yet warmed up to that intensity and preferred to stay outside than go into a darkened, crowded tent. Im a dancer who needs her space to move. Afrojack and Hardwell also had good strong crowds. I went in while Bingo Players were on the decks. There was some room to dance but I wasnt in the mood for intense house.

 

I visited the Venice and Rome stages several times since I had no experience of harder styles. I was curious as to how people dance to it. It seems to be that they do a lot of stepping, jumping, stomping and other foot-work with strong arms. You have to have a lot of energy and stamina to do it- very macho. Seems like it would be good for getting rid of pent up aggression. Did I feel like dancing to it?  No, its not my thing. But the people at those podiums seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 

I headed back to the London stage and danced to the last several numbers of the Freemasons which were familiar house numbers. Then Dada Life played and I found their heavy, techy music quite good. Benny Rodriques played next.  Hes on my short list of favorite D Js. I danced for a while but missed his more haunting tech-house I hear in smaller clubs so I checked out the other scenes. A few apparent fans at the London podium came over and took pictures with me or chatted with me, which was nice. I enjoy meeting friendly people.

 

I felt very touched to see that one woman in the crowd had laid down a cloth with the picture of a broadly smiling young man with 2 candles lit in front of it. No doubt it was someone she loved one and  used to party with, who has now moved on to the other world.

 

There was also a real-life drama at the festival. I noticed that barriers had been erected in the middle of the field around the giant inflatable Eiffel Tower. All the festival security was guarding the barricades to keep people from crossing them. A young man was being given CPR by police officers in green vests.  The scene did not look favorable for the young man on the ground.. Eventually, the young unconscious man, still being given CPR on the stretcher by the officer, was taken away by ambulance.  The security and police have my respect and so does the crowd who cooperated well in this emergency. I hoped the man could be saved.

 

When Marco V played I just loved his music! It was easy to understand why hes one of the main headliners. Unfortunately my feet were telling me Id done enough dancing for the day. There were very few places people could rest at the festival- just one small seating area near the pond. People were sitting on the grass because there was no other place to rest.  This is another weak point for the festival. Maybe things will be improved upon next time. I probably would not go to this festival again because I am not into very intense house and  hard styles of dance music. But most people seemed to be really enjoying themselves and thats what a festival is all about.

 

Keep on dancin !  Love, Dancin Queen