“Since you have reached this point and are reading this intro, you must be somewhere at the Amsterdam Dance Event. You may think this is normal, but hey let’s face it! You’re a winner!”
(taken from page 1 of the ADE 09 guidebook)

ADE. Amsterdam Dance Event. If you’re in the industry, chances are you’ve probably heard of it. Hell, you may have already been to it. But if you’re a general punter in Australia, this may well be the first time you’ve ever heard this nifty little acronym … well, listen up right now: if you’re serious about dance music, either as a part of the industry or just simply a clubber, then this is one festival that you MUST add to your festivals-to-do-before-I-die list. Right now!

In its 14th consecutive year, ADE takes place in the heart of The Netherlands, Amsterdam, an epicentre for a thriving dance music scene and home to a whole host of local and international DJs. A perfect choice for an event that is run by Buma Cultuur, a foundation dedicated to the promotion and support of Dutch music and Dutch music copyright. ADE has been described as “a yearly spark that seems to ignite the whole scene to push it even further for a few days. Everyone who cares is there to share their knowledge during the day and their beats at night.” Don’t be mistaken however, this event isn’t only about the Dutch, it’s an event that showcases electronic dance music talent from across the world and is, in a way, a medium that seeks to promote and preserve the knowledge of the scene for future generations. It a place to appreciate what we have, what we had and where we’re heading.

Representing inthemix, this year I made the 22hr+ journey over to the legendary ‘Dam to experience all that ADE had to offer – four days of industry-focused conference during the day and five nights of explosive club nights by some of the best DJ’s and producers in the world. This ain’t no small affair either – this year’s conference drew in over 2000 delegates from across the globe, including DJs, producers, artist management, publicist’s, ticketing, music media, basically the who’s who from across the industry. The festival saw over 90,000 dance music lovers flock to Amsterdam to party as well, helping it keep its position as the biggest club festival in the world.

ADE has made a name for itself as one of the best places to do business when it comes to dance music. As an up and coming artist/DJ/producer/label, ADE is the seriously the place you need to get to. Without a doubt, it’s an unbelievably good networking opportunity to spread your wings globally, and every DJ I interviewed vouched for that.

As a punter you are spoiled for choice with over 40 events being held over the four nights. The music is focused generally around techno, house, and trance, and includes stellar names like Dave Clarke, Richie Hawtin, Derrick May, Paul van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren, Sven Vath plus so many more.

From the moment I arrived at ADE, I felt like I was a part of something really special. In carefully crafted Dutch design, its distinctive yellow and black logo became a symbol of unity and yet exclusivity as well. As I walked around the conference, I had to stop and take notice – these were the people that made it happen. All their roles, big or small, they helped make dance music happen in their country and across the globe. Grabbing glances at each person’s name tag, I was in awe of some of the people I was mingling with. The conference was well organised, encompassing an extensive list of sessions focusing on various issues facing the industry today such as “Do DJs need Managers?”, “Preparing your music for radio”, “Why sync your music and how to do it (with TV, movies, games etc)”,”Legal advice for DJs/artists/producers”, and “App-earance: To app or not to app” as well as sessions on many issues to do with promoting your music and your artist/DJ online. For the producer, there were many workshops on composing music using the latest technology e.g Ableton, Native Instruments, Traktor Pro etc. Discussion and debate was encouraged at every session.

For me the session’s that particularly took my interest were the one’s lead by world renowned DJs. The Q&A sessions with industry bigwigs like Richie Hawtin, Simon Dunmore, Peter Hook, Dirty Vegas were extremely interesting… With my overall highlight being the session with Detroit techno DJ/producer, Derrick May – simply in that no one even compares to him. A true artist, he’s views on electronic music, the scene and the art of DJing is frank, honest and downright inspiring. I was completely moved by his session. New Order’s Peter Hook was another highlight, a stalwart of the scene who shared some home truths about the music industry that probably no one else would have the guts to say. Fascinating stuff. The artist debate including DJ Bone, Armin Van Buuren, Chris Liebing, Henrik Schwarz and Joris Voorn on “how to, as an artist, sustain the success, keep your fans and how to make money with attitude”, was one of the most intriguing panel sessions I attended, the tension between the artist made for very interesting viewing, as the underground battled with the mainstream. This doesn’t even scratch the surface on what was available but all I can say was overall, it was very impressive. And don’t get me my started on the conference pack we received … filled to the brim with promotional information on every which what you could think of from the industry, it was information overload but awesome stuff.

After the long days at the conference, there was always an amazing list of events available by night to choose from. The wonderful thing about Amsterdam is that everything is easy to get to either by foot or taxi. Kicking off the festival, Wednesday night, although mid-week, it didn’t seem to matter, with big parties such as Armada Night hosted by head honcho, Armin Van Buuren, along with Chicane and Way Out West; Fatboy Slim; Viva Music & Ovum Recordings night with Steve Lawler, Tiefschwarz, Josh Wink and more; Flashover & Blackhole Recordings night with Breakfast, Ferry Corsten, BT & Jes, Richard Durand, Lange and more – and this was just the first night! The selection kept getting juicier and juicier as the week went on, with lineup’s that were to die for be it if you were into techno, trance, minimal, house, whatever your sound may be.

Deciding which night’s to go to was probably the toughest part of the entire week! You could choose to see Paul Van Dyk, Giuseppe Ottavani, Richie Hawtin, Dave Clarke, John Digweed, Joris Voorn, Sander Kleinenberg, Laurent Garnier, Sven Vath, I could go on and on with how many brilliant DJs/producers were playing – plenty of underground as well and plenty of local Dutch talent as well. I was utterly overwhelmed with choice. Although I didn’t party hard, the parties I did check out were all brilliant, set in quality venues with well thought out décor and stellar sound. But then what else would you expect in Amsterdam, I mean the Dutch know how to party! One trance party I went to took place on a massive ferry – listening to Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery and Menno De Jong – was definitely a highlight of the week for me. Derrick May ripping it up on Saturday night at Paradiso, a church-turned-club, was another brilliant moment as well. I wish I could have done more!

With delegates from over 40 countries, you’d think the Aussie’s may not of made an impact but that would be a lie. A strong Aussie contingency had made the trek to Amsterdam solely for the purpose of networking, and of course, sharing the love of Australia. Familiar faces that I got to see each day included John Course, Bass Kleph, Mark Dynamix (MDX), Tommy Trash, as well as several promoters/organizers from Hardware, OneLove, ID&T Australia and labels such as Ministry of Sound and 405 Recordings. From my observation, Australia is held in pretty high regard in the dance scene these days, we have a strong scene that’s ever growing, and a market that is of interest to many big DJs/producers/artists. We may be on the other side of the world, but we have some great festivals and some even greater talent so it was brilliant to see we could hold our own at such a conference. I hope that more Aussies in the industry see the value in this conference and venture over to future ADE’s – I can assure you, it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.

With my bags packed and ready to go, everyone I had met or knew had left Amsterdam already. Beaten and worn out from a week of long days and late nights, I headed out onto the cold wet street. It was Sunday night, the windy whistled by my ears, alerting me to the fact that I was quite simply exhausted. With one final event to attend, I jumped into a cab, watching the Amsterdam cityscape past me by while my friendly cab driver shared stories of Amsterdam past. Upon arrival at Panama, a multi-functional venue located near the port, the excitement of seeing Maxi Jazz in action again sent alive butterflies in my stomach. Packed with eager Faithless fans, the venue exploded once Maxi Jazz walked out on that stage. For the next 90mins, I forgot how tired I was, or how much my legs ached, I simply was with Faithless, newfound friends and the whole Amsterdam experience. Rushing home at 2am to grab three hours sleep before my early train the next morning, I didn’t care how tired I was anymore. Grinning stupidly, I thought to myself – What a week. What an absolutely amazing experience…

This was my first ADE, and if I have any say about it, it definitely won’t be my last. I want to be a winner again.

Want more excellent ADE coverage? Check out ITM’s Festival Page for interviews, DJ mixes, photos and more.

See our Snap! featured gallery of the 2009 ADE conference here, with pics from the many panels, networking events and of course the parties, including Faithless, Paul van Dyk, David Guetta, Derrick May and more.

> inthemix ADE interview schedule