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[Report] Qlimax 2011 (NL)

Last week, many hardstyle fanatics were living up to Saturday 26 November. The biggest indoor hardstyle event of the Netherlands took place in the Gelredome, Arnhem: Qlimax. According to the amount of reactions on the Internet, it became clear that many foreign people were traveling to the Netherlands for this event.

Arrived at the Gelredome, we were surprised by the fact that the line for visitation was a lot shorter than expected. It took us only five minutes to get our tickets checked and to be searched for weapons and drugs. Compliments to the organization! After locking up our jackets we stepped into the stadium at 10:57 pm. We had a very quick discussion and decided to get tokens and a drink first, before hurrying to see the opening show. This didn’t take too long either, as we walked into the crowd when the first words of the opening show were spoken.
After some projections on the screen before the stage and a countdown with some fireworks the stage became visible. I must say that the stage was below expectation. The stage looked very simple, compared to the stages of last years.

After the introduction DJ Coone stepped on stage. The Gelredome was packed, from front to back, which made it quite difficult to find a good place to dance. After some time we found a good place and we were rewarded by one of the hits of Coone’s album “The Challenge”: Coone ft. Psyko Punkz - The words. When the set was about to be finished, the Opposites - a dutch rap duo - entered on stage to sing The opposites - Licht uit (Coone remix) and The Opposites - Dom, lomp & famous (Coone remix). I was pretty surprised and the idea was good. However, I don’t think many people realized that this duo entered the stage at all.

After the euphoric set by Coone, it was time to welcome Headhunterz. The last couple of months he has had a lot of criticism at his performances and releases. To me, that made this set more exciting. He started his set with a Qlimax edit of Headhunterz - Psychedelic, which brought a very good atmosphere. The rest of his set was a variation between brand new tracks and some older tracks by the top artists, but also some less-known producers. After Headhunterz - Eternalize (HardBass anthem) Headhunterz started to step up a bit, with harder and rougher tracks, such as B-Front - Face the truth. The audience seemed to like this kind of tracks. With his set, he definitely slapped the critics away.

The atmosphere was very good at this moment and it was Zany & The Pitcher ft. MC DV8 their turn to rock the place even harder. Unfortunately they didn’t. It was awesome to see thousands of lighters in the air while they enjoyed Bruno Mars - Lighters (Zany remix), but personally, this track doesn’t do anything to me. After the Decibel 2011 anthem and the “worst” track of the night, Zany & DV8 - Nothing else matters, the men recovered the set. With a track as TnT - Countdown they had my attention again. All in all, I think this was the less good set of the night, especially with the high expectations I had. I thought this was a good moment to grab some food. Again, this took a very short time and it was absolutely delicious!

While eating, I heard the introduction of Noisecontrollers. I quickly ate my last egg roll (Loempia in Dutch) and walked back to the dance floor. When I got back, my ears were caressed: Noisecontrollers - Escape. That’s such a great track, and what an energy brings this track! This duo obviously spent a lot of time in the studio, since they came up with a lot of new tracks. Every single one was received very good and I thought the atmosphere was at its peak. Until... They played Brennan Heart & Wildstylez - Lose my mind. I have never seen a packed stadium going crazy like this! Goose bumps all over my body, and a smile from ear to ear appeared on my face.

After this great set, the Italian Zatox appeared on stage, without his cap! The creator of this year’s anthem started with this track, as expected. The set was banging, but I think this was a pretty standard Zatox set, which doesn’t mean it was not good! One of the last tracks was Crypsis - Strike and I personally think this is one of the best tracks of the year.

Time went by very fast and it was already 4 am. This meant that the sets would become harder, starting with Ran-D. He opened his set very strongly with Ran-D - Living for the moment (2011 remix). The original track is outstanding, but this remix is even better. Everybody sang along before going absolutely crazy. As it turns out that he plays Ran-D & B-Front - Rebirth and the new Code Black - Red planet I feel shivers going down my body. After the cherry on top - the brand-new Adaro - No time to sleep - the set became harder and harder. That should be the case, because the next set was Gunz for Hire Live.

During their debut at Decibel, the Loudness stage went totally crazy. For me, the question was if they could make 25.000 people go crazy. Again dressed in their nice suit and the masks on their face, the two young guys entered the stage. They set the tone immediately by playing their hit Gangsters don’t dance and Sorrow. My question was answered quickly: Yes, they can make 25.000 people go crazy! At the end of their set, they increased the tempo by playing Gunz for Hire - De weg kwijt.

For The Prophet it should have been very hard to maintain the atmosphere and tempo created by his predecessors. The Prophet slowed down the tempo by playing a mash-up of Brennan Heart - Just as easy and Noisecontrollers - Attack again. This didn’t improve the atmosphere, to say the least. He tried to get the atmosphere back by playing Interactive - Forever young (Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo remix) and started to play some nice hardcore tracks. Unfortunately, the Gelredome was not that crowded anymore: People were sitting on the platforms or went home already. At 6:45 am I thought it was time to sit down while enjoying the amazing laser show. At 6:55 am we started our way out, while dancing on the last beats of The Prophet & Brennan Heart - Wake up (hardcore Remix). We grabbed a drink for on our way home and tired, but satisfied we stepped out the Gelredome.

This year’s edition of Qlimax lane way above my expectations. The majority of the sets were great and the laser show was in one word amazing! Unfortunately, the stage was not that special like the last couple of years. Another remarkable fact was that the artists didn’t have any special outfits, which belongs to the Qlimax feeling. In my opinion, the atmosphere was way better than previous year. Even though, many people say that this was their last Qlimax, I`m already looking forward to next year.

See you next year!