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[Report] Summerfestival 2011 (BE)

As a yearly tradition, I have to visit Summerfestival. From the very first edition in the Lilse Bergen, Summerfestival had always been a great festival with an amazing atmosphere, good music and great decor's.

History
Three years ago, the organisation decided to move the festival to a new terrain in the heart of Antwerp (yes, that's right, pretty much smack in the middle of busy Antwerp). Close to the 'Schelde'. At first, I was a bit weary about the move to this new location, but after an amazing 'first' edition, I decided the move was probably one of the best things to do, because of all the extra space created.

This year, I didn't expect anything less from the organisation. Each year the festival just gets better and better. With a wide range of music styles from commercial house/dance music, to Trance, dubstep and the Harder Styles. However, this year Summerfestival was on the same day as Defqon.1, so I was a bit worried that the Hardstyle area wouldn't be as busy as otherwise.

Visual guide
Upon entering Summerfestival, you have a small walk towards the main grounds. It's always a great surprise, because of all the trees and bushes blocking your view. Once you head around the corner and see the vast festival grounds infront of you, it's enough to take your breath away. What's more, you don't see the whole terrain, so it's pretty exciting to go and explore the grounds and check out all the cool stages.
As usual, my target was the Bass Events Harder Styles area. They always lay down some awesome stages, so I was really curious what it would be this year. Heading around the last turn towards the Hardstyle area, I was blown away by the sheer vastness of the stage. It was absolutely HUGE! (compared previous years). What's more, the place was packed. I could even say that the Hardstyle area was the most visited area, far surpassing the more commercial dance stages which have been advertised on TV over and over again with fairly big headliners. The stage was basically a huge Mayan calendar which gave the whole area a great summer vibe because of all the colors used.

Artists
I won't go into too much detail about the artists. Bass Events knows what the Belgian's want when it comes to Hardstyle, so you can pretty much guess which artists took the stage. All in all, I loved the music played, from commercial hits like Music Made Addict (which always got the girls moving) to more "raw" tracks by the Psyko Punkz and Frontliner, and of course the shiny new tracks which most artists had prepared for their set at Defqon.1 that same day. It was a true onslaught of great Hardstyle.
I think Headhunterz also surprised a lot of people. He lay down a great set filled with old and new tracks with a build up to some great rawstyle. The crowd loved it!
Of course, national hero Coone was one of the artists everyone wanted to see, along side my personal hero Zatox.
To close the Harder Styles area, Korsakoff and Darkraver did a back to back set, which the crowd loved. But, unfortunately my legs were already so wrecked I left for an hour long walk back to my car!

Weather
Although the sun wasn't shining, the rain stayed away most of the day. The unlucky few who attended from the very start did get quite wet, but the rain disappeared after 3 pm.
It was still quite hot, so it was actually a very nice climate for some serious dancing and didn't take away the summery feeling which Summerfestival always tries to create.

I've got to say, each year this festival gets better and better. Food stands were well placed, hardly any waiting. No waiting for drinks, no waiting for toilets. It was just very relaxing! The VIP deck at the Hardstyle area was also very well placed. Off to the side and not at the back where it's usually always placed, which made the whole area look that much bigger.

Media coverage
For the people who decided not to come to this great festival, Jim TV (one of the sponsor's and the largest music TV station in Belgium) had live coverage all day long. What impressed me the most is the amount of Hardstyle they aired, including interviews from Da Tweekaz, Coone and Korsakoff. That's pretty unique! I'm glad the Hardstyle area was filled with so much great atmosphere, that the people at home could now see that Hardstyle isn't just some underground "noise", but is very energetic and filled with a fun loving atmosphere.
For those who didn't have access to a TV, Belgium's largest radio station MNM had also set up their studio on the festival grounds, with live coverage of the whole festival all day! In short, Belgium could not escape the Summerfestival onslaught!

Aftermovie & Pictures
And to top THAT all off, the organisation have released yet another amazing aftermovie!
Check it out. Also, notice how hard the Belgian's party! Yep, that's right!




For great pictures of the festival, you can check out the Bass Events Facebook page.
Or check the Summerfestival website