In the Mix -Amsterdam Dance Event

The Unconventional Tourist has returned!  Amsterdam was incredible.. If you haven't seen it I suggest you go, there is something for everyone. From art to coffee shop's to icebar's and prostitutes(in windows), yes Amsterdam has got it all, and if you managed to stumble your way to Amsterdam in the third week of October you can throw Amsterdam Dance Event(ADE) into the mix.

ADE's warm welcome in the city

Sander Van Doorn @ Escape

ADE certainly was a one of a kind of festival and conference. 1 day conference, 3 days non stop parties. Dozens of types of electronic dance music and events to choose from. However, this tourist happens to be  a Trance aficionado so I ended up going to events like Ferry Corsten vs Sander van Doorn @ Escape and the hugely popular Top 100 DJ awards party.  It was incredible the amount of energy in the clubs at these events, hundreds of people all happy, dancing their asses off enjoying life, music and the ability to hear. It warms the heart ( Faith in humanity++).

Ferry Corsten @ Escape

Ferry Coresten-Like I'm on fire

S.V.D - Showcase Elev11

Markus Schulz randomly shows up @ Escape

One thing I will say though.. some passionate people can also be rude, I love Armin Van Buuren as much as the next Trance aficionado but man we really need to work on our people skills.. when the wrong result occurs at the Top 100 DJ party.. David Guetta won this year instead of Armin(yes.. I agree it should have been Armin and not someone with commercialized crap), I don't like it any more than the next Trance fan, but at least I was not rude enough to boo the man on stage (Faith in humanity--).

The video below shows Armin passing the crown to Guetta, you can hear some booing in the background...




Moving on to better memories, I got to see first hand how the pro's like Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, Sander van Doorn, Ferry Corsten ,Carl Cox and David Guetta mix their sets, really fascinating how one can introduce buildups and new sounds entirely by mixing.Now this what I consider the main type of DJ(traditional), the other uses slightly different equipment then the standard turntable/CDJ+mixer combo.(Watch the video below to see how the fantastic Industry Icon Carl Cox DJ's on Pioneer's newest CDJ/Mixer combo) . I was lucky enough to take a crash course in using Abelton and a midi controller with launchpads to check out how the other type of DJ mixes and I have to say it's a lot more work then the traditional DJ since you have to take care of each individual sound separately in your set instead of playing whole tracks and mix them up piece by piece.

Armin @ Top 100 DJ awards

One has to wonder how life is for the big name DJ's (like Armin, Markus, Sander and Carl), I got to talk to a few of them and one thing that I found in common is passion, passion for the music, passion for the fans. They love what they do. I never once heard them say oh it's about the money, it's about getting my name out there. These people are genuinely interested in providing the listener with a journey through their music, these people care about the (music)industry and how it affects us. I've experienced it time and time again, how fun and happy people get around their music(no pun intended about the happiness, i know sometimes drugs are involved ;P) and the big kicker? They aren't deluded about their fame, they don't have a f*ck me I'm famous attitude like Tommy Lee,they are generally down to earth &  humble people, some of these guys have families. Hell some even have degrees in other areas other than music (Armin has a law degree)..

The last 4 days have been an eyeopener , as a guy who is fully in love with this kind of music, attending this festival was a dream come true but as a good man once put it, "All good things must come to an end" ..  I guess it's back to reality, and back to schoolwork for now until i get that itch to wander elsewhere, who knows where I will go next? maybe I'll finally wander down to Stockholm .. everyone is already talking about the yearly film fest in November (helloooo Keira Knightly!).


<3 The Unconventional Tourist.

Disclaimer: the videos in this blog post are not mine, they are embedded you tube  links from people with better cameras than me :)