05 Apr 2016 
Posted by Cassi Catsaros
“Come To Chile!” – Looking into Chile’s Hard Dance scene with Q-dance, Wildstylez & Villain!
Piloting the industry, Dutch event heavyweights Q-dance are renowned for their awe-inspiring productions, extraordinary stage designs, A-class line-ups and most importantly, their ability to ‘exceed all expectations.’ First established in The Netherlands in 1999, within a matter of years this thriving organisation had built up a catalogue of successful brands that include classic concepts Qlimax, X-Qlusive, The Qontinent, Defqon.1, Q-BASE and Q-dance Presents.
Since crossing borders for the first time in 2004 when they introduced Q-BASE in Germany, Q-dance has successfully established their brand across Europe, where they have organised various tours in countries such as Sweden, Poland, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. A little closer to home in Belgium, Q-dance holds their own stage at Tomorrowland, also organising The Qontinent alongside Bass Events. Down-under in Australia, their most successful concept ‘Defqon.1’ took place for the first time in 2009 and has been occurring annually alongside various Q tours and the notorious one-off event IQON.
Most recently, the immense growth of the harder styles has sparked Q-dance to venture to a whole new corner of the globe, spreading their legacy throughout South-American nation Chile. Initially trialling their luck by adding their own stage to the 2011 edition of Mysteryland Chile, all expectations were exceeded as the Dutch organisation came to realise they had something quite unique on their hands…
The first touch-down
International Director of Q-dance Ibo Orgut spoke about that initial landing in Chile and how he knew that this nation was more than ready for the harder styles:
“We realised that the Hardstyle scene was booming when we hit the ground with Mysteryland. Despite the event being a weekend festival, our plan was to only open the Q-dance stage from midday Saturday until midnight. On the Friday evening we were quite busy programming, building and rehearsing the show in time for Saturday’s opening, however despite the stage being shut we were greeted by hundreds of people gathering in front of it, demanding us to open! Soon after, I spotted Headhunterz and we discussed whether we should open the stage and as soon as we did, the entire venue literally flooded into the area! As we were so busy preparing the production for the following day, we only had a couple of lasers working, but it was still so crazy to the point where we kept the stage open until around 5AM.”
If you’re curious to know whether the Q-team managed to pull their production together in time after this wild ‘pre-party,’ they succeeded to the point where they also extended their opening hours on the Saturday, giving the Chilean fans extra Hardstyle until 5AM the following morning!
“That’s when we realised that the Chilean crowd was a little different from any other crowd in the world. You’ve probably all heard that they’re a crazy crowd, but words do no justice – there were fans literally crying in front of the stage, it was very emotional for them!”
Confirming that Mysteryland 2011 opened up a range of possibilities, Ibo went on to state that the success was so great that Q-dance brought over their ‘Sound Of Q-dance’ concept three times before coming to the risky decision to throw the very first edition of Defqon.1 in Santiago, Chile at the conclusion of 2015.
“Come to Chile!”
You asked for it… and Q-dance came; engraving the beloved Defqon.1 symbol on Chilean soil for the first time on December 12th, ultimately paving way for the future…
This new expansion was risky to say the least; unlike Australia who had their own office, the Chilean edition relied solely on the work of the Dutch team who were responsible for the production, stage designs, line-up and more.
“It’s always a big decision to move a festival like Defqon.1 into new territory because it’s our ‘prime’ brand. If you do an indoor event such as ‘Sound Of Q-dance,’ you can scale it, however Defqon is Defqon and it has to be big! It was a risky decision to bring it to Chile; the economic climate is very different compared to The Netherlands and Australia, so you need to make the ticket prices affordable for visitors. Another challenge we faced was the workload on our Dutch team. We do have a local partner in Chile that helps with ticket sales and marketing, however all of the actual creations come from The Netherlands. It’s an extra festival in our agenda so everybody had to work extra hard; however our staff were extremely enthusiastic about the project and the result exceeded all expectations!”
Continuing to state that Q-dance managed to sell 15,000 tickets to Chile’s first edition of Defqon.1, Ibo then struck a chord with a rather interesting depiction of the Chilean fans.
“I’ve been around the world many times and have visited a number of huge festivals, but I just can’t seem to get used to the level of excitement we get from the Chilean people! Normally the MC would say ‘put your hands up!’ but in Chile the MC actually has to ask party-goers to put their hands down ha-ha-ha!”
Hosting the ‘Red’ stage all day long at DQ Chile was no less than MC Villain; who has felt extremely humbled from the love that he’s received from the Chilean fans:
“The culture in Chile is so different and very intense; when they go out, they go all out and enjoy themselves to the fullest! Compared to The Netherlands, Chileans don’t have as many Hard Dance events, so the excitement is quite new and unique for them.”
When asked about his most cherished memory from his time in Chile, Villain really shed light on just how dedicated the Chilean party-goers are!
“Defqon.1 was the ‘mother’ event that we’d been leading up to, so it was incredibly excited for all who were involved. Around 7PM on the Friday evening we were at the venue doing soundchecks and other rehearsals and there was literally a huge line of people waiting to get in. Mind you, the party didn’t begin until 11AM on Saturday! This dedication and love from the visitors combined with the all-round experience made it such a beautiful memory to look back on. Looking back on the beginning in 2011, I feel so proud that we reached this point and that we all did it together…”
Backing up Villain’s statement was the one and only Wildstylez, who loves the country so much that he even based his track “Santiago” around the glorious Chilean crowd:
“The fans in Chile are amazing! The love and dedication we receive from them is indescribable. There are fans waiting at the airport or in front of the hotel whenever we play there – it makes me feel like such a superstar! And of course, their energy is absolutely insane at the parties!”
An honour like no other… X-Qlusive Chile: Wildstylez & MC Villain
After touching down on Chilean soil with various Sound Of Q-dance events and the very first edition of Defqon.1, the Dutch organisation will be back again on the 23rd of April, representing their X-Qlusive concept.
Ibo Orgut excitedly explained his thoughts around the X-Qlusive concept and why they chose to bring the event to Chile, stating that: “X-Qlusive is a cool concept that we’ve been doing in The Netherlands for many years. It’s an exclusive and it always marks a very special night for the spotlighted artist, the fans and for Q-dance. Instead of doing another Sound Of Q-dance in Chile, I thought that it’d be cooler to take the next step and bring another well-known brand to the country.”
The night will celebrate the ample success of two specific artists who have an extremely special connection with Chile – I’m talking about no less than Wildstylez and MC Villain. Hold on? An X-Qlusive dedicated to an MC? Yes, that’s right – MC Villain is included as the centrepiece of the evening and he’s feeling flattered to say the least!
“For me and for my profession, this is a huge deal. The MC or host is just the cherry on-top of everything; it’s typically about the DJ, who is the centrepiece of any performance. I’ve been working hard for many years to set myself free of that and for Q-dance to have given me an X-Qlusive in Chile is just incredible! You’ve never seen an MC getting an X-Qlusive, so I feel that this is a huge step not only for myself, but for all the other MC’s and hosts. I’m so excited and feel humble that the Chilean crowd and Q-dance believe in me; it’s honestly the best feeling in the world!”
This X-Qlusive isn’t only celebratory of MC Villain’s achievements, but also Wildstylez, who is distinguished as an iconic figure in the harder styles. This pioneer is no stranger to the X-Qlusive title; having had his own X-Qlusive back in 2013 in the Heineken Music Hall, Wildstylez is still incredibly humbled that he has been given the honour to have his own event in Chile, a country that he has such a strong bond with. “It’s a dream come true and an honour! I’m so glad that I can share this experience with my good friend Villain and the other artists booked for the night. It will be an event to remember!”
Going on to state that it was only obvious to spotlight Wildstylez and Villain, Ibo admits that “despite the heat that goes to the DJ, an MC is just as important as the one behind the decks and the Chilean fans really embrace that.”
Admitting that Villain really takes the time to regularly communicate and connect with his Chilean fans, he then speaks further about the pair being perfect to bring in prospective fans.
“Both Wildstylez and Villain are extremely popular in Chile and together they are able to help expand the scene there. Wildstylez’ sound is quite broad and melodic, which is perfect when presenting Hardstyle to approaching fans. For us it’s important to start off with accessible music so that new fans can enter the scene, but of course we have harder acts planned for the night such as Gunz For Hire and Evil Activities.”
What else can we say?! Chile is truly becoming a key country in the harder styles and we’re excited to say the least! Q-dance and the artists who regularly perform in Chile are doing a great job of spreading the movement and we are anticipating the future of this prospective scene.
For our Chilean readers or for those who want to take a spontaneous trip next month, tickets for X-Qlusive Chile are still available, but are selling fast! So jump online and head to the Q-dance website and secure your spot at one of the most anticipated events!
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