INTENTS PARTY, INTENTS HEAT

With their name plastered high as one of the best festivals in The Netherlands, Intents Festival secured quite the reputation. With a splendid line-up, breath-taking decorations and a great atmosphere, they certainly succeed.

“Ladies and gentlemen…” the first steps into the festival were accompanied by the tones of a ringmaster who, guided with beautifully dressed dancers, was welcoming the visitors. The eye for detail is Intents’ trademark and this year was no exception to the rule. Tigers, elephants, magicians, popcorn, clowns, posters, circus canon; for circus fanatics, this is how heaven must look like.

The thing we will all remember is that it was hot, extremely hot. Luckily, the organisation did everything they could to provide the audience with the needed cooling: 30 water taps with free water, twice the amount of bars than on an average festival, an upgrade of the medical staff, extra shelter, Jacuzzi’s and four nebulisers were just some of the adjustments made to cater for the party folks.

Because of the warmth we mostly kept our heads out of the sun and chilled in the shade and the points of refreshment that were provided. At the beginning of the evening clouds and a relatively chill breeze set in which kicked in like a nice shot of whiskey. It became time to explore the full potential of Intents.

Under a beautifully decorated mainstage, the notorious anthem show became the start of a beautiful evening. With an awe-inspiring show, beautiful and crisp sound and the awesome atmosphere Intents is known for, the crowd was given back what had been taken away by the heat: pure Hard Dance festival euphoria.

The makers of this year’s anthem, Adaro and Digital Punk, carried on with the great vibe that was started with the anthem show. Ran-D’s “Zombie,” MYST’s ‘Before You Go,” and the iconic track “Retaliate With Hate” made the crowd shine within a mirage of happiness.

Manoeuvring ourselves through the numerous of beautifully dressed acrobats who were entertaining the crowd – see here a vivid example of how Intents worked to immerse their visitors in a circus utopia – we just made it on time for the godfather of Frenchcore: Dr. Peacock. A packed ‘Dynamite’ stage shivered for the next 30 minutes.

After shortly having a look at the Gearbox boys Ncrypta and Luminite – definitely keep an eye on these guys – we got to the cherry of this day: Phuture “fucking” Noize. For the duration of his set the entire audience seemed to be enthralled by his spell. The penetrating kicks, beautiful vivacious melodies and the drives of his tracks are outstanding. But in his sets, these features seem to fuse in a maelstrom of pure beauty. Having these sounds being fired from one of the most impressive mainstages was something few of us with ever forget.

To conclude I will not provide you with a small summary. Rather, I want to cite something of greater importance. In the last years our scene has been harassed by people who buy tickets in a large amount and sell them for insanely high prices. The way the organisation stood up against these “big ass motherfuckers” is definitely noteworthy and an example too all other festival organisations – an example that the biggest of them already seem to have followed.

We will definitely be back next year to witness the 15^th (!) edition of Intents Festival.