Here at Alive At Night, we LOVE craziness; especially Dutch craziness! You’d all know by now that the Dutch are certainly notorious for being able to turn almost any usual occurrence into some sort of celebration and the yearly ‘Carnaval’ is no exception to the rule. Traditionally, Carnaval season (to some of us known as ‘Mardi Gras’, ‘Karneval’ or ‘Fasching’) is already a pretty crazy dress-up party in itself, but once again, we asked ourselves: “Can you Hardstyle it?” And oh boy, yes you fucking can. So this year, I threw on a juvenile costume and embarked on this yearly celebration. This was ‘Berkel Beeft’ and here’s what went down!

Berkel-Enschot is a cute little town that’s situated between Tilburg and Oisterwijk; nothing particularly exciting happens there, except during Carnaval when the vicinity is filled with lively celebrators and tons of beer. That wild Saturday saw me and my brother travelling to Berkel-Enschot for our Carnaval celebrations ‘Berkel Beeft’. My brother, who knew absolutely nothing about Dutch party culture (except the word ‘fissa’ and Paul Elstak) was in for a shock, as it was so far apart from our usual experiences back home in Austria.

The trip to the venue was very unproblematic, but still a sight for eyes to be seen. Dutchies love to party during Carnaval, so seeing dressed up people in the train was ‘normal’ for today.

We entered the festival grounds and first thing was first – we needed tokens AND alcohol, pronto! The prices weren’t too bad and at 2.20€ per token which would purchase one beer, I was certainly not complaining. After getting our first beverage we decided to take a closer look at what was actually happening around us and to my surprise, the entire event was literally situated on a hotel parking lot! The trucks of Carnaval teams formed the walls to the left and right and in the mid-back of the festival grounds there were the food booths and the Boombox. At the very back, the toilets were found. It was definitely small, but still nothing less than ‘gezellig’ and absolutely crazy.

After observing the environment, first thing was first – it was time to look for people I knew. I was welcomed by my friends in the Boombox area during Jay Reeve vs We Are Next’s set. I was highly familiar with the Boombox already from Intents Festival, however back then I actually never went inside of it. This was it. If one thing was for sure, the boys absolutely tore the roof off that small shipping container. The small box maybe fitted 40 people at maximum, but if these 40 people just all danced, screamed and singed along in a boiler-room like atmosphere, the party was perfect. Whoever came up with this concept – thumbs up – this was the best thing encouragement for new talents and their fans!

For the next 2 hours we kind of drunkenly wandered around in and out of the Boombox. We decided to get some fries (which were super tasty, but the queue was a bit long) and sat down for a while too. My brothers culture shock was now somewhat washed away by the copious amounts of beer and I was in the mood to dance again. We checked out Authentic in the Boombox for a while and my brother even got right into the Dutch celebrations when he yelled something like “BRO, IT’S FULL ON FISSA HERE” into my ear while someone was waving a plastic dick in my face (fun times). After I escaped the plastic dick, we made our way to the front to see what was going on there.

At first, the crowd had some trouble warming up to the Carnaval mix of trashy pop music with other shitty sounding stuff, however as soon as Bass Modulators took the stage things really started to take off. The duo provided a neat set which was danceable and fun to listen to. Even though it was February, the temperatures outside were really bearable and no rain was in sight (thank fuck).

After Bass Modulators, it was then time for the one, the only: Superpunk! Is it a plane? Is it a bird? Is it a DJ? Is it Digital Punk? Hell yeah! The DJ-turned-carnaval-superhero provided the crowd with nothing else but the finest Hardstyle. The party was now in full effect and the crowd was nothing else but ‘unleashed’ by now. After dancing wildly, by the end of Digital Punk’s set my brother and I decided that it was time for another snack.

After our small dinner it was time for a true legend: Paul Elstak. Experiencing the entire duration of a Paul Elstak set should be on every Hard Dance lover’s to-do list. It’s a lesson in Hardcore history as much as it is one of the most fun things you can do when you’ve had “one beer over the thirst.” His set was full of classics that everyone could sing along to and marked an absolutely perfect ending to a great Carnaval day out in Brabant!

Conclusion: ‘Berkel Beeft’ is a small, but extremely fun and cozy party to attend to! Your Carnaval night is already planned but you and your friends already want to party in the afternoon? Attend Berkel Beeft next year and make your Carnaval a complete one to remember!

Pictures: Tamara Coppens

For More Info check out ‘Berkel Beeft’ here:
https://www.facebook.com/berkelbeeft/
https://www.berkel-beeft.nl/