‘A New Adventure Awaits…’ – A very atypical and tipsy recount of WiSH Outdoor

Date: Sunday, 3^rd July, 2016

Time: Somewhere around midday

Location: Eindhoven

The ‘situation’:

Two rather dishevelled lasses who are evidently questioning their lives are about to embark on the dreaded Sunday morning trek back home. This isn’t the first time they’ve made a massive walk of shame through the city; however no matter how many times the girls wonder aimlessly back to their homes after a big night out, they never cease to be rudely awakened by the fact that normal civilians are out and about, shopping and sipping on coffee, whilst they are on the verge of disintegrating into the Earth from yet another tremendous hangover. Holding their pairs of shoes that have been ravaged by mud, the girls slyly look at each other and although they’re two standard deviations from lying down on the pavement and crawling into the foetal position, they manage to crack a cheeky smile, solidifying a day that went down in history…

So, what exactly happened?

Well, I guess the only thing left to do is rewind the clock back twenty-four hours and re-witness an intense, stupefying and rather humorous day experienced by the two girls, who just so happen to be me (Cassi) and my Alive at Night partner-in-turntness Sara. Reunited for the summer and after throwing it down at Defqon.1 in emblematic AAN style the previous weekend, on Saturday the 2^nd of July, we pulled ourselves together and set out for our next awaited adventure at WiSH Outdoor…

2015 was the first time I’d flung myself through the gates of WiSH Outdoor and despite experiencing a rather ‘interesting’ time there and forking out for a very costly cab ride, a new year was upon me and this time I was determined to find a cost-efficient way home. After meeting Sara at Utrecht, we jumped on a train to Eindhoven (shout out to the cranky lady on the train who shot us numerous dagger stares because we were talking loudly) and began comprising a plan to get back to Utrecht. By the time we stepped off the train in Eindhoven we decided that we were open to the possibility of an after party, however if that wasn’t occurring then we would take the last train at 1:30AM back to Utrecht and kick-on in Sara’s ghetto neighbourhood.

3:40PM: Relived to finally find the bus, we jumped on the overly-packed vehicle and I tried to battle car-sickness to the best of my abilities. As the bus jerked back and forth in traffic, I knew that there was no way we were arriving before 4:00PM and after getting off the bus I was just happy to be in oxygenated air again. We followed the large flock of people to the festival site, however instead of entering at the crew and press entrance, we went all the way to the VIP entrance and unnecessarily walked through a good kilometre of mud. Strategically wearing my steel-capped boots, I was in the clear, however I felt immensely sorry for Sara, who was wearing shoes that didn’t accompany the Dutch weather so well. Once we arrived at the VIP entrance only to find out that we fucked up hard, we walked all the way back (on a hard, non-muddy surface) and out to the crew entrance.

4:45PM: Sara was irate for a good five minutes, however once we arrived inside of the festival all was forgiven and we headed towards The Magic Show stage to drop off our bags before I had to be at the artist lounge for an interview with Sander van Doorn (yes, I interviewed him). We ran into a ton of friends and as we barely had any time to catch up with people we made a swift exit and ran to the first aid where I got myself some Band-Aids for my blistering heels. After receiving a message that the interview was pushed back by 15 minutes, we decided to grab some tokens and scull a drink to calm our nerves, however after waiting in line to get tokens for a good 15 minutes, we had to bolt to the artist lounge where we were greeted by Sander van Doorn’s manager. After leading us to his dressing room, we soon commenced the interview, which was quite impressive may I add. But enough about that, you’ll soon see the final result floating around online!

6:15PM: “Wooooooo, I just interviewed Sander van Doorn!” I yelled into the voice recorder. “We’re now at the artist lounge having a cheeky wine before we go and party!” We said a quick hello to MC DV8 who was enjoying some food and walked back out to the festival where we were free to enjoy ourselves.

Once we met up with a friend and got some more wine into our systems we were ready to get more unleashed than Digital Punk! Heading into the crowd and putting stickers on every person that passed by, I noticed quite a remarkable vibe. Despite the weather malfunction and visitors consciously avoiding the muddy areas like the plague, people were still down to party and enjoy the music belted from the speakers by no less than D-Block & S-te-Fan. The guys were treating us to an eclectic mix that consisted of signature melodies and old-school vibes, which was quite enjoyable as the sun began creeping out from behind the clouds. Before I got too drunk, I decided to absorb my surroundings; the mainstage was gorgeously designed as usual and I didn’t expect anything less from WiSH. These guys always go above and beyond to bring two colossal mainstages to represent Hardstyle and House and also spread their creativity to the smaller stages on the terrain. Although navigating through the muddy ground was a little difficult, it was really amazing to see that they had pulled off everything with flying colours.

7:55PM: A few wines and a lot of dancing later and we were ready to head back to The Magic Show stage to experience the last moments of Warface before watching our ‘m9’ Chris One with Phuture Noize. Once arriving to the crowded tent we could barely squeeze our way through the crowd, however once we found our way through I managed to stumble across a group of fellow Aussie friends. We quickly exchanged stories whilst losing our sh*t to Warface and then Sara and I retreated backstage to try find a bathroom, which we ended up crawling under a truck to find. By this stage both of us were quite drunk and were eager to continue the party, so we headed back inside and chilled backstage with TMS manager Michel, AKA the biggest champion in the world.

If my memory serves me correctly, the whole #Haters thing was pretty cool and I’d like to see these two guys tee up more often in the ‘phuture’ (I’m a fucking genius). After their set, we grabbed another drink and socialised for a bit before coming to the mutual agreement with Chris One that things were about to get outta control! Sara and I then floated off on our merry way to the mainstage, with a quick pitt-stop at the nacho stand, where Sara apparently ate the best vegetarian nachos she’s ever had at a festival.

9:15PM: Before we knew it we were on the VIP deck with a glass of white wine and great company by our sides. Wildstylez was pumping out a tasteful mix of feel-good jams and my drunken banter was exponentially increasing in intensity. I grabbed my voice recorder and started yelling nonsense into it and if can quote myself correctly I actually said “If I was a food right now I would be a granola bar, because I’m flaky as fuck.” Sometimes I don’t know why my brain thinks the things that it does, but cool, I’m going to roll with it anyway because I am a woman on a mission.

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to what was going on, however what I was doing was judging everybody on their astrology signs and giving them the 411 on the deeper meanings of the zodiac. Everyone laughed at me, but I didn’t really care, I’m just thankful that I’m not a Capricorn (no offence to all of the goats out there).

By the time Code Black’s set was in full-swing, me, Sara, Chris One and a few other friends were on a whole new level of turntness and we were thoroughly enjoying the drunken banter accompanied by great tunes and an intensifying lightshow that was spewing out of the beautiful mainstage. One thing that was quite memorable was the fact that the melodic sounds were solidly represented on this years’ Hardstyle mainstage; unlike many other Dutch festivals that split 50/50 melodic and raw, WiSH showcased those feel-good vibes all the way up until B-Front took the stage at 11:30PM.

If there’s something about B-Front, it’s that he really takes the crowd out of their minds and transports them to a whole new parallel and his performance at WiSH was no exception. Treating us to spine-shivering, diverse blend of raw Hardstyle amped up with ‘feels,’ I was astonished and in disbelief to the point where I had to just hold onto someone. Now that night was upon us, there was no holding back when it came to the production as the stage ignited in an ever-exploding spectacle for all visitors.

Still situated on the VIP deck, we soon decided to make our way to TMS stage to take part in their notorious closing ritual at 12:30. Once arriving at the stage, we were told that EVERYONE had to go on stage, so we all excitedly ran up and lost our shit to raw Hardstyle that soon became intense, pounding Hardcore. Seeing as there wasn’t a Hardcore stage at WiSH and the mainstage line-up was predominantly melodic, it was nice to let loose for a while and throw all former poise out the window…

After the closing, we stumbled back to the mainstage to catch the incredible end-show. As usual WiSH delivered the goods, leaving visitors breathless in the festivals’ final moments. Everything from fireworks, lasers, lights, pounding bass and the excitement rapidly bouncing off all visitors ensured that this extraordinary event ended with a bang!

Now, some of you may be thinking “but didn’t they have to take the last train home?” Oh, oh, oh, how misguided you are… If there’s one thing about an AAN-party it’s that a raging after party is always ensured. After grabbing our bags from TMS stage and having some rather hilarious conversations with the Clockartz guys, we all jumped in a huge car that took us to Eindhoven, where Sara and I continued the party with our favourite Swede Chris One until the early hours of the morning…

Another incredible edition of WiSH Outdoor that sent our senses into overdrive, another exciting and unforgettable adventure and finally, another superb highlight of the summer season! Huge thanks to WiSH for having us, hope to see you all next year!