We came, we saw, we Qlimaxed

Qlimax 2014  – “The Source Code Of Creation”

**Dislcaimer: All photographs retain credit to Q-Dance**

We are born.

We are born pure.

Our souls are untouched. Our souls are resistant to the negative, the harshness of chemical overload and to the harshness of a bleak and false reality.

From the very initial second of our existence, our body and soul joins to create an exact alignment as a latent force awakens within us. Our DNA activates to generate the individuality in our bodies and our minds. Once we are ready, there is no turning back as the gateways to Earth open up for us to enter a point of no return.

We become awakened, we become ready. We deeply enter a world where we are truly “alive…”

What is it to awaken our souls? To see the world through lenses of reality? How do we explore the underworld and switch on our mind to become aware of the truths of reality?

Day: Sunday, 23rd of November
Time: 7:02am
Year: 2014 (but feeling as though I have stepped out in the year 2050)
Location: Somewhere far away from home, yet so close.
I can see: Over 25,000 fresh auras radiating the most beautiful colours of the spectrum, illuminating the space that was once dark.
I can hear: These 25,000+ souls chanting, squealing and begging for more.
I am feeling: As though my soul has been retrieved from the depths of the universe, as every vital process required for my thoughts has been replenished and reborn.

How did we get here? What led these 25,000 spirited individuals to gather on this fateful night to transform their mind, body and soul? Well, stick with me and I will take you on a journey through a blast from the recent past that changed the lives of many and reignited the fire of thousands of dampened souls.

For those who were lucky enough to be a part of this incredible journey, prepare as I will stir up some of those emotions once again and help you to relive one incredible evening. For those who were not there to experience the intense magic, you will most likely be swept with a determination to attend this sacred gathering next year. For those who accidentally stumbled upon this article, you may find yourself extremely curious to be a part of this congregation in the future.

So let us begin and backtrack to the very beginning of this creation…

First Impressions:
Day: Saturday, 22nd of November
Time: 9:47PM
Location: The GelreDome, Arnhem.
Reasoning of attendance: To see what all of the fuss is about and to be blown the fuck away.
I can see: A fuck-load of excited people jumping out of cars, buses and also congregating on the streets within their groups.
I am feeling: Slightly nervous to travel into the vicinity of the unknown.

I slid my feet out of the car and jumped down to the ground. I feel a powerful tsunami of mixed emotions wash over my soul as I really did not know what to expect from my life over the next ten hours. I can feel a crisp Autumn breeze hit my face as I zipped up my jacket to protect myself from shivers. As I begin walking towards entrance “E,” I can see numerous people walking beside me, people who are also on their way to enter the third dimension…

As I approached the entrance, I can practically see the colour waves of bright reds and oranges fly through the air as I am struck with an extreme fire and excitement within my soul. My ticket is scanned, I throw my coat into a locker and I approach the entrance. After breezing through security that missed the flask of vodka chilling in my bag, I realised that there was a god – and he loved me! I felt like a pre-pubescent teenager that had stolen from their parents’ liquor cabinet, flashing a cheeky smile I quickly walked through the coldness of the outdoors and up the stairs that led to the venue.

Once I had entered The GelreDome I do what is most appropriate at the time and pull my voice recorder out from my bag. I got a few weird looks as I was standing by myself in a lit up area, talking into an electronic device that clearly was not a mobile phone. I stumbled slightly on my words as I admit to my nervousness. It had been a while since I had attended a large-scale production and besides, my first recording of the night always sounds stupid.

“The time is 9:54 and I have just arrived inside of the venue. It is fucking huge and there’s cunts EVERYWHERE. I snuck in a flask of vodka and I’m fucking ready for some action like Zatox! (Even though Zatox isn’t even playing)”

The Qlimax journey begins:
9:57PM: I find myself standing in a prime spot up on the deck towards the back of the arena. Waiting in anticipation within the lively crowd, I look around to see that the arena has turned to black. With absolutely no light, time seems to move incredibly slow. There is a loud beating that blares through the speakers as every single person in this vicinity is either holding onto one of their friends or about to cry. The black is suddenly taken over by piercing red lights that tear through the crowd as the double helix DNA start to lower from the ceiling. I can see myself and also those around me staring up above themselves to admire the DNA as the theme begins to kick off. The atmosphere transforms from dark and mysterious to epic, loud and extremely powerful. The cheering of 25,000+ people is fucking wildly incredible as ten o’clock ticks around. Although there is a relentless cheering, it feels incredibly quiet…

Then suddenly, Qlimax officially kicks off with three magical words that blast relentlessly at 10:00PM on the dot.
“IN MYYYYY HOUSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

Yep, Technoboy and Audiofreq have officially entered the building and they enter with a fucking bang(er) When the 2nd track (Technoboy – Reflex) drops, Audiofreq jumps up on the microphone and screams “Ladies and gentlemen, WELCOME TO QLIMAX!!!”

The vibe immediately transforms from dark and eerie into a playground of joy and playfulness when Technoboy and Audiofreq take it to the decks. By this time, I had finally found my friends and we made our way to the very front of the crowd. I also came to the decision that finding people in this colossal venue was practically impossible and pledged to not wander off by myself!

Standing at the front of the crowd and soaking in the vibes was a whole different experience compared to standing towards the back. I wouldn’t necessarily say it ensured more fun or was a better view of the show, it was just different. Exploring different spots within the venue ensured a different experience each time which is one thing that is so unique about being at Qlimax first hand. However, one thing that I could experience firsthand was the incredible enthusiasm by both Technoboy and especially Audiofreq. It’s no secret that these two individuals have truly earned their spot behind the sacred decks of Qlimax and by the looks on their faces, they appeared to be one hundred and ten percent dedicated to showing this crowd a fucking good time.

Audiofreq was absolutely going mental behind the decks, his passion was undying and his energy resembled an energizer bunny that was fresh off the charger! Watching this incredible team perform was a truly unique experience and not to mention, the music that they treated us to may have induced an unstoppable shivering run up and down my spine.

10:51PM: “The guys drop ‘Phases by 2 Best Enemies’ and everybody is swaying along and wrapped up in a beautiful warmth of the feels. It is really fucking beautiful and some cunts who think that they’re Art Of Fighters or some shit are chilling right in front of me and even they are feeling the feels… Everyone is fucking feeling the feels. I AM FEELING THE FEELS. Even my vagina is feeling the feels. Like, it’s seriously tingl—” *This slightly offensive statement about my vagina is then interrupted by me and 25,000 or more people singing along with the melody and zero fucks are given!*

As I put my observation lenses on, I see that everybody seems to be truly enjoying themselves. Even the huge, angry German guy next to me who is literally standing there chugging beers and yelling at anybody who attempts to push past him. (What an absolute legend)

11:02PM: I was that close to the stage that I saw some sort of an insect fly into or just miss Audiofreq’s mouth by a smidgen. Long story short, Audiofreq may or may not have swallowed a fly (Lol). Whoever was standing up the front and saw that and also Sam (Audiofreq) is probably reading this and having a little giggle.

Apart from the possibility that Sam may have swallowed a fly, Technoboy and Audiofreq truly did an amazing job to kick off one incredible night. They tore the crowd apart with tracks such as “Warcry,” “First Match,” “Yerba Diabolika” and “Ghetto Blaster”. They truly treated us to 90 minutes of pure joy, the very best old school tunes and an undying atmosphere that was only going to multiply further!

“Technoboy and Audiofreq finish up and MC Ruffian appears on the stage… OMG WHAT THE FUCK. What is happening to the stage?—Oh.. Wait…” *I see the stage workers taking apart the decks in order to prepare for the reveal the ACTUAL stage.*
“Oh… I get it now…” I feel stupid for one second and then realise everybody else was probably thinking the same thing.

11:30PM: All that you can hear are the voices of the crowd and the eerie introduction music as the stage is about to be unravelled. All of the noise turns to silence and as soon as the curtain in front of the stage begins to disappear, we hear “Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Qlimax” followed by an intense amount of cheering and me saying to my voice recorder “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?! The material looks like a kitchen table that I would like to have sex on.”

Mind you, it took me at least three hours and several different viewing positions in the GelreDome to properly grasp what the stage was meant to be. For those who still don’t understand the stage, it was meant to be a Shaman’s head, the rings around it represented the mind and the subconscious and of course, throughout the crowd were the strands of DNA.

The introduction continues with the voice-over: “He’s here to guide you on a psychedelic trip. The one and only Headhunterz.” This is followed by loud cheers and screams from the crowd as Headhunterz emerges from behind the decks with a huge smile and one hundred percent energy. Opening with his Qlimax edit of “Shocker” with W&W, he really kicked off the party and I was incredibly happy that he opened the show with an edit of one of his recent tracks.

The vibe was steadily rising throughout Headhunterz set as he truly put on an incredible performance. His mixing was immaculate, especially between the transition of the older and newer tracks. Although Headhunterz has transformed his sound to become more experimental and connecting with different elements of electronic music, he stayed incredibly loyal to hardstyle during his set and by the energy that he brought to the decks he also looked beamingly happy to be performing in front of so many dedicated fans.

He even jumped over the decks and came to the front of the stage as he broke the 4th wall to really connect with the crowd which was something that no other artist really dared to do that night.

11:50PM: “OH MY GOD there’s a bee on stage… Headhunterz is seriously trying to multitask by DJing and avoiding this bee like Ebola… Maybe he’s allergic or something…” I don’t know if this is normal for The Netherlands, but there appeared to be a serious insect problem on stage that night. First Audiofreq (possibly) swallowing a fly and then Heady avoiding a bee – I couldn’t help but have a slight giggle to myself.
All insects aside, the bee eventually flew away the show went on as Headhunterz built up the crowd with “From Within.” It was around this time that I spotted a few hipsters and felt very content with life in general.

12:05PM: “Sometime after midnight and Headhunterz drops ‘Now Is The Time’ and everybody is singing along! I am now further back in the crowd and the lightshow is fucking great!”

Now to get overly ‘qritical’:
Being in a prime position to immerse myself in the incredible light show, I was really impressed with the production so far. Although the stage was a little too abstract for many visitors to properly grasp, I did really appreciate the concept as a whole – however, there were a few things missing.

Firstly, where were the elaborate, story-telling voice-overs? The concept of Qlimax is traditionally based around a deep and mysterious storyline and I feel as though the introduction to Headhunterz literally gave me no information regarding the theme “The Source Code Of Creation.” Many visitors probably didn’t particularly care about the journey involved with the production, but I really did and I felt quite let down that the journey and storyline was incomplete. It would have been a lot more interesting and wholesome with a separate voice over introduction for each artist in order to tell the story properly. For example, the artists at the beginning could have represented the activation of DNA and the early phases and the “harder” artists at the end could have possibly represented some sort of a mental and spiritual breakdown… This would have led to an ascension to properly reach a “Qlimax” towards the end of the night. Although this is an in-depth critique, this lack of ‘depth’ to the event was quite disappointing and as my first Qlimax, I expected a little bit more attention and story-telling to be done and possibly even a shifting of the stage like last year’s edition…

However, all critique aside and back to the good stuff! The technical aspects behind the visual features of the production really blew my mind! From everywhere in the crowd that you could stand, it was possible to be able to see something different each time.

All critique aside and back to Headhunterz set! The young pioneer balanced his set out with the very best of his older tracks such as “Last Of The Mohicanz,” “Subsonic,” “Power Of The Mind,” and of course, one of his newer hits “Colours,” which saw the crowd going absolutely wild. With the combination of the incredible lights that got better and better as time went on and the enjoyable set that Headhunterz played, my mind had evidently been blown.

After I engulfed a large dose of ‘cheese’ from an average performance by eerie child Atmozfears, (who needs a lesson or 100 about a good stage presence) I re-emerged from my work break.

1:30AM: There was no possible way that I could prepare myself for this next hour that was taken over by the number one melodyman, Frontliner. During the introduction I was fighting back the urge to burst into a sea of joyful tears and when he dropped his first track, “Can’t Hold Us (Frontliner ‘Never Come Down’ Bootleg)” a wave of extreme power electrified the crowd and bought us to life.

1:33AM: “OH MY FUCKING TBA 2!” *I feel a lump in my throat as I suddenly burst into tears and grab onto my friend for dear life* These are happy tears as I keep yelling miscellaneous things into my voice recorder “FUUUCKING TBA 2. I AM SERIOUSLY GOING TO MAKE LOVE TO THIS SONG AND HAVE IT’S OFFSPRING AND NAME IT TBA 3. I swear… FRONTLINER, I LOVE YOU.”

So as you can tell, I was on cloud nine when Frontliner played TBA 2 along with many other tracks from The Summer Of Frontliner such as “Summer,” “Our District,” “Shock” and “Come To Me”.

1:45AM and the shit-talk begins: “My vagina is falling into pieces… 1:45 and my vagina has literally split in half.” *Enough said, I think that the flask of vodka was a bad idea* “Frontliner, what a set! What a production! There HAS to be at least 30,000 cunts going absolutely mental in this venue!”

The production was kicked up further and the lighting was truly incredible! The non-stop lasers in unison with the hard kicks and the coloured lighting coming from all over penetrated the souls of every single person in the venue. Frontliner’s set was an incredible showcase of the very best of his productions and a great balance between his older and newer creations. He cast his magic upon the crowd with tracks such as “Symbols,” “Rebirth Of The Sun” and also cranking it up a notch (or 10) with his hardcore edit of “I’m The Melodyman,” which saw the crowd kicking into overdrive and truly having a fantastic time.

The clock ticked around to 2:30. It was time.

It was the time where the frequency raised and the truth was revealed. Standing smack-bam in the middle of the crowd I saw the musical magician Noisecontrollers appear on stage with a huge smile on his face as he looked truly proud to represent Qlimax this year.
“2:30 and the boss is here! Noiscontrollers opens with the Qlimax anthem, The Source Code Of Creation and everybody is partying so hard!”
The crowd truly came together when Noisecontrollers stepped up which reminded me how cohesive the world of hardstyle really is. Within the 10 square metre radius of where I was standing, there were individuals from at least 5 different countries. Some were speaking in different languages and others were showing their pride with flags running high and although there were so many differing cultures around, everybody truly came together and broke down the barriers of the world with their one sole love for the harder styles…

Noisecontrollers put on an amazing show and whoever was there can definitely pledge that he is the undercover “God” of this world. Truly deserving his spot on this year’s line-up, he did not disappoint as he catered for everybody’s needs by playing an extremely versatile, yet enjoyable set that had me non-stop dancing.

“It’s after 2 in the morning and the production FINALLY makes sense to me! I have just realised that the things hanging from the sky are DNA and that the stage is a Shaman’s head. Oh by the way, ‘Scared’ is conveniently playing in the background and everybody has been going non-stop wild since the very beginning!”

Playing an incredibly exceptional set, one of the highlights for me was when Bas dropped “Radiance” by Bass Modulators and the crowd was immersed in true happiness and charged up with an incredible energy. It was also evident that Noisecontrollers had been working hard on many edits for his set which had a tremendously positive response from the crowd, especially his mash-up of “Gimme Love” and his remix of Hardwell’s “Apollo”.

“SOMETIME AFTER 3 AND NOISECONTROLLERS DROPS SAMARA. I didn’t think it was possible to see the crowd go THIS crazy!” Accompanied with the incredible light-show, the crowd was dancing crazily, smiling and overall having a fantastic time. When “What?!” was dropped minutes later, I decided that this was definitely the set of the night – so thank you Noisecontrollers! The combination of his stage presence and true connection with the crowd, it is no wonder why his performance was the cherry on-top of an incredible night!

3:30AM and the master of all things raw, Ran-D jumped up to the decks to tear the crowd a new one. From the beginning, his energy was undying and not to mention, he treated us to a set that was definitely not for the faint hearted!
The crowd suddenly transformed from a ball of euphoria to aggressively pounding feet and the finest “hakkuh” moves on display. There was fist-pumping, cheering and plenty of people also sitting back to enjoy the view of the show.

“3:55AM and Ran-D is tearing this place a fucking new one! Such a powerful set and the lights have kicked into overdrive!” I am now sitting towards the back, admiring the show from a far and giving my feet a well needed rest. I look down at the 25,000 or more people dancing crazily and wonder for a minute what these people all do in their spare time. It was an incredible mind-fuck to know that every single person here is so different in every way, yet they still share the exact same love and passion for hardstyle as the person standing next to them… I thought about this for about 10 minutes whilst “A Storm Is Coming” was conveniently making it’s mark in the foreground.

Ran-D truly performed with a true passion for the raw side of hardstyle and he really blew the crowd up in a bang! However, just as I thought that Qlimax would be a “Seven” free zone, Ran-D closed his set with it… Oh well.. It was great to see everybody dancing and partying so hard to the track anyway, despite the “meh” factor that it has on me.

The later it gets, the harder we party:
4:30 rolled around out of nowhere and although the night was late, the party was nowhere near its death. The fatigue was starting to pound at my feet and the thought of being cuddled up in bed was quite appealing until my senses struck at me and I once again realised that I was standing amongst one of the most amazing productions in the world. The music, accompanied by the incredible production was responsible for keeping my spirit alive and my feet dancing like there was no tomorrow.

The voice over began: “Get ready for the ultimate face-off with… Crypsis!”

From 4:30 on, there was absolutely no turning back. Until the music stopped, there was absolutely no mercy permitted on these sacred grounds.
The one thing I loved about being at Qlimax was the fact that every single artist played an original set that was a showcase of their greatest tracks. I was practically aware of the entire line-ups whole discography, besides Crypsis – so I was extra curious to see what this first timer brought up to the decks. And let me tell you, I was nowhere near disappointed with the power that Crypsis injected the entire GelreDome with.

“4:45AM and I don’t even feel tired anymore! FUCK SLEEP. FUCK BED. Crypsis is da man!” As you can tell, I had polished off the remainder of my flask sometime around now as well as ingesting a few cheeky glasses of wine (deadly stuff). I stood up on the deck on the right side of the venue and immersed myself in the powerful vibes that were unavoidable.

5:00AM: I looked to the left of me and saw a group of Scandinavians dancing like it was their last night on this planet. I looked to the right and saw another group of individuals dancing around happily and laughing with each other. By this late stage of the night, everyone was in prime party state and there were absolutely no signs of slowing down.

As the music proceeded to a harder sound, party-goers danced harder and harder. That’s what it was all about. One night off from a normal sleeping pattern, one night off from going on your nightly run and drinking your post-workout protein shake. This was no average night, this was a night where you can be as outgoing as you wish, dance as if you are some endangered create on amphetamines and most importantly, transform your mind into an unknown venture.

5:15AM: Sometime around now, an extremely obliterated guy came up to me and tried his luck. He began speaking to me in what appeared to be Dutch, with a concoction of vodka and other stuff. I gave him a blank look and in the politest yelling voice I tried to explain that my language knowledge only entitles me to speak in my native English tongue with my dry Australian accent. As soon as he realised I was Australian, I suddenly became a 10 out of 10 and he kept stating that I was very pretty. Thank you kind drunk Dutch guy. I love associating with people who are in “all-sorts” at events.

Oh yeah! I forgot that I was speaking about Crypsis’ set! Sorry Crypsis, I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but your set really brought out the inner “party” in every single person. Crypsis brought the style into rawstyle and I was impressed that he didn’t just blast the standard “kick and screech” for an entire hour and he decided to play many of his original tunes and also tracks from Zatox, Adaro and Minus Militia.

5:30AM rolled around and I started randomly thinking about all of the people who would have to wake up for work at this time – life must suck for them. I realised how lucky every single person in the GelreDome was to not be on their way to some mundane job or waking up to do something unexciting. Endymion appeared on stage and kept the vibe at an all time high. They burst into these early hours of the morning with “Under Your Skin” Pandorum, featuring Frankie McCoy and from then on, they kept every foot pounding hard on the floor, fists flying aggressively through the air and all spirits alive with the joy of music. One particular thing I enjoyed about Endymion’s set was their original new musical path. Having traditionally come from underneath the hardcore umbrella, these guys have taken on a more experimental signature sound that appears to be a stylistic cross between hardcore and raw hardstyle. Many of you are probably thinking “how the fuck does that work?” It just does! It sounds original, fresh and not too “screechy” (thank the fucking lord).

Endymion treated us to a sneak-peak into many of their new masterpieces such as their collaboration with young guns Phuture Noize which generated a great response, their remix of “Coming Undone” by Korn and an edit of “Antidote” with Ran-D. These guys truly hyped up the party for the next act, The Viper to set the stage.

It was 6:00AM and my feet were slowly giving in as I began to feel random bruises surfacing onto my skin, torn muscles and just plain exhaustion in general. I knew that I wasn’t the only one who was feeling tired and instead of complaining, I decided to tough it out for the last hour as I knew I would regret it if I had just simply sat down.

Hardcore hero The Viper jumped up and gave us one hundred and ten percent energy from the very first second that he started playing. As soon as the music kicked into overdrive and the BPM was cranked up, the crowd became more and more dedicated to giving it their all. I really enjoyed the hardcore ending and it was enjoyable to just dance and not give a fuck because there was definitely somebody else who looked as retarded as yourself as they attempted to dance correctly to hardcore.

After The Viper tore apart the decks, it was Partyraiser who had the responsibility to end Qlimax with one hell of a bang. He kicked it into overdrive and to be honest I really couldn’t keep up. It was a shitload of fun however, watching people go absolutely mental in this final half hour of the party. Even in the last thirty minutes, the dance-floor remained crowded as anything, the lightshow was nowhere near surrender and I spotted people still sculling drinks (champions). Even if Partyraiser had decided to keep playing for another 3 hours, I can guarantee that the dance-floor would remain packed…

Towards the end of his set, he truly kicked into overdrive as the BPM raised to unbelievable heights. I started laughing and saw many others laughing and dancing stupidly. Amongst the attempted “deepness” of the theme, the last half an hour was light-hearted and plenty of fun and not to mention, the perfect ending to one incredible production.

It was 7:00am when I dragged my fatigued feet out of The GelreDome. Zipping up my coat to protect myself from the cool morning breeze, I peered around to see the coloured auras of all individuals who had evidently had their minds transported into the fourth dimension. I felt a sense of enlightenment as I had pushed my body and soul through 9 incredible hours and although I could not move anymore and was wanting to sleep for at least 15 hours, I knew that I had done it and that everybody around me had conquered the night too. The chances of me knowing these 25,000+ people’s individual stories is impossible, but I knew that wherever in the world they came from, what languages they spoke and what religion and culture they partake in, they share the same passion. The passion and dedication for hard dance music.