What Happens When A Foreigner Crashes XXLerator Carnaval?
**Disclaimer: All photographs used within this article retain credit to: Rossumedia & WeAreTheNight.com
From those who have lived to tell the tale, Dutch Carnaval can be best described as 5 fun filled days consisting of dressing up in the craziest of costumes, drinking a fuck-ton of beer, wine, schrobbelaer and celebrating a reversal in those mundane social roles within society. University students within the Limburg and Brabant provinces are especially cheering as most of their classes are cancelled within this celebratory time and from an Australian perspective, at first I thought: “What? In Australia, this NEVER happens…” And I mean NEVER! Even on the one day (Australia Day) that everybody covers themselves in fake Australian tattoos from head to toe and walks around Bondi beach drinking goon out of a water bottle, most of us still have to go to work the next day unfortunately.
As a foreigner in The Netherlands, I have noticed that the Dutch culture is one of celebration and fun in which the people are cheerful and always down to smash a pint (or 10) and Carnaval was definitely no exception to this rule.
So what exactly happens when an Aussie foreigner is taken from her natural habitat of sun and sand and is thrown head-first into a wacky banana costume and off to the notorious Carnaval celebrations? Well, sit tight as I am about to take you all on a little festive journey through one particular event that I was lucky enough to witness. As The Netherlands is also (obviously) the central hub of the harder styles, myself and my fellow Austrian (yes, Austrian, NOT Australian) counterpart decided to crash one of the most anticipated hardstyle events to rock the Carnaval festivities.
9:35PM: “We have just arrived at Tilburg train station and it is absolutely crowded! There are people dressed up as all sorts of extravagant things and I feel awkward as I haven’t properly put on my costume yet!”
We jump on the train from Tilburg to “the middle of nowhere” and eventually find somewhere to sit as I gaze to observe all of the individuals around me. I can see quite a few people with wine and beer in their hands (classy) and I feel as though I should get the party started quite soon. We stay on the train until we reach Deurne (AKA the middle of nowhere) and when we are walking to the bus stop we see three guys blasting hardstyle from their phones and instantly feel that it is appropriate to strike up a chat with them. They are especially surprised to see two foreigners at a traditionally Dutch party and they tell us that it will be “fucking awesome.”
10:35PM: We board what I personally feel is the cutest bus in the entire world. Like seriously, this Deurne place is quite the place of isolation that little mini buses are used instead of normal buses. I am not complaining however, it’s cozy and big buses are intimidating. We continue chatting to the three guys on the bus who traveled here from Eindhoven and it was so great to see the dedication from the hardstylers who travel for quite some time to attend events. Finally slipping my banana outfit on, I pull out my voice recorder and inform the world around me that “I AM READY TO GET UNLEASHED LIKE DIGITAL PUNK!”
11:09PM: “We have officially arrived in the middle of nowhere, also known as Venray and we are following some girls to the venue because we don’t particularly know where it is!” I feel excitement swirling up inside of me in anticipation for what the night would bring and how I would digest my very first experience of Carnaval and also an XXlerator event!
11:15PM: We finally arrive inside, have our tickets scanned and our bags checked and soon enough we are ready for some action like Zatox! But wait, we couldn’t put our bags in the locker without cash and we were stupid enough to not withdraw money before hand and there unfortunately was no ATM. Luckily enough, you could still buy tokens with a bank card and some boss chick in the line offered to swap us tokens for cash so that we could put our bags in a locker. (Thanks kind stranger!)
By the time our locker seeking adventure was over and we had purchased some tokens and brought a couple of drinks, 11:30PM had ticked around and we had almost forgot that Rebourne was playing! We entered the venue which was illuminated by the LED screens and of course, by every individual in the venue! I had a moment of reflection and comparison to my former home in Sweden where literally no-one wears any colour and to my roots in Australia where nobody would even dress up, this was certainly refreshing to see all caution thrown into the wind as nobody cared if they looked like a fool, they were having fun.
11:35PM: “Cheers to drunk journalism!” My friend and I start with the Smirnoff whilst Rebourne is conveniently smashing out some euphoric bangers in the background (yay). Getting into a celebratory mood during the remainder of the hour and sussing out the atmosphere and vibes that floated around the venue I was pleased to feel that everybody here was extremely friendly and even quite cheeky. One guy came up to me and being in The Netherlands, he started talking to me in Dutch. I stood there wide eyed for a second before informing him that I do not speak his language. He laughed and asked me if I was wearing anything underneath my banana suit, I laughed back and said “unfortunately I am wearing clothes, sorry!” (Cheeky m8).
12:00AM: After the fantastic half an hour we had already experienced, Rebourne stepped down from the decks and during the interval between his and Audiotricz set there was celebratory Dutch Carnaval music playing to set the mood. The LED screens lit up with images of clowns and (YOLO) I am not a drama queen, I am not afraid of clowns.
“12:07AM and I have found Minus Militia, well at least one member of it!” We even came across some dude dressed up as Bas (boss) Oskam, AKA Noisecontrollers (The real Noisecontrollers also accompanied Audiotricz to the event), he was rocking the fedora and everything, it made me almost cry of happiness. Anyway, back to this chick dressed as Radical Redemption, she IS the real female boss and if I decide to dress up as Minus Militia for Halloween or something I’m definitely calling this chick up.
Meanwhile, Audiotricz are smashing it with “Dance No More” and the place is slowly getting more and more packed! Taking out the time to specially mention the atmosphere of this party – it was absolutely incredible! Everybody was truly having a great time and the love of the music was combining everybody like never before.
It felt like a real party that didn’t have an overly serious nature attached to it, being the true definition of fun, although it felt slightly strange for me as a foreigner to be a part of Carnaval however I felt very welcomed by all of the fellow Dutchies. Many of them even stuck up a conversation with me and my friend and they were so excited to meet an Australian and Austrian person at one of their events!
By around 12:30AM the venue was almost full and celebrations were in full swing! Between going in and out of the main room, I was quite delighted by the chill-out area which had an abundance of food, drinks, seating areas and of course, Dutch Carnaval music! It also came to my attention that the bar outside were serving mojitos and that was definitely something worth celebrating!
1:00AM: “Da Tweekaz are about to come on and we are f*cking excited!” Evidently, these two crazy Norwegians should be on every single Carnaval line-up possible, they are the definition of fun! Soon after Da Tweekaz are playing and according to my voice recorder, precisely at the time that they are dropping “#Tweekay 14,” I pull Rebourne aside for a one-question interview.
Me: “Rebourne, what happens if you fuck with the Radical?”
Rebourne: “…?”
Me: “You have to answer it…”
Rebourne: *After some coersion* “You get pregnant…And die…” *followed by immature giggling on my behalf*
We still love you Radical Redemption, but I feel as though we have started a bit of a revolution here…
All jokes aside, Da Tweekaz were absolutely killing it and treating the crowd to their some floor smashers and heart-melters, including their remix of Disney’s “Frozen” which had my eyes gathering tears of happiness. Everybody sang along “Let it gooooo, let it goooo!” even the most muscular guys in the crowd gathered their feels and sang along, what a moment! Dressed up as Vodka and Beer, Da Tweekaz surely got everybody in the mood with their fun filled set and when I kind of wished that they would have played forever, and ever, and ever, AND EVER, but I guess that they need some sleep eventually. Another mentionable moment was when I found two of my banana soul-mates dancing through the crowd, being ‘bananary’ and all and I felt as though I had found my long lost brothers!
**Da Tweekaz dressing the part!**
The next voice recording I had saved was approximately around 2:10AM and was as follows: “BACK IN ZE DAYS, BACK IN ZE DAYS, BACK IN ZE DAYS OH WOAAAAH……” *followed by a shitload of immature giggling in the background*. Oh Brennan Heart, we love you!
Tearing it up on the decks and treating us to a very balanced set, Brennan Heart embarked in the honourable task of providing the feels and never lacking the power! As the night proceeded, the lasers got crazier and all of the party people kicked it up a notch as the music proceeded to it’s peak! We remained on the dance-floor for the Mr. FIFO’s entire set and we loved it! It was truly a balance and that was definitely what the night needed before it transitioned into something a little rougher.
3:00AM: Mash-Up Jack just popped up and it has come to my attention that he is a fellow banana, like myself! As the first time experiencing 30 minutes of Mash-Up Jack in action, I was quite impressed also by his balance between the euphoric sounds and the rough and tough sounds. I pulled out my voice recorder after a few Smirnoffs and said “YEAAAHHHHH! This is interesting…” During his set, we saw Zany ever now and again popping up behind the decks and to be honest, I have no idea what he was even dressed as but I couldn’t help but laugh.
3:30AM: For the first time in a long time, the Donkey Rollers set the standard in the early hours of the morning and I could not have been happier! Come to think of it, this was around the time that I realised that the Fusion representatives (Donkey Rollers & Titan) were dressed as the A-Team! (Ah, clever!) Smashing out the old-school tunes, the Fusion masters really kicked things into festive mode and had the entire crowd dancing non-stop.
Backtracking slightly, somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the bus here, a little thought came into my mind regarding the 90’s and of course, Darude and I suddenly remembered that I was really craving some “Sandstorm” fever in my life until suddenly, Zany literally drops a remix of “Sandstorm” by Darude. My breath had been taken and most of the crowd seemed as happy as I was in that split second and wow, I was convinced that Zany was a magician! Keeping the crowd alive with their old-school flavour, Donkey Rollers were truly a highlight of the night for me.
4:00AM: I run into Marcus from Da Tweekaz and I decide to interrogate him with my new signature question.
Me: “Marcus! What happens when you fuck with the Radical?”
Marcus: *In a heavy Italian accent* “Some people like to call it bolognese, I like to call it carbonara. You know, you get Italian flavour and spaghetti carbonara.” (Huh?)
Me: So, the moral of the story is, don’t fuck with the Radical, am I right?
Marcus: Well if you like carbonara then fuck with the Radical”
4:30AM: All carbonara aside, after Donkey Rollers tore the place apart, Frequencerz jumped up in matching rock-star outfits which conveniently suited their opening track.
After partying for the first song, we decided that food was on the agenda and from there, things got slightly interesting for both myself and my friend as we retreated to the chill-out area to grab something to eat. As my friend was a vegetarian, we were quite surprised to find many vegetarian options available at this ungodly time of the morning and I was even surprised to find that the burger that I ate was actually quite satisfying. We sat down near the lockers and had a random conversation with a very eager and enthusiastic party-goer who kindly looked up some directions for us to find our way home. Although a lot of people were sitting down outside, so many were still ripping it up on the dance-floor inside and determined to go hard right until the music ceased. We continued resting outside until after 5:30AM when we decided to try our luck back inside. Having the tiredness creep up on us and our pre-party coffee wearing off, we decided to hitch a taxi home.
When leaving the venue, I felt almost a sense of achievement rush over me as we had conquered a Dutch Carnaval and really enjoyed it! XXlerator did the honourable deed of treating visitors to one killer night and as a foreigner, I surely enjoyed it and so did my Austrian friend!
5:50AM: Under the impression that a taxi would cost 90 Euro, to our surprise the cab driver proposed a whopping 140 Euro to take us home (oops). So whilst waiting for our train, the friendly security guard allowed us to stay inside in the warmth until we were able to walk to the station and take the train home. It would have been nice to see some shuttle buses running or something for those who were traveling back to Brabant.
9:15AM: “I have never been so happy to see Tilburg in my life!” I said with a defeated voice. Carnaval had definitely done it’s job and although I was seemingly exhausted, we walked out of there knowing that we had one hell of a night partying to the finest tunes and surrounded by like minded individuals…
Carnaval is definitely something that all foreigners should experience at least once! Even if you’re not big on dressing up, the fact that everybody else is dressed up and down to have a great time will really encourage you to let down your hair and unleash your wild side! So to XXlerator, you guys definitely passed on giving two foreigners one hell of an experience for Carnaval 2015!