When in Belgium… The Qontinent: Day 3 – Sunday.

By: Cassi Catsaros
When we think of the festivities that the Belgian summer has to offer, our minds usually drift to nothing quite past the commercialism and predictability of “Tomorrowland’s mainstage.”

As a writer and an honest person, I do not particularly give a fuck about Tomorrowland’s mainstage.

No, I am sitting in front of this computer regarding a particular festivity that rocked the soils of Belgium, one that is truly something special and unique that no commercial mainstage event can even account for.

As an avid lover and observer of the hardstyle scene, community and festivities, there was one particular event that had been on my radar for about one year now. It may sound strange, but ever since Da Tweekaz and Wasted Penguinz bombed my soul with their 2013 Qontinent anthem “Island Refuge,” I was determined to attend The Qontinent this year.

I did indeed have an incredible opportunity to conquer and retell the secrets of The Qontinent 2014. So readers, who attended this unforgettable party, prepare to relive this weekend one day at a time and for those of you who missed out, now is the time to roll around in a sea of tears followed by a swift determination to attend next year’s edition.

This is a follow up article to the previous days at The Qontinent:

To read about Saturday (day 2) CLICK HERE

To read about Friday (day 1) CLICK HERE

Without further adieu, I’ll take this opportunity to tell the tale (for a third time) about one particular festival that tore Belgium a new one…
The peaceful pattering of raindrops amongst my tent clears the slate as a new day emerges amongst us all. In my mind’s eye, I imagine sunshine desperately surfacing from behind the subdued grey clouds as the land is filled with a tranquil warmth and consumed by the beauty of the trees that gently sway in the crisp breeze…

Just as I begin to dream about embracing in some sort of wacky dance whilst embracing the beloved sunshine, my eyes slowly awaken from an abnormally long sleep.

Time: 11:10AM (Yes, I slept for a solid 10 hours whilst camping).
Listening to: Rain
Also listening to: A musical competition between campsites. Competitor A is blasting Wasted Penguinz, competitor B is playing Angerfist and competitor C is damaging my soul, once again, with Speedcore.
Smelling: The glory of not having a hangover
Feeling: A mixture of extreme happiness due to the fact that I slept for 10 hours and annoyance at the fact that it was raining.
So instead: I suck it up and take two showers. One in the rain and one in the actual shower. Once again, to the likings of a princess, the showers are clean and comfortable and before you can ask, yes, there was plenty of hot water too!

Right after my shower and between the bouts of indecisive rain, I sat inside of my tent and mentally prepared my soul for the massive day ahead (AKA I sat in my tent, applied eyeliner and spoke to myself for a solid 30 minutes).
1:20PM: The morning had inevitably slipped through my fingers like sand and a new day was amongst every soul in the vicinity of The Qontinent. I also needed to get a wriggle on to catch the remainder of young-gun Adrenalize’s set, who had the honour of waking up the souls of the Mainstage.

I am not going to tell any lies here, after encountering such a grand and mind-blowing production yesterday and also witnessing some of the greatest acts that the world of hardstyle has to offer, I must admit that the acts of today had some incredibly huge shoes to fill.
Did they fill the glass slipper? We will soon find out…

Sunday is traditionally ‘rest day’, but… FUCK REST DAY!

Pessimistically battling my way through the patchy rain in order to reach the “Holy Grounds,” for one last time, a great realisation came into my mind… Although Sunday is notoriously known and loved for kicking back, putting your feet up and sinking into the couch for a nice snooze, a rush of determination to dance, sing and intellectually battle through the remainder of this wild, wild weekend ignited every firefly in my spirit… I did some rough calculations, if I were to live to a comfortably ripe age of 87 years old, after this weekend, I would have three-thousand, five hundred and twelve Sunday’s to rest… It seemed ridiculously brainless to sit in a shaded area with my voice recorder, keeping track of every few tracks from each artist.

Hell fucking no.

In order to technically “live life to the fullest,” and adhere to the spirit of “YOLO,” it only seemed appropriate that I get down, dirty and analytical on this final day of The Qontinent 2014.

1:55PM: Our favourite under-aged genius, Adrenalize was finishing up a highly energetic performance, kicking off the day and feeding us with a lovely dose of “feels.” Although the rain would annoyingly start and stop, there were high hopes from everybody in the crowd at this time that the rain may just stop and the beloved sun would shine its way through the spoiling clouds.
The first three hours of the festival also showcased three of the top next generation superstars back to back, which made me weak at the knees with anticipation.

At 2:00PM, Neilio was the second young-gun to step up and take on the difficult job of fighting with the rain to get us all in the mood.
I take my hat off to Neilio, he played an incredibly energetic set which consisted mostly of his own masterpieces such as “Wish I Never Met You,” “Never Come Down,” and he also showcased his brand new track “Forever,” featuring Melissa Pixel which really got the crowd going. I was also surprised and content to hear Neilio play “Trigger,” by Rebourne, however, playing the original version without the vocals and also without that stupid trap break-down. I smiled. It had been far too long since I had heard the greatness of that song without those nauseating and unfitting vocals, so thankyou Neilio for restoring my faith in humanity.

All cheese aside. When it is raining hard at a festival, it is always extremely interesting to see the crowd, especially those in the crowd who are singing along to their favourite tracks. This sets aside the two types of fans. There are “fans” and there are “dedicated fans.” During Neilio’s set and underneath the pouring rain, one thing was for sure: the dedicated fans were here. Regardless of the chilly air and the spirit dampening rain, those with dedication in their hearts were here to watch and support their favourite artists no matter what.
Neilio also didn’t let the rain stop him from unleashing his boundless energy and stage presence. This melody genius is definitely one act worth looking out for!

2:50PM: I turn and look at the next act to step up onto stage, Outlander. I look back at the pouring rain and all of the people swamped in blue ponchos. I turn back and look at Outlander.

“Lander, on a scale of 1-10, how are you feeling about this rain?”
Outlander: “F*ck the rain… I am going to play Flying Space Monster, the rain is going to go away and the sun is going to come out. I am very certain of that, it’s happening…”

3:00PM: “Outlander opens with Flying Space Monster and his statement was half precise! The rain has stopped (for now) but the sun hasn’t come out just yet. I guess we can’t have it all.”

Despite being a huge fan of Outlander’s experimental and boundary pushing music, I had actually never seen him perform before, so I was excited to see what this resident Belgian bought to the holy decks.

And what did he bring to the decks? Well, apart from pulling out a bunch of exciting and original new tracks that are fresh from the laboratory, he bought a die-hard spirit that was definitely resistant to any environmental annoyances such as the increasing rain (which had worsened since he dropped Flying Space Monster) and any possible landslide.

Apart from his aggressive fist-pumping and dancing behind the decks, Outlander also took the baton and unleashed some old classics such as “Rate Reducer (Headhunterz remix)” By Project One, “Stardust” by Wildstylez and Noisecontrollers, “Huh?” by Wildstylez and just as I thought that I was safe from hearing it, Outlander did the honourable deed of dropping the inevitable festival track “Fuck The System” By Showtek (I guess that someone had to do it).

The crowd size was slowly increasing during the second half of Outlander’s set, and so were the number of ponchos. I think that everybody finally came to acceptance with the fact that it could rain all day and it was nice to see that regardless of the rain, fans wanted to come down and support their favourite artists rather than sit in their tents and drinking vodka. Seriously, big ups to everybody who was partying hard in the crowd during the downpour, you all deserve a medal for mastering the art of festivities.

4:00PM: “Welcome to the archive. You are now entering, Pandora…”
It was indeed time to enter Pandora when Aussie warrior Code Black emerged from behind the decks. I couldn’t be more excited to stand in and support one of the greatest Australian’s in the big bad world of kicks and screeches. As soon as “Pandora” was in full throttle, my eyes set sight on hundreds of fans sprinting frantically to enter the Holy Grounds to really kick off the party.

By halfway through Code Black’s set, although the rain was starting and stopping more than a car driving through traffic in New York City, you could feel the positive vibes bouncing off every single soul in the crowd. Good vibes were also hitting an all time high today when Code Black dropped euphoric bombs such as “Accelerate” a collaboration with Atmozfears and also “Unleash The Beast,” The 2014 Defqon.1 Australia anthem, which generated an enormous response from the crowd (Yep, Aussies do it best).

During Code Black’s set, the overall aura of the mainstage amplified and this is also the time where the crowd started to increase in numbers and flags from all different countries began to pop up here and there as fans were representing their culture and origins.
4:59PM: “I genuinely think that I can see the sun! YES! THAT IS—Oh… False alarm… Fuck.” Yes, the sun finally appeared and clearly it had some sort of unresolved self esteem issues, because quicker than I could even immerse myself in a sun-dance, it disappeared behind a bunch of consuming dark grey clouds.

However, although the sun was absent, Da Tweekaz and their timeless enthusiasm was evidently present. It was certainly time for some Norwegian flavour and let me tell you, these two guys tore The Qontinent a new one and before I could even watch any other acts, they instantly secured the place as my personal “Act Of The Day.”

These two crazy Norwegians have had a massive year this year, especially with their Summer project “Tweekay 14,” which has taken the world of hardstyle by storm. These guys are notorious for productions that provide a balance of euphoria, catchiness and also have this foreseeable ability to involuntarily get stuck in your head for days on end. After seeing them perform at Bass Control in 2013, I was especially excited to watch them again and see them unleash their collection of fresh productions on the Belgian crowd.

And they definitely bought their A-Game…

Standing within the craziness of the crowd, I felt such an incredible energy hit me from every direction as I my spirit absorbed every single smile around me. We were all smiles when Da Tweekaz played a bunch of their masterworks such as their remix of Darren Styles’ “You and I,” the anthem itself “Tweekay 14”.

Da Tweekaz have a very unique style of production which includes the impeccable ability to even take an already perfected Disney track, inject their signature ‘Tweekaz’sound into it and make it one explosive song that honestly has the ability to make me either cry of happiness or get naked every time I hear it.

5:30PM “DA TWEEKAZ PLAYED FROZEN AND MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! I literally almost got naked… Well… I cried instead. BUT they also played The Qontinent 2013 anthem, Island Refuge, thus making me want to either get naked or cry again.”
Another moment I just have to add was when they played “Zero Fucks Given,” featuring MC V.

5:45PM: “The rain is belting down… BUT ZERO FUCKS ARE GIVEN! Everybody in the crowd is dancing in the rain, and of course, they are not giving a fuck!”

After I recollected my mind that had evidently been blown, Da Tweekaz amped up the energy by closing their set with Zatox and Tatanka’s floor-breaker “Natural Born Raver,” also kicking it up a notch and really blowing the crowd up with a hardcore edit.
For your information, within the duration of Da Tweekaz set, I cried as a result of happiness twice and actually managed to keep my clothes on… Apologies to everybody that got overly excited…

6:00PM and the energetic Aussie, Audiofreq is ready to transport us to the next level. Unfortunately, when his set begins, a lot of ‘pussies’ leave the mainstage due to the heavy rain. However, up on stage the energy kicks off with an incredible high as the only way I can describe Audiofreq’s liveliness behind the decks is “reflective of an immortal energiser bunny.”

I felt slightly disappointed that a few people had drifted off at the beginning of Audiofreq’s set, but thankfully that disappointment was very short lived when the sun began gleaming shyly from behind the clouds…
Suddenly, the sun overcomes it’s self esteem issues and BAM, reveals itself for good. I had a good feeling about this as I hung my head back in relief and pleasure.

6:35PM: “Audiofreq drops Guardians Of Time, AKA the official Reverze anthem and he blows the fucking roof off this joint! Wait. There is no roof. Let me try that again.” I slap myself in the face and go for a second attempt.
Attempt 2. 6:35PM: “Audiofreq drops Guardians Of Time, AKA the official Reverze anthem and I am so bloody proud to be Australian. The sun is shining and the mainstage is become more and more packed by the second!”

I become extremely happy by the conclusion of Audiofreq’s set. With a combination of his energy and flawless predictions, he truly deserved a full-house and that is what he got (once the rain went away).

Next up was the grand creator and preacher of FIFO, and no, he definitely wasn’t running late to this church…
For all of you who are (in the nicest way possible) stupid, Brennan Heart was next up to keep this party kicking on and by the looks of the packed out stage, there was no stopping this party…

7:00PM: “The sun is out for good and Brennan Heart opens with *starts singing* BACK IN ZE DAYZ, BACK IN ZE DAYZ, BACK IN ZE DAYZZZZ *followed by immature giggling*”

After soaking up some sun during Brennan Heart and most of Psyko Punkz’ set, I collected my soul and was ready to conquer the Jailhouse tent, which I hadn’t visited yet today.

I was incredibly excited and also slightly nervous for what I would witness in the tent…
I knew that E-Force would be finishing off his set when I entered, but I really was not prepared for this. You could say that I definitely arrived at the right time. Yes, I conveniently arrived when he was playing his new track and also one of the biggest songs of the summer “Seven.”

What happens in the tent, stays in the tent:
*“Seven” By E-Force is conveniently playing in the background whilst I effectively engage in a running commentary*
“E-Force closes with Seven.. This is fucked, like, actual FUCKED! I mean, I have never felt this energy in my entire life. I also just walked past a group of people with blow up dolphins and shit… I have been in this tent for about two minutes and I have seen some weird shit in here… There’s so many c*nts hakken, actually, everyone is fucking hakken. IT’S FUCKED. As you can hear… There is not one melody to be heard. None…”

What I witnessed during that 3-4 minutes was indescribable. I have never seen such a huge and personal response to a track, so although raw hardstyle usually isn’t my kind of thing, it definitely has a unique energy and connection to all members of the crowd.
After the mayhem of “Seven” is over and a few exhausted members of the crowd run to the outskirts of the tent to desperately acquire some oxygen, I remember why I’m here.

I may gain some haters out there, but to be completely honest, as a personal preference, raw style is not what I live and breathe, however I do make some exceptions. Phuture Noize have been on my radar for quite some time now and ever since they released their album “Music Rules the Noize,” I was highly fascinated by their uniquely distinct sound.

During their prescribed set time, I was missing one of my other favourites Hard Driver, who was playing on the mainstage. The pressure was evidently on for Phuture Noize to blow me away, otherwise I would not be a happy journalist and we all know that an angry journalist can be highly dangerous…

The question on all of your minds is probably along the lines of “Were you an angry journalist?”
You’ll soon find out…

8:01PM: Phuture Noize begin their power hour on a high note with an old classic “Immeasurably” by Donkey Rollers, a song that could never do any wrong.

8:22PM: “I FUCKING LOVE THESE GUYS. Seriously, there is so much unoriginal rawstyle around and these guys literally bend over commercial rawstyle and f*ck it in the ass.”

So ah… Judging by that very explicitly visual comment, I think that explains a little of what my ears were blessed to hear.
The guys unleashed a bunch of quality experiments such as “Runnin,” “The Heat,” and “On With The Show.” We were also treated to some of their newer material such as “Haters,” a collaboration with Chris One and also their ground-breaking remix of Digital Punk’s “Oblivion.”
Up on stage, the energy never died between the fast-growing duo and it is no wonder that they have gained such a great fanbase in a short amount of time. As an act, they really balance each other out and both provide such a unique energy. I was also pleased to see that neither of them overly employed the dreaded “fist-pump,” a move that I see way too often, so thank you guys for letting me take my glasses off and actually watch you both on stage.

To sum this refreshingly different hour, these guys are definitely on my agenda to see again, and whoever made the stupid decision to bail from the tent at the conclusion of E-Force, you all missed out…

8:58PM crept around and I gathered the remains of my soul and ran as fast as I could to make it in time to watch the most anticipated act on my list. The melody-man himself, Frontliner has gained a spot in my heart and all of my respect simply by the fact that he has never done any wrong. By this, I mean that he has never created a mediocre track and he has also never put on a dull performance.

I am running as fast as I can and I have lost count of the amount of people I have ran into on my quest to soak up some melodies.
However, my pace of running and the absurd about of traffic prevents me from witnessing the moment where Frontliner emerges.
9:00PM: I hear the beautiful melodies as I am running. I try my best to hold back my tears. “I ah… Just missed the intro to Frontliner… If he opened with TBA 2 I’ll be pretty fucking upset…” I am in luck when I hear that “Beam Me Into Space” is playing.

I continue with my banter as I am running into the crowd. “OHHHHH YEAH. BARRY DOES IT AGAIN! There is fire by the way, and lights, and IF BARRY CATCHES ON FIRE, I AM GOING TO BE SO UPSET AND I WILL 10/10 CRY BECAUSE I LOVE BARRY!”

Everybody is looking at me strangely, probably because I have come out of nowhere, like a hurricane, and I also am talking into a voice recorder. “WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME? THIS IS DRUNK JOURNALISM BITCHES!”
Now that I have gone off on a tangent into my journalism practices, I guess I’ll just have to bring it back to Barry (Frontliner. Yes, it is a first name basis, that is how incredible his set was).

The energy that Frontliner brings to the stage is so unmatchable, the fact that he is energised by his own creations is so unique. It is easy to stand behind the decks and dance around and pretend like you are having a great time, but the way Frontliner performs is so unique and you can tell that he is genuinely aiming to connect with every single audience member.

We were treated to an incredibly sophisticated set, consisting mainly of his tracks such as “Galaxies Collide,” “Lose The Style,” “You Got Me Rocking,” and when he dropped his collaboration with Radical Redemption, the crowd reached the ultimate high. The absolute power that song delivers can be described by myself as “a dangerous bomb that has the power to blow up the entire solar system with the kindest possible intentions.”

The full production was also starting around this time. The visuals on the screen struck up a balance between being powerful and also euphoric and the lights fire had already began to steal my heart. Once again, after yesterday’s mind-blowing production, I just knew that after the endshow I would be asking myself again “how is a production this great even possible?”

I was in transported to a heavenly world that I had never ventured to before, especially when he dropped one of my favourites “Halo’s (2014 Edit)”. It was around 9:45PM and the skies began to come down with an eerie darkness.

9:45PM: “I cannot describe how perfect this is. There is confetti and streamers EVERYWHERE and the fact that it is getting dark and this song plays is such a priceless moment that I will never forget.”
I would have been more than happy for Frontliner to continue playing for the entire night and personally, I would have preferred it if he closed off the party.

However, I was happy enough with the fact that the raw duo Frequencerz had the honour of putting the cherry on-top of a perfectly engineered festival and an incredible weekend.

10:00PM: “This was the last hour of The Qontinent 2014 and everybody is dancing like there is no tomorrow! Frequencerz are giving us a huge dose of raw energy and don’t even get me started on the lightshow which is flawless beyond belief.”

If you don’t believe me about how great this production was, I would like to sum up this article and the weekend of The Qontinent 2014 with this lovely video of the endshow. So sit back, relax and be sure to attend next year’s edition!

So 2/8 of you who are reading this are crying because you didn’t attend, another 2/8 of you are already trying to find out information about next year’s edition and the remaining 4/8 of you are crying as you reminisce over this wild, wild weekend…

I’d like to sum this wild weekend off by saying a huge thank you to all of the artists who made my job so enjoyable over the entire weekend and an even bigger thank you to both Q-Dance, Bass Events and the designers behind the staging, lights and sound production.

Finally, a huge thank you to the dedicated fans who attended and partied, you are the people who maintain the brilliance within the hardstyle scene.