CHAISHOP - Daydreaming...

Daydreaming...

The trance scene in the Netherlands

Author: Riches
Date: Jul 27, 2007
Views: 2552

Daydreaming in the Netherlands

Although regular Dance music is very popular in Holland and we deliver some of the greatest international artists, Psychedelic Trance has never become as popular as in neighbouring countries like the UK or Germany. Although Holland is also widely known as the land of “legal” psychoactive delicacies, like marijuana, hashish and magic mushrooms, our music culture is actually pretty straightforward. For this reason the Dutch Psytrance scene has been mostly underground since its beginning in the early nineties.

Luckily, you can find enjoyable parties almost every weekend somewhere in Holland. For most of the year everybody moves to the regular indoor locations as our weather is mostly very wet and windy. These parties vary between small clubs, bars and an occasional squatted industrial building. Most of the parties happen around the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen and Leiden and are usually quite small, rarely attracting more than 750 people.

Some annual events around the Amsterdam area like Earthdance, Namasté, and the Ruigoord gatherings do manage to draw larger crowds and can be considered to be the biggest events we have over here.

However numbers won’t say anything about Dutch parties. Since the scene has always been quite small, there is a great family feeling amongst the people and the artists. Many of them have known each other for years already. Especially around the capital the party heads have a very international background as the cities inhabitants come from all over the world.

The tribes who organise good parties on a frequent basis are Alien Vibes, Cosmic Combination, Prog as a Frog, Shut Up and Dance, Sekret Lab and Trance Mafia.

During the summertime smaller outdoor parties are held almost weekly, assuming that there is a positive weather forecast of course. Many of them are quite spontaneous, organised by groups of friends, and have no commercial intent. Most of these parties are completely illegal, so the police are the biggest risk factor regarding outdoor parties, which always adds a bit of extra excitement ;). Depending on if there are any complaints from the neighbours, there is some space for negotiation with the police. These spontaneous gatherings can take up to an entire weekend, sometimes relocating to several nearby locations during their course.

After some quieter years for many of the DJs and musicians over here, the leading international festivals and record labels seem to have finally picked up the latest wave of Dutch producers and DJs catapulting them in to the global fast lane, each with their own distinctive sound, trying to get recognised in the overly crowded international market. Finally we can see some progress and we can expect more Dutch names to establish themselves in the near future.

Traditionally, Dutch entrance fees are low, however this is reflected in the party's budget and that’s why it’s seldom possible to get loads of big names in the line-up. Fortunately the quality of most national DJs is good, so permanent brain and ear damage can easily be avoided. The Dutch taste in Psytrance is mostly groovy Full-on and strong Progressive, although the latest Minimal and Electro sound is gaining popularity.

Darker and more experimental music is not played very often as the atmosphere is mostly a very happy one with most parties in Holland being very friendly and relaxed; the main reason for visiting a party being dancing and socialising all night.

The most popular websites for information on the Dutch trance scene are Goatrance.nl and Goatrance.net. Here you can find almost all upcoming events, info about artists, chat with the in-crowd, see the photos, videos and listen to mixes and new tracks. Or just talk about the weather, another beloved Dutch tradition.