For one week of the year, the eyes of the electronic music industry turn to Amsterdam. Business is done, deals are struck, hundreds of DJs play to thousands of clubbers, and everyone has a damn good time. So rather than just talk about our own party, this year we wanted to treat ADE with the respect it deserves, so we’ve sent Defected’s Greg Sawyer over to report on some of the countless parties that will be thrown over the next few days.
You can follow his ramblings, reviews and occasional razor-sharp insights right here…
ADE 2011: Blog - Arrival
Arriving in Amsterdam is usually a fairly relaxing experience. For one, the flight from the UK is a frankly ridiculous 35 minutes, which means the usual routine of trying to catch a few minutes uncomfortably cramped and intermittently interrupted sleep is happily bypassed. Secondly, with so many industry types crammed into such a small space, you can usually find someone vaguely interesting to have a conversation with that goes beyond the usual inane airplane pleasantries.
Shiphol airport is also a bit of a joy. Unlike most terminals where you are channelled through the kind of repetitive grey corridors that make you feel like you’re in a low-budget computer game, Schiphol is open, calming and offers you the chance for distraction before you’ve even been forced to thrust your passport at someone. Fancy a pre-baggage claim Heineken. Sure! Need to stock up on novelty cheese before you queue for immigration? Feel free!
After bumping in to Inner City’s manager Judy post-passport flash and following a scarily-priced taxi ride into the centre of Amsterdam, we head to our apartment. Like every Amsterdam building I’ve ever stayed in, the stairs are absurdly steep to the point of forcing a cat-like ascension into the upper levels of our habitation. Happily, we have a balcony, sadly there’s a sign above the door saying that frequentation of said balcony is banned after 10.30 pm “because our neighbours are unable to sleep”. We ponder what time this restriction ceases to apply (does 6am count as after the curfew of that night or before the curfew of the next?) and head out in to the city.
ADE inevitably brings a certain buzz to the city, and you can’t go very far without a poster or flag reminding you why you’re here. Our main target tonight is Melkweg for 20 Years of Planet E and all the techno delights of Carl ‘C2’ Craig and co. On the way to check out the venue by day (when not moonlighting at a nightclub, Melkweg is mainly known as a theatre) we’re accosted by an enthusiastic Scottish lad who tries to flog us tickets to a night at what looks like a pretty uninspiring bar. Glancing up at the sign above the door however reveals that tonight, Appollonia (aka Dyed Soundorom, Shonky & Dan Ghenacia), Anthony Collins, Seuil, Le Loup and Djebali will all be gracing this extremely understated venue with their presence.
This is our first experience of one of the many joys of Amsterdam while ADE is in town. As much as anyone working in A&R, licensing or any other area of the music industry will at time find it hard to walk anywhere within 500 yards of The Felix or Dylan without being accosted for a ‘quick chat’, it’s also pretty difficult to go anywhere in the centre without stumbling across a venue with a fairly hefty line-up. And if you’re here to talk about parties – something I’m happy to say is very much within my remit – then there’s no better place to be for one week every year.
Disco-nap now imminent...(four nights on the bounce has to be taken seriously, after all). Reports of how the first night went down will doubtless surface tomorrow.
The Defected In The House ADE party takes place at AIR on Friday 21st October - tickets are very close to selling out, but there are still a few available from the AIR website.
