[FIVE MOMENTS]
“What DJs do you like?” “What kind of music do you listen to?” “Which Festivals do you go to?” Each question was a means of placing you in the pecking order of a cultural caste system.
[ONE] After a late breakfast Freddy took a quick shower and put on a black top and some jeans. Instead of his usual white shoes he threw on a pair of black hiking runners for extra support and stepped out of his apartment and onto his bike. He was heading to the ferry that would take him to the Festival grounds in Zaandam. It was much further than he’d normally go for a party so he felt a little apprehensive at first. The drudgery of a long week was threatening to keep him firmly horizontal on the couch, succumbing to binge watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race Global All-Stars or Only Murders in the Building. But now that his cold had finally started to dissipate after almost three weeks of bone chills and sinus headaches, he felt the urge to take his body to the dance floor.
The Ferry was almost thirty minutes away. Thankfully it was a mild day for late October and the wind was at his back, propelling him gently towards his destination. Other than one particular DJ he had an interest in seeing because of her Boiler Room set he’d watched on YouTube, Freddy had no sense of the other DJs at the Festival. Nowadays, there were just too many DJs to keep up with. “What DJs do you like?” “What kind of music do you listen to?” “Which Festivals do you go to?” Each question was a means of placing you in the pecking order of a cultural caste system.
“Oh you like him? Bro, he got canceled last year.”
“That Festival is for the yuppies. You should go to this one.”
“Wait you’ve never heard of so-and-so? Seriously?”
“Oh you like him. That’s cute. I used to like him.”
A few years ago at ADE, Freddy told someone he was going to see Solomun and the guy gave an involuntary shudder. Freddy couldn’t understand why there was such a visceral reaction. Ultimately he didn't give a fuck. That night Solomun gave an extraordinary set and the experience was epic (minus the Italian girl who glared at him for accidentally spilling beer on her.)
The truth was Freddy didn’t care so much about DJs anymore. As cringe as it sounded, he was more interested in what the DJs were playing and if it moved him. But what if the music failed to do that?
[TWO] I’m beyond tired but it’s nothing I can’t handle. You think I’m new to this? Girl, please. Landed this morning and the Uber took me to the hotel. Midday lunch with the team. Some cute place. What was it called again? Can’t remember but the Bloody Mary hit the spot. DMs on socials were blowing up for guestlist but I don’t handle that shit except for my closest friends. (Leslie, can you get me another Bloody Mary? Can you also put Sanne on the list? There’s a list right?) It’s an early set which means hardly anyone will be there. Plus Leslie, says the location is a bit outside of Amsterdam. Where is it again Leslie? Zaandam? Whatever. No I’m excited, I am. I’m just … tired. I’ve got my setlist. I’m ready to go. You do this long enough that you know every opportunity is a gift. I mean look at me: I’m a Fashion Marketing drop out from Florida who somehow managed to turn DJing into a full time gig in four years. Now I get to travel the world for a living. Do I wish I had my set time at peak hours? Duh, of course. But you know what, at the end of the day it doesn’t fucking matter. I get the same high from DJing in front of thousands of people than I do with twelve of my mates at my apartment. Plus the stress threshold is way lower doing an opening slot at a Festival. I can basically play whatever the fuck I want.
Here I am at the gig. The stage is roomy and the dance area is huge. I think I count maybe thirty people (max) sprinkled around. Set up is good. They have a huge table with two exact DJ setups. That means while x is finishing up his set I get to put my USB stick into the other decks and get myself situated. The whole table is on wheels too. The production team is moving the whole table to the left so that my side of the table is now in the centre of the stage. Sick. I’m not going to do anything crazy. I’ve been tweaking this setlist for a few weeks. There’s some tracks in there that work well so I’m keeping those transitions. But I might as well try a few new releases. See how they sound in a big space. I’ll be happy if I get those group of girlies I saw by the bar dancing near the front. But I’m not stressed. I love Amsterdam. Everyone is down to dance and party. They know how to have a good time here. It’s only an hour and a half but there’s a lot I can do in that time. Feeling that good buzz from the drinks. Leslie is coming to pick me up right after. Have to head back to the airport. If I catch that flight to London at nine I’ll have enough time to chill before my after hours set. I’ll grab a double espresso at Schipol. I’m so fucking tired. I love my job.
[THREE] Here’s the thing about a Festival in the Netherlands. A) They often start early. In order to adhere to city guidelines an outdoor event usually starts midday and ends around eleven-thirty at night. This ensures that the surrounding neighbourhoods don’t have too much noise pollution to contend with and every gets to go home at a reasonable time and still have some brain cells left for the following day without feeling too guilty about it. It also means that the headlining DJ usually goes on at ten pm which is amazing if you’d rather not stay up till six in the morning to hear your favourite DJ at a rave. B) Everything you think you might want at a Festival, they will most likely have it. There are lockers for your clothes and bags. There are plenty of areas with bathrooms and water to wash your hands or refill your empty bottle. Some Festivals will have sunscreen available or mirrors so you can check your fit. Are you hungry? Most Festivals in the Netherlands will have food trucks with a variety of food available. (Freddy goes to the food truck that’s selling both cheeseburgers and meatless burgers. He wants to know if the cute, blonde Dutch boys inside the truck can make his cheeseburger zonder augurk. Oh, spreek je Nederlands? Ik proberen. I’m trying. It takes two minutes to assemble his juicy burger. Eet smakkelijk, the one guy says, handing Freddy the burger with a wink). C) There are old people at Festivals. There are old people at raves in Europe period. Freddy sees the couple in the corner at the main tent, both of them probably in their early sixties. The man’s hair is grey and he’s wearing a black leather vest and black leather shorts exposing his legs. The woman beside him is in a black sports tank top wearing a pair of black butterfly wings. They’re both in reflective sunglasses and smiling as they bounce jauntily to the beat. Freddy feels embarrassed that he finds this amazing. It’s the internalized ageism that he detests. Why shouldn’t they be here? It feels like such a North American construct to think that just because you love techno as a young person that suddenly a switch turns off once you hit thirty-five and you never go out again. He knows what he’s observing is a kind of love. Their presence gives him hope that techno is truly for everyone and at any age. To be alive needs to be celebrated. The old couple are not an anomaly but one of many. Groups of men and women in their fifties, old enough to have kids at home or kids at college, all here to dance, to drink beers and be with their friends. Freddy is amazed. He looks at them and wonders about his future.
[FOUR] Surprise me. This is what you love about raves and festivals. You’re waiting for the unexpected. You’re waiting for those moments. Like this moment: when the DJ you came to see doesn’t really do it for you so you wander to another warehouse space to find a room where the DJ is playing a premium collection of House music. Yes, this is the room. After your burger you wander back to the main tent but you’re still not feeling it so you walk back to the other room where another DJ has taken over. In her mix she transitions to Kylie Minogue’s ‘Love At First Sight’ and plays the entire track, adding in a beefier bass drum to give it some punch. Suddenly, you are singing the entire song with the strangers who are smiling around you. And this moment: that throughout the night, a half a dozen cute guys come up to you to shake your hand and say hello and then you never see them again. This moment: you’re smiling at a group of four guys who are clearly mates and vibing together. You develop a sweet spot for them because you’re enjoying the way they are listening to the music. They do what you do: pick out interesting sounds and melodies and dance them out to each other. At one moment the bass goes so deep they pretend to have a slow motion kung fu fight which makes you laugh inside. This moment: when a DJ transitions from Bass House, to UK Garage and then into some Drum ‘N Bass and you’re getting so pumped because you can’t remember the last time you heard Drum ‘N Bass on a loud sound system at a rave. Another moment: when you end up at the main tent where the crowd has finally gotten bigger and the DJ has the crowd in the palm of her hand. She doesn’t go BRAT (that would be too obvious) but decides to play a hard techno version of ‘I Love It’. The guy beside you only catches on when you start mouthing the words to him and suddenly he’s smiling and singing too. Then the beat drops and away we go! The group of guys you were crushing on before somehow are beside you now and for a moment you’re all smiling and dancing together. This is the moment. You’re here. You’re the moment.
[FIVE] Waiting for the ferry that arrives in fifteen minutes. To his right Freddy can see the sun slowly setting. In ear shot there’s a woman dressed in black waiting alongside her bike. She’s on her phone:
(dead pan voice with a slight vocal fry)
Hey how are you? What do you mean we literally talked, like three days ago. I’m so sick right now. I’m the walking dead. I’ve been standing for like eight hours, I’m so done. And I still have to go out tonight. I’m so fucked. I have one day off but then I have nine days at the other job. I think I can do some days from home so I’m just gonna stay in bed. The sound was nothing special. Just some mainstream techno shit where the DJs were just doing basic drops and the crowd was eating it up.