The European Festival Experience

For many of us, it has always been a dream to attend a music festival in Europe. Tomorrowland, Ultra Croatia, Mysteryland…they call our names and peak our curiosity. Luckily, I finally had this opportunity this summer. Thanks to a summer job, I was able to stay in The Netherlands for two months, which for me, meant the chance of a lifetime: Dutch festivals.  I carefully chose to attend Extrema Outdoor Live, boasting a lineup with A-Trak, Major Lazer, Porter Robinson, Nicky Romero, Knife Party, Justice, Modestep, and many others.   Although the lineup was nothing short of perfection, I was more excited to see what a festival in The Netherlands was like, and how it differs from the ones we go to in The States based on three categories: atmosphere, people, and most importantly, the music.

Atmosphere

Extrema Outdoor, also known as XO Live, was held at a water park called “Aqua Best.”  A quick Google search showed me that in The Netherlands, a water park just means a giant lake, so I opted to leave the bikini at home.  The walk to the park took what felt like a lifetime.  Trekking through the surrounding forest, I followed the other people chatting away excitedly in Dutch until we reached the gate where I ran over to the VIP line. After I received my band, I checked my bag into a locker, the first thing that I noticed was different, and in a great way.  For only five euro, you could store all your belongings in a locker by the entrance, and upon returning the key, you would be given your money back! Brilliant! After stashing my bag in a locker, I ventured inside the actual park to get my first look at the festival.              

  The first thing I observed was the sheer size of the lake itself.  With only thirty minutes left of Julian Jordan’s set, I was faced with the decision to go left around the lake or go right.  I chose to go right, praying he would be there, as the walk back around would take too long, and I would miss his set.  This was a serious annoyance for the day: it could take up to thirty minutes to get from one stage to another, and with a stacked set, that presents problems. As I walked around the lake, I saw girls dressed as fairies painting faces, people lying in hammocks, and mountains of colorful, oversized pillows under tie-dyed cloth pavilions. There were endless food offerings: doner kebabs, tapas, pizza, and even something called a "dutch weed burger," a burger made out of 100% weed (seaweed that is!) All around me I saw piles of mattresses on hills overlooking the "beach," which was a manmade sand bank next to the freshwater lake.  I though this was an amazing touch.  There have been times at music festivals, especially the three day extravaganzas, where I would have killed to lay on a pillow or mattress near a stage where I could just enjoy the music effortlessly.  It gave the festival a much more laid back vibe, and an understated energy.  I continued my search for the boy genius, Julian Jordan. To my disappointment, I realized he was on the other side of the lake, and there was absolutely no way I could make it to his set in time, so I decided to check out the VIP area.


Here's the thing about VIP in Europe: it's actually worth buying. For only twenty euros extra, I was granted access to a private beach nightclub, with lounge chairs, a cocktail bar, private bathrooms, and hor d'ouevres catered by the country's top chefs! There were even MAC makeup artists giving free makeovers in booths to the side of the club, saving the ladies from a bad case of what I like to call "festival face."

  Aside from the painfully far walk from stage to stage, there was one other serious issue I encountered with XO Live, and that was the payment system. 

        Rather than paying cash for food, drinks, and souvenirs, guests were required to purchase chips that served as a substitute for currency.  The only fathomable reason to use this kind of payment is to make a bit more money off of the guests.  Chips were sold in set amounts: one, three, five, ten, twenty, and fifty. Chips could not be refunded, so whatever was left over at the end of the night was essentially garbage.  Another huge issue for me at least, was the complete absence of ATM machines at the festival. I came to the festival with only ten euro, and had to find out the hard way that my American debit cards do not work in the chip machines, leaving me with no money for food, no money for drinks, and a long day of dancing ahead of me. What a disaster.  Luckily, it wasn’t long before I met a group that took pity on me, and purchased me a water bottle, which brings me to the next category:

The People

            For me, the crowd and the people at XO Live created the biggest difference at the festival.  When I arrived, I instantly noticed that I was actually the most (or least) dressed up for the festival, donning a pair of high-waisted cheeky shorts and a bandeau studded with mirrors and decorative threading. The other attendees were dressed in jeans, tank tops, floor length dresses, and understated t-shirts.  There were no neon tanks, no RAGE hats, no fuzzy boots, or rave attire.   It was a breath of fresh air to see people dressed up as actual people, rather than wearing ridiculous tutus, and candi wristbands.  I quickly found myself in a group of Dutch bodybuilders and their girlfriends, ironically the closest in attire to what you would find in Miami: shirtless bros with gelled hair.  They were incredibly friendly and welcomed me, curious as to why I was completely alone at a festival.  

We joined the crowd for Nicky Romero, and I was shocked to see how sparse it was.  In Europe people are less aggressive and more mature.  I could walk right up to the front of the gate, and have room to dance up there without being pushed and stepped on!  When Nicky began playing I was surprised to see that I appeared to be the only person that knew any of the songs he dropped.  Even “Smells Like Teen Spirit” baffled the audience.  It was the biggest wake-up call of the experience for me.  In America, we all believe that Europeans live and breathe electronic music.  While it’s true they are raised on it, the truth is that they do not idolize it in the way that we do.  They do not criticize artists like we do.  They are there for the experience, and the joy of the festival.  I saw no girls begging to be noticed by DJs or making out with trees, and no guys pushing to get to the front for Skrillex, brah. They don’t care about what song is dropped, as long as the song is dropped. On that note, it’s time to discuss the meat of the festival:

The Music

            This is where I expected to find the greatest difference between the US scene and the European scene.  For years now, myself and others have written off boring, repetitive sets as “dumbed down for Americans,” and I expected to hear things I had never heard before: obscure songs, experimental drops, and different DJ styles.  What I found, however, was the equal commercialization of the music.  Each set was almost identical to the ones we hear at Ultra or in the nightclubs, which meant the bittersweet realization that while America is being taken seriously by the world and the music industry, the artists appear to be settling to make their music in predictable, albeit popular ways.  What the industry needs is a fresh reinvention of music, and artists willing to risk a few fans by stepping outside their comfort zones.  What we need are innovators.  Granted, A-Trak and Justice threw down exciting tracks, blended seamlessly and creatively, but that’s just their standard. 

 I was expecting so much more from others, like Nicky Romero, Porter Robinson, and Dada Life, but most of what they chose to play just sounded contrived and common. I was genuinely taken aback by the similarities between the sets they play in America compared to the ones they play in Europe, especially given the stark difference in audience.  I would like to mention that the people I was with tended to prefer the less original sets, and I found the same to be true during my recent visit to Ibiza, where I had trouble convincing my Swiss friends to choose Carl Cox and Nicole Moudaber at Space over Afrojack and David Guetta at Amnesia.  It seems as though the fans are almost a bit more generic than we are, however there is an understated beauty to their preferences, because unlike the trend in America, Europeans do not pretend to know anything and everything about house music or look down upon those who cannot wait to hear “Clarity” played at the club.  They are just happy to be there, and that’s the lesson I took from my experience with the European music scene.