The world's biggest club festival

Three hundred participants and 30 DJs in 3 clubs – that was the modest line-up of the first edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event. Fast forward 19 years and ADE is now the biggest club festival in the world, with 400,000 visitors and 2,000 DJs at 83 locations: from Paradiso, the Melkweg and Trouw to numerous unconventional locations such as a former mortuary, a one-time shipyard and a discarded dental clinic.

Conference, Playground & Festival

The heart of the Amsterdam Dance Event is the Conference, attended by some 4,500 professionals from the global dance industry. Divided into 7 themes, the Conference engages organizers, DJs, musicians, technicians and students in debate. Armin van Buuren will talk to music legend Jean-Michel Jarre, there will be a Q&A with the very young but successful Dutchman Martin Garrix, and co-organizer of the 1960s flower power Woodstock festival, Michael Lang, will discuss sustainability in the dance scene. For `non-industry` participants there is the ADE Playground with talk shows and discussions with Junkie XL and Boy George, master classes, movie screenings and pop-up performances at 25 hotspots, such as art galleries, clothing stores and rooftop patios. But the majority of the crowd – around 400,000 visitors – comes to party. From modern disco and electro to house, techno, trance, acid, hip hop and drum 'n' bass: all music styles are represented at ADE – as long as you can dance to it!

The NDSM-Werf is a fabulous festival locationThe NDSM-Werf is a fabulous festival location

Festivals within the festival

Several famous festivals have become a fixture of the ADE programme. Dekmantel packs the Westergasfabriekterrein for 4 nights with Carl Craig and Joy Orbison, the 4-night HYTE takes place at the Elementenstraat with Laurent Garnier and Ricardo Villalobos, Loveland draws revellers for 3 nights to the Mediahaven with Dominik Eulberg and Deep Dish, and DGTL brings German label Kompakt and minimal king Gui Boratto to the Scheepsbouwloods shipyard at the NDSM-Werf. The Hard Dance Event at the Heineken Music Hall, featuring dance with a BPM over 130, is a festival inside the festival, just as the Amsterdam Music Festival in the Amsterdam ArenA, which hosts the election of the world's best DJ for 2014.

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