This is a previously unpublished review of my experience at the 18th edition of Defqon.1. Posted here on April 13 2026, and backdated, it was originally intended for publication on the Hard News website as my first contribution to their writers’ pool, at the request of their editorial team. However, after submitting the draft, I never heard back from them. It is now being shared here as a showcase of my past work and for archival purposes.
After a big absence prompted by the pandemic, the biggest gathering of the harder styles of dance music is back – Defqon.1 turned the Walibi Holland into the mecca of Hard Dance again, and we couldn’t miss it in any way.
Q-dance has been promoting the Defqon.1 concept since 2003, growing it year by year, and making it bigger and better. From a one day festival, Defqon.1 eventually moved from its original venue at the Almeerderstrand to the Walibi Holland, where it is held now, which allowed for a 2 day festival with camping, which turned into 3 days in 2012, up until 2019. This year was another milestone in this festival’s growth, with the long rumored 4th day being added, turning up the excitement for it a notch higher – after all, it is not every year that a major change like this happens.
With this change, The Gathering was held on a Thursday instead, and started and ended earlier (but taking the same 5 hours as it did in 2019). As I approached the venue, the BLACK was already pumping in a quite audible way – both with the sound system and the crowd gasping in awe to Partyraiser’s insane kicks. Getting in was considerably easier and quicker than in 2019 – the only positive thing of having arrived shortly after the start due to a flight delay for me.
After entering quickly, it was time to head over to the BLUE where D-Block & S-te-Fan were playing… Only to not be able to see them at all! The environment was extremely smoky, which I attributed at first to the heat that was felt inside and to the new tent design not being able to accommodate for as much condensation as the old one. That ended up not being the case and was more likely related to the pyro that was used inside the tent!
After that, and given we had an extra day to explore the festival, it was time to play a bit of tourist – checking out the decoration and all the beautiful elements that Q-dance scattered throughout the venue. It was clear that this year Q-dance put an extra effort in making the venue more inviting for exploration… The diversity of scrap monsters was definitely there, more than in 2019!
After that it was time for something new – visiting the INDIGO during The Gathering! For the first time, this stage was open during this period, a very wise decision from Q-dance, helping keep things varied during a time that’s known for having only the BLUE and the BLACK opened. This, however, did not help alleviate the crowd at the two other stages, which is perfectly ok anyways – if you’re on The Gathering, expect it to be crowded and difficult to get a good place on either the BLUE or the BLACK. Physika did the honors of opening the show on the INDIGO.
Other acts worth mentioning were Miss K8 – who always puts on a good show, no exception – and Cryex playing a smashing set at the INDIGO, with amazing edits of his hits Buried Alive and his Gangster For Life Remix.
The night ended with Adaro and D-Sturb at the BLUE, followed by The Tribute – a small but powerful show that started in 2019, held in the UV stage, honoring a classic track. After last edition’s sword-like stage honoring Blademasterz, it was time to pay homage to Frontliner’s iconic Weekend Warriors anthem from the 2013 edition of the festival, at a UV stage that was made as a smaller (but not less impressive) replica of the 2019 RED stage. Yet again, this year, Q-dance put a great show here with a huge emphasis on the beautiful fireworks.
For those who are restless, the night continued with something new – a silent party hosted by the friendly faces from The Funky Cat!
On the following day it was time for Fresh Friday – the new full festival day. Friday used to be for The Gathering only, but upgrading it to a full festival day gave a chance to plan some really epic stuff for different stages. I’d highlight MAGENTA’s theme for that day – Raw Classics! That is where it all truly started in terms of Harder Styles for me, pretty much almost a decade and a half ago, so I was pretty excited with this.
The Premium fast lane had moved from the day before. While on the first day it was mixed with the camping entrance, on the 2nd it seemingly moved to the same place as in 2019, however it was not opened at my arrival (just before the stages opened) and the staff informed me it would only open at 1pm, which seemed quite strange. Luckily, the camping entrance wasn’t busy.
On this day I’d highlight Kronos, playing a very powerful set at the BLUE, Lip DJ waking the crowd up, and The Opening Ceremony at the RED, with Sefa putting on an energetic show the way only he knows how to.
I left mid way through, as I simply could not miss Haze & Abyss at the MAGENTA. This is a name that’s been in the history of Hardstyle almost since the start, and who even played some of my personal favorites, such as On The Go, Men of Steel, Fusion of Sound and Ctrl.Alt.Del. After that, there was still time to hear Amnesys play Refly, another personal favorite of mine, at the GOLD. Other acts worth mentioning were Jack of Sound and Deetox at the MAGENTA. Jack of Sound played a set full of his hits, which was really welcome. But Deetox takes the crown here, for clearly putting an insane effort in making a tracklist that’s not just comprised of the obvious hits (after all, she is the queen!).
I had to then hop over to the UV to see a bit of Geck-o, an artist I really admire, while Phuture Noize’s live act was being set up. As a big PN fan, I do not miss a single chance to see him, but this timeslot was really special, so I had to split in half, with the second half being at the BLUE for the Ode to Delete. It was good to see Q-dance going all out with the production here in terms of using the complex light system of the stage to its fullest. This show made me realize that the BLUE was more detailed and arguably more beautiful than in 2019. The moveable bars with the inflatable balls at each end on top of the stage moved independently, with an illuminated Defqon logo on the center making it look absolutely amazing. The “globe” around the DJ booth was a very special touch, with the backdrop of the stage making it look considerably bigger than in 2019. During this show, the light technicians left the light hovering over the DJ booth on, with it being symbolically empty… This brought tears to my eyes. The weekend warriors there gave it their all for the last time for our angel in the sky: Ryan will be missed by all of us.
After that, it was time to stock up for an insane klaplong session at the MAGENTA, with DJ Thera tearing it up to close the stage. As a long time Thera fan, I knew exactly what was in store for me with this set, but even then the artist managed to one up my expectations, killing my feet and legs right on the 2nd day! Bravo…
The party carried on with multiple options to go for – the Rough Recruits at the BLUE, silent parties at the MAGENTA, SILVER and The Funky Cat hosting. I opted for the BLUE, as I am a Roughstate fanboy, and was definitely not disappointed with the show and the artist’s mixing skills!
Day 3 is where things get interesting – your mind plays tricks on you! You instinctively think the 3rd is the last day, as usual, and you give everything you’ve got, but this time things were different… There’s one more day after that!
The day started with two very interesting concepts that really add up to the festival – the Warrior Workout and the Speedcore Dating, adding some variety to the activities available.
On this morning I’ve decided to play tourist mode again to save some energy and visited all corners I was yet to explore. This meant hopping between Thyron, Refuzion, Stomerz opening the RED (in front of a very excited Chilean community that had an amazing vibe!), Retrospect, Shockwave, A-Lusion with an epic set where he played hits such as Drummer Beat and Music In You, Wasted Mind, Degos & Re-Done, with their astonishing mixing skills, B-Front, The Purge with his new live act, as well as Phuture Noize, making me walk between the BLUE, RED, UV, PURPLE and the MAGENTA. The day finished with the unmissable Endshow, where Q-dance goes all out on lights, fireworks and new songs on the RED stage, with Brennan Heart & Wildstylez’s follow up to Lose My Mind stealing the show here for me due to its melody and emotional lyrics, combined with the lights from the RED. Once more, the afterparties here had something for everyone’s taste – ranging from the Scantraxx crew up to the The Funky Cat hosting at the Wasted Lands
Day 4 was one for the books, where it was noticeable that people were tired, but they were willing to give their last bit of energy. Acts I’d highlight here are Josh & Wesz, who delivered an energetic set filled to the brim with hits, as per their usual, Audiofreq bringing insane non stop kicks hammering the BLACK, Aversion who had a full INDIGO cheering for him and Evil Activities, a scene veteran that needs no introduction. Two very special mentions here – one for Anderex, the young talent that filled the PURPLE way beyond it’s limits with people, and Ran-D & Adaro and B-Front at the MAGENTA who did something similar, with people overflowing the stage, occupying the food court right in front and beyond, in a crowd so packed that made it impossible for me to break through it! Ending the day with a Headhunterz, Wildstylez and Noisecontrollers Legends set was great, as it made everyone re-live their timeless classics, with the Closing Ritual being an absolute feast to the eyes and soul as usual.
This year there was a stage swap on this day as well – however, this time, only the UV and BLACK arenas switched, with the BLUE staying where it was the whole weekend.
Overall I was extremely pleased with this year’s event! It was not without it’s shortcomings, tho.
Compared to 2019, Q-dance did seem to take the criticism from my review back then seriously – and had both the “premium gadget” and locker voucher ready for everyone arriving. However, the confusing situation with the Premium fast lanes is still an issue, luckily minimized by the very quick lines over at the normal camping entrance… But the bottom line is, separate fast lanes are essentially non-existent, which is a bummer due to it being a selling point. There was, however, a really big plus this year – all Premium decks had token machines!
The way the festival was laid out this year was also perhaps a bit worse than in 2019. Whereas in the past edition I barely recall stage bleeding, there were some bleeding points this year – especially on the MAGENTA stage (who, in turn, seemed to have the bass turned up a bit too much to compensate for the sound that sometimes came from the BLUE and the UV). The UV was really loud this year! And a bit too bassy towards the back (but way better mid way through it). Sound on the BLUE was absolutely on point as usual – however a bit low as the night approached, to cater for the decibel requirements that were perhaps set by the municipality due to the complaints Defqon.1 generates every year. The new tent didn’t seem to be any different from the old one, which certainly pleased those who gave some backlash online about it before the event started.
Honorable mention to the INDIGO, which seemed like the stage that sounded better out of all!
Everything else seemed appropriately laid out, namely the food courts, that were plenty and near stages, as well as some stages like the PURPLE, placed on Toofargonia, which invited people to explore the venue from top to bottom. As far as I could understand, there were never any big lines on the regular token machines – not sure if this is due to how they were placed or if there were more this year. And speaking of tokens, the general sentiment was that these were rather expensive this year, but that is something myself and everyone I spoke to was already expecting.
As usual, food was amazing for festival standards, and Premium bathrooms were kept clean (however, some stalls did close a bit early on the last day, generating some lines). No lines noticeable on the Premium bars (except for RED’s Premium towards the end of the last day).
A big cheer to Q-dance for including many activities outside the stages and/or music sets – namely on Toofargonia, and the scavenger hunt, the Warrior Workout and the Speedcore Dating! Another cheer for Q-dance keeping the spirit of past stages with more outside the box stuff alive (such as the GREEN, WHITE and the BROWN) with stages like The Big Chill (who even had sets from Dr. Peacock and Sefa under different aliases, as well as Ilja Reiman himself) and The Funky Cat hosting… Maybe it’s time to revive the QULT concept? Only time will tell, but Q-dance does seem to want to follow a similar direction.
Another big plus for having a proper Q-dance app working for this year, with the lineup, a reservation system for merch so that you don’t lose time on a queue, as well as live notifications that may come in handy to try and avoid overcrowded food courts, for example. Nevertheless, I’d still like to browse the lineup like in 2019, so perhaps that’s something that can be integrated in the app.
And the big change… The 4th day! Is it worth it? In short, I’d say yes, definitely! The extra day did add an interesting dynamic to the festival. The way I see it, and given it is already hard to go 3 days at full speed, let alone a 4th, the extra day gives you an opportunity to be a tourist in a festival that doesn’t offer just a stage and music, it is a whole cultural experience. Taking time to roam around the Walibi visiting all stages and activities, just soaking up the experience, is something we’d recommend. Other than this, and if you aren’t active on your day to day, do get prepared beforehand for the extended weekend.
It remains to be seen if 3 day weekend tickets will still be a possibility, or if it was just an exception based off of the pandemic, and this transitioning period. My take is that Q-dance can perfectly just do away with the 3 day tickets entirely from now on.
In the end, and regardless of any shortcomings, Defqon.1 is the ultimate party destination to most of us. It is the place we truly call home, and it was a relief returning there after more than a thousand (!) days. There is something absolutely magical and dreamy about this event. You always feel at ease inside even if you’re alone. You know that you are surrounded by thousands of like minded souls that share this common interest with you. And you just let everything go. You lay down all your concerns at the door and you step into this world to just enjoy the music, have a cold one and meet with friends. Things like a Jenga game front and center on the dancefloor at the SILVER stage, a bouncing bus with a small club inside, or a Hardstyle yoga session don’t even feel strange – it’s just yet another of those quirky, small things that make up the Defqon.1 experience.
To add to all that, the weather was extremely cooperative, despite forecasting rain for almost the entirety of the weekend, and much better than the incessant heat from 2019.
This event has been my dream for more than a decade. As the years and editions passed, and with how magical every edition is, Q-dance managed to keep this dream alive, for me, and for thousands of others.
On to next year!
