During the last weekend of August, I had the honor and the pleasure of attending my first edition of Decibel Outdoor. Last year, after 5 editions of Defqon.1, I’ve decided to expand my horizons and try something new. Having followed the harder styles for around 15 years, b2s events were obviously something I paid attention to, and Decibel was one I’ve always wanted to attend. So together with some friends, we decided to go all out with a weekend ticket and a very fancy accommodation option at the Beekse Bergen.
Day 1
The first day started in the early afternoon, with catching the shuttle bus to the premises. Coming out of Tilburg Centraal, it was easy enough to find the pickup point for the shuttles by following the signs, and we barely had to wait for the next shuttles. The shuttle took us near the south entrance of the festival, passing by the Beekse Bergen without stopping, which meant we had to walk, suitcases in hand, up north to the accomodation entrance. While it was a short, 10 minute walk, the muddy ground didn’t make it very pleasant, especially when we could’ve just been dropped off on the way to the south entrance. Upon arriving, we were greeted by staff, who told us that if we had accommodation booked there, we could just come right in. Assuming we’d be given bracelets closer to the festival entrance, and not at the accommodation, we went ahead and settled into our rooms, which were ready before the announced 4pm check-in time. We were very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the accommodation, with our group of 7 being assigned two connected soundproof rooms with very comfortable beds. The rooms were spacious, one had a nice living room with a big couch, both had porches overlooking the animal park, and one even had a sauna…
Once ready to head over to the venue, we left our rooms and saw a huge line of people near Beekse Bergen’s entrance. We wondered if they were now distributing bracelets there and we went to check… Which was exactly the case. We stood in line for a short while, disappointed with having been initially misled by the staff telling us to just go straight to our rooms, but we eventually spoke to the staff explaining our situation, and they escalated it. Someone else from b2s came over and very kindly acknowledged that it wasn’t fair we now had to wait in line after having arrived first, gave us our bracelets, and in under 5 minutes we were on our way. The walk from the accommodations to the venue is short, around 15 minutes, with the Safari and Lake portions of the Beekse Bergen being connected internally through a path with a tunnel that goes under the road that splits both areas. Once through that path, the actual venue is just around the corner, and as we entered, we noticed security is quite strict, searching pretty much everyone.
For me the day started on one of the first stages right next to the south entrance – Sound of Decibel, where, from what I understood, all artists are invited to either do a classics set or a set mixing old and new. Pavo was already playing and he never disappoints! Always a must watch for me. Right after that, a quick detour to the “rave tunnel”-styled stage right beside Sound of Decibel, where T-Go was playing a fast-paced, no-holds-barred set, full of energy. My time there was brief, heading right next to the so-called “Hard Techno” stage for a set that didn’t have a single Hard Techno track, and was full ‘raw’ Hardstyle power from top to bottom – Kruelty! This is an artist that’s been in high demand in other scenes, so it is great to see him perform at what’s probably the highest point of the group’s career to the crowd that’s made the Kruelty brand what it is today. Up next was the meet and greet with Brennan Heart, who unfortunately couldn’t make it (I guess he was… Running Late!).
After a wonderful showcase of sharp kicks and ear-shattering screeches at Kruelty and an unfortunate mishap on the meet and greet, it was time to stop for a quick bite before what was, for me, one of the best sets of the weekend – Brennan Heart himself at the Sound of Decibel stage! Fabian did a wonderful mix of old and new, with the highlights for me being an edit of his 2009 Decibel anthem (which was THE track that kept popping on my head in the days leading up to the event, for some reason), with one of his modern, crunchy kicks, a modernized version of his well-known Hard Bass tool with the melody from Jordan & Baker’s Trance anthem Explode, and his out-of-the-box remix of the Hardcore classic Still Nr.1.
At this point, my legs were shot from the action at Fabian’s set. I turned to the “tunnel rave” stage again for Noxa, a young lady that’s proven her place in the Hardcore classics scene since she was just a teenager. It is wonderful to see such young people keeping the true classics alive… This didn’t last long, however, because it was time to check out Phuture Noize at the main stage.
After that, it was time for a quick detour to check out Dark Entities’ set… This was an odd one for me, as I was really looking forward to seeing them, but left early because I’m generally against pre-recorded sets (unless they’re endshows or specific show moments that require sound, lights and pyro to be synced). I think those guys are talented enough to be able to DJ for their fans without needing to pre-record their sets. To add insult to injury, they were performing on the Cyber Grove, the stage where there’s a balcony behind the booth that allows one to see everything the DJ’s are (or aren’t) doing – it seemed obvious to me since the moment they pushed play that something wasn’t right with that set, with only the 2 CDJ’s on the left being used, and both playing a file that “never” ended. On top of all this, the performance was billed as a live act, but there wasn’t a single live component beyond the artists showing up (similar to most, if not all live acts currently on our scene, something I’ve been arguing about for years… but maybe that’ll be a story for another day).
Day 1 ended here for me. It’s a shame I missed Element at the afterparties, but there were 2 more days jam packed with action, and I wanted to keep my energy levels high for the whole weekend…
Day 2
The 2nd day started with Jay Reeve’s set at the “beach” stage over at the camping grounds. Heading in the opposite direction of the festival grounds seemed weird at first, until I started hearing the beats on the background. I had a wonderful time there – amazing music, with a mix of both old and new, great weather and views. During the set I had a wonderful chat with Zelecter, whom I found in the crowd, and heard Julien play two favorites of mine: TCC’s The Reason and Robot’s Dream, a lesser known Scantraxx Reloaded B-side which is a collaboration between Headhunterz & Noisecontrollers from 2010. After the set, I had a wonderful talk with Julien, who mentioned he hadn’t played The Reason in 4 years (looks like he almost guessed I’d be in the crowd!). I thanked him for being the one that’s pushing the melodic sounds forward, to which he humbly replied “we’re doing it all together”. An absolute gentleman!
After that I stood aside, watching Demi Kanon’s set from the shade. I wasn’t expecting much out of his set, but he tore the place down! Super energetic set that got the crowd truly ready for the full festival day ahead. I left a few minutes early so I could be first in line at the south gates, which proved worthwhile, especially given the opening was delayed by ~15 minutes for reasons I didn’t really understand – once I was able to get past the strict security, the grounds were almost empty. There’s something very special and relaxing to be amongst the first to enter and see the grounds with barely anyone. Sometimes it looks like it’s just you and the stage…
As I proceeded down to the mainstage, with this wonderful feeling of freedom coming down on me, I started hearing Geck-o’s eclectic tracklist choices. I stayed for a while, just enjoying the early afternoon vibes, meeting a couple of friends before heading for lunch right after. I needed energy for what was coming next – Josh & Wesz at the classics stage! This is one of those unmissable acts for me, and oh boy, did they deliver! A very Italian classics oriented set, with their own hits scattered in between (including a cheeky edit mashing up vocals from all of their tracks), and even a few of their earliest, lesser known releases contributed to an hour well spent, conducted by MC Renegade. The place was full, the crowd was one of the best I’ve seen all weekend, and this was certainly one of my highlights from Decibel. The only bad part was that the sound seemed a bit on the quiet side, and I had to find a place in the center, almost up front, to get good sound.
After that was done, it was time for a quick detour to the Future District to see Erabreak. This stage was some sort of reception area in between what was the Hardstyle Classics stage on that day and the Bar Le Duc sponsored stage, and you could easily miss it… the inside was an almost bunker-like space with concrete walls that had a small DJ booth and a capacity of something like 30 people… I had to squeeze in to enter and the heat was unbearable, so I stayed just a very short while, but as expected, Julian was tearing the place down, and even had yet another strong upcoming talent, Lalou, in the crowd supporting him.
I couldn’t resist going back to the classics stage just to hear some OZ classics with Audiofreq behind the decks, who was playing a set that I’d place somewhere in between 2014 and 2016. This didn’t last long, as I needed to go across the venue over to the big tent near the north entrance hosting the Raw stage for that day, stopping by for a quick snack and bathroom break on the way up. The WC area next to the food court behind the main stage was an issue – super crowded all weekend, and clearly needed more capacity, whereas the one near the Cyber Grove had pretty short lines and much better conditions (it even had soap to wash one’s hands). I still had time to see Cryex (I missed half his set at Defqon.1, sadly) who put on a wonderful show with the tracks from his latest album. As he approached the end of his performance, all hell broke loose outside the tent, with the skies tearing open and unloading one of the biggest downpours of the weekend. The crowds stormed into the tent, and we felt like sardines being crushed in a tin can, not able to enjoy Regain & Nightcraft’s performance. My friends and I eventually caved in and faced the reality that at that point it was better to face the rain and the absolute mud pit the grounds have turned into than not being able to move and enjoy the set, and so we ventured out.
I ran back south to the Cyber Grove for another set I didn’t want to miss – Ruffneck. Pure old-school vibes, massive energy, with the man himself being the friendly character he always is behind the decks, often enjoying the proximity with the crowd in the balcony behind him to make eye contact with someone just before the beat dropped, as if he was saying “time to turn it up a notch, shall we?”. His tracklist went far beyond my musical knowledge and I couldn’t ID most of the really underground, old-school records he’d dug up, but witnessing his set felt like watching a work of fine art unfolding in front of my eyes.
After that was done, it was back to the stage hosting Hardstyle Classics on that day for the 2nd half of Pontuz’s set. I watched it from the balcony at the back of the stage, and it was impressive to see a full house with the whole crowd going off on melodic classics. The sound was absolutely on point by then, which made me realize that Wasted Penguinz classics like I Love You and Evergreen have aged remarkably well, sounding amazing even in this day and age.
My feet were toast at this point, so I met friends for dinner, and one of them invited me to catch some Tripped & Starving Insect, which I obviously said yes to. Pounding and unrelenting Industrial beats were on the menu at the “rave tunnel” stage on this day, keeping the actual Industrial (Hardcore) alive, in a day and age where the term “Industrial” is misused and butchered every single day…
After that was said and done, bathroom breaks were in order so that we could get ready for the endshow later that night. Not having a premium ticket this time around and worrying I wouldn’t be able to get a good place up front for the show, I met some of my friends to stay at the main for Gunz For Hire, Panic & Neophyte and the Endshow, only to realise later, when the rest of our group joined us, that getting to where we were wasn’t actually impossible. The Gunz For Hire set was ok for me, a great show for sure, but I think I’ve seen them enough at this point after so many years. Panic & Neophyte were an absolute surprise, they tore the place down with a great tracklist, good mixing, and even a nice modern rework of Always Hardcore, and a new old-school flavored collab between Panic and none other than… Adaro! Unexpected to say the least!
The day ended with the much-awaited endshow. It started with an amazing track I hadn’t heard in a while, which was a superb surprise – B-Freqz’s Waves, signalled the first element of Nature’s Rhythm (this year’s theme). Fire followed with an obvious choice – the crowd-pleaser Fire by Phuture Noize! From that point onwards, it seems that the nature theme kind of got lost, but nevertheless the show continued with what was a superb display of lighting in sync with the massive screens adorning the stage. What was considerably underwhelming were the fireworks, which in my opinion were subpar… I’d say even St. John’s festivities in my hometown of Porto have equally good or even better fireworks, to be honest! Nevertheless, I left the main happy, and it wasn’t hard to move through the crowds afterwards, unlike at Defqon.1.
Day 3
The third and last day was a day for sleeping in… Turns out that traversing the Beekse Bergen is slightly harder than the Walibi, so my legs appreciated some rest instead of starting in the late morning with Digital Punk, who I had saved in my favorites of the lineup, but eventually skipped, having seen him a couple times before.
My friends and I got upfront at the line, which opened in a timely manner this time around, with even stricter security than the day before (I was searched everywhere, my bag got turned upside down, with security even checking whether my GoPro was functional or had something hidden inside! Crazy). This considerably delayed us getting to Cardination, but we eventually made it, and it was a fun set, including a funny “can-can” moment midway through, with the classical piece being imbued with a crazy assortment of kicks. However, what was otherwise a good set was interrupted by a small mishap with the equipment (Fabio probably clicked play or cue on the wrong CDJ) and weird “slowtempo” moments, including a terrible “slowtempo” edit of Scrap Attack that completely botched the track, in my opinion.
Up next was lunch and yet another unmissable act of mine – Degos & Re-Done! I was able to bring most of my crew for this set, which made me quite happy, and we were taken on a journey of impeccable mixing, a superb track selection with classics such as Feedback and the live edit of Outside The Box, as well as a couple of surprises like Noisecontrollers’ Down Down, and MYST’s Before You Go. Oh, and of course, they played their bootleg of Hele Meneer! The stage was probably at about half capacity, which was disappointing to see, altough the extra space to dance was welcome.
I stayed a bit for Adaro afterwards, however he started his set with Strong… a track from 2020, and moved onwards with tracks that I felt were a bit too recent for a Raw Classics set, so I eventually left. I had to get a snack, so that I could head over to the Millenium stage, but first I stopped to check out Bruhze a bit. In Portuguese, we have a saying that is “filho de peixe sabe nadar”, which roughly translates to “a fish’s son will certainly know how to swim” and that is exactly the case with this young man, inheriting the fast paced, old school Terror genes.
But then came the time for yet another unmissable set – Art of Fighters! It was actually my first time seeing this act, who is nowadays a solo act, and I couldn’t have been happier listening to this Italian legend play what was essentially a new set, that included many recent tracks carrying the old millennium sound, a revivalism wave that particularly appeals to me.
At this point, my legs were shot and I had to stop. I miraculously found a free hammock in front of the Hardcore stage with a view of Nosferatu & Tha Playah who played pretty much only classics for that first half of the set, including tracks like Still Nr.1 and one of my all time favorites – Lack of Existence!
At this point I needed to refuel – so off to the food court behind the main to meet some friends, and the walk back to the Millennium stage (with a very small stop to see what Drokz was up to), in order to watch Ophidian. I try to see him at every festival I go to, but to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen him solo. It’s always with Ruffneck or TOA, as The Silence, or with Furyan like last year at Defqon.1. So seeing him alone behind the decks was quite refreshing, and to be honest, it was probably one of the best sets I’ve ever seen from him, heightened by the fact I could see him from behind, in the Cyber Grove’s balcony, which just like Ruffneck’s set, was akin to seeing a work of art unfolding in front of you. The Viper’s Remix of The Middle Children was, for some reason, the highlight for me – that damn track doesn’t get old and works every single time it drops…
As far as I’m concerned, if Decibel had ended right there and then, I would have been one very happy rookie. For those last couple of hours, I basically roamed the venue slowly, absorbing those last bits of energy as I walked towards the main. I stayed there for Rejecta, who wasn’t particularly great (his visuals were… odd, to put it mildly), but since I had missed him playing Angels In The Sky at Defqon, I wasn’t going to miss that again now that I had the chance to see him… And he delivered on what is a very meaningful and special track to me. The event finished with the Savage Sunday endshow which, to be honest, wasn’t much different from the previous day – good track selection, amazing visuals, but poor pyro.
Overall
In general, I really liked Decibel, and trying something new this year. It also turned out to be very timely of me to decide to do 2 major festivals for the first time ever this year. As a friend of mine put it, Decibel was “supposed to be an add-on”, but it “made for an interesting substitute“, and that summed up my thoughts about it pretty well. Little did we know that a calamity would strike Defqon.1 – having Decibel lined up was the saving grace of what is still overall a fairly poor festival season. And speaking of that, the weather during that weekend was good, especially on Sunday. The rain was troublesome at times and left the venue looking like a swamp, but overall I’ll take the cloudy days that helped keep temperatures down. Nights weren’t too cold either.
Comparatively speaking, Decibel tickets are about 2/3rd’s of Defqon.1 tickets (and I don’t even want to calculate the prices for hotels between the two, as I’d likely have a heart attack doing so), and I can tell you that you both get what you pay for, and that the value for money for these tickets is unbeatable, especially compared with Defqon.1.
Let’s start at the beginning: conditions at the Beekse Bergen Safari Hotel are out of this world. As a party of 7, we booked a Savanne Suite for just over 700€ per person (this includes a normal weekend ticket and breakfast), and we were given what were essentially 2 connected rooms, one with a double bedroom with a view and a triple room with a bunk bed, and another with a double room and a living room, both with porches overlooking the “savanna” right in front. Breakfast had almost anything you could imagine, from sweet to savory, and even some lunch dishes.
The walk to the festival is a short one, through the forested surroundings, so it is doable even in hot weather. I saw no premium fastlanes at these entrances, and if security is like this every year, make sure you are right in front of the line to enter every day if you want to get in in a timely manner.
The venue itself is essentially a 800m+ strip that is slightly harder to traverse than the Walibi, for those who know it. While all stages are close together, they still somehow feel far apart – perhaps Walibi’s essentially an L-shaped layout helps in keeping distances between stages shorter. I also feel the terrain at Beekse Bergen varies slightly in height whereas the Walibi is completely flat.
From what I saw, all stages were equipped with L-Acoustics, even the smaller ones. Whereas some smaller stages at Defqon.1 get other kinds of sound equipment, such as JBL Pro gear, it seems b2s treats all stages the same way sound-wise, which was good to see. Sound was great in most stages, and I don’t think Decibel has the same sound restrictions as Defqon.1, and the volume seemed more or less consistent all day in all stages. I do wish, however, that the tent near the north entrance had a relay towards the back (sound was noticeably lower there). There were also some issues early Saturday on the stage that hosted the Hardstyle Classics – sound was a little lacking in power (not quality), but that was eventually fixed. There were also issues with the “rave tunnel” stage all weekend – it suffered from considerable sound bleed from the stage right next to it most weekend, sadly. In short, Decibel gets a pass on sound, both in power and quality. As for the hearsay/rumor that Decibel is the loudest festival, that’s certainly debunked for me, and I now take it that that perception stems from their marketing only.
Stage design was good. While overall simpler than Defqon.1, stages at Decibel were impressive, especially in their use of screens and lighting. However, stages were noticeably more two-dimensional, making use of a ton of textile panels as backdrops instead of actual materials like at Defqon.1.
Food courts were superb for festival standards, with more or less the same food you’d expect at Defqon.1, and with some food trucks being exactly the same as they are there. Many menus were in Dutch only, which is quite revealing of the crowd they are expecting there. It was also great to be able to pay directly by card, which was a first for Decibel this year – days of carrying tokens seem to be gone at major Dutch festivals, and to be honest I don’t miss those at all. Food prices are more or less what you’d come to expect at other festivals, and there were no major queues (although I do tend to avoid usual lunch/dinner hours).
Chill/rest areas were few and considerably far apart, but it wasn’t too difficult to find seating, which I attribute mostly to pure luck.
As for the Decibel app, I have mixed feelings – it was very helpful for consulting the venue’s map and keeping track of how the stages rotated from day to day, but very poor in what regards consulting the timetables (which, if I may say so, my app YATTA did much better).
Speaking of crowds, I’ve been told many times that the atmosphere at Decibel was better than at Defqon.1, precisely because there are more Dutchies, fewer “tourists”, and fewer phones in the air, but I’ve not had that impression at all. I think overall crowds are more energetic and engaged at Defqon.1, but I did see great crowds, especially at the Hardstyle Classics (Saturday) and Millennium (Sunday) stages. I was also told that Decibel would be more my kind of party because “there’s a big focus on classics” which I now generally disagree with as well. Classics programming is well balanced and roughly as extensive as it is at Defqon.1, and beyond Nosferatu & Tha Playah going crazy doing one half of their set with classics at the modern Hardcore stage, I didn’t see anyone try to push classics where they normally shouldn’t be.
WC’s were lacking in both in quantity and quality, however they were generally clean for festival standards. The “main” WC next to the food court behind the mainstage needs to be bigger, or there needs to be another one further north, just next to the path that leads to the stages more towards the forest area. It also lacked soap to wash one’s hands with, like the ones next to the Garden Grove had (which are similar to the ones at Defqon.1). All WC’s had drinkable water and plenty of taps, which was great to see.
While security was stricter, I did see more drug use in crowds compared to Defqon.1. I also came across quite a few people being carried by or otherwise assisted by medical personnel. I did not feel endangered or seen any sort of abuse during the whole weekend. As always, I actually feel safer amidst crowds where drug use is more visible than heavy drinking. It is a stark contrast when I compare these crowds with the ones here in Portugal, where alcohol tends to be the substance of choice… As a disclaimer, I’ve nothing against drug use, when done in an informed way. Knowing that you can always put more stuff in, but that once in you cannot get it out is a good start. However alcohol does seem to usually be a bigger recipe for disaster in these environments, as proven by Portuguese crowds.
As for the Premium ticket, I cannot review its perks because I simply didn’t have one. You might find it weird I didn’t get one, but the reason I didn’t is simple – I couldn’t. While Q-dance allows you to mix and match ticket types across accomodation bookings, b2s doesn’t, and I can already see it’ll be the same for the upcoming year. Stays at the Beekse Bergen include either normal, or premium tickets for everyone in the booking. I had to choose between staying with my friends vs staying elsewhere and getting the Premium, and I opted for the first. Fortunately you seem to be able to mix and match them for camping stays, if you add the tickets you want to your cart separately from your tent (be careful not to buy duplicate tickets). I did miss the Premium perks considerably, and I am still of the opinion it’s somewhat of a dealbreaker not having it, but I’d never really stayed at the same place as my usual crew, and really wanted to have that experience, which was great!
Closing remarks
For my closing words, I’d like to say that this Decibel experience made me cherish Defqon.1 even more. Decibel is a great festival… but there are many good festivals out there. Defqon.1 is THE festival, the place to be. Not having had Defqon.1 this year will forever weigh on me one way or another. As for Decibel, I will eventually return… When? I don’t know, and that doesn’t bother me at all.
Decibel is an amazing experience for the raver that is very conscious of the value they get for the money they spend. If you are like that, you love the music and you’re just in it for a good time, you should’ve bought the already sold out discounted 25 year Decibel tickets. If you’re in it for a full experience that puts you where the harder styles are shaped into what they become, you can skip Decibel and race for the remaining ~15000 tickets that will be available in just over a month for Defqon.1.
I am aware of the subjectivity and bias involved in making such statements when comparing both festivals. But if you’re here, you probably want not only to know objectively how they stack up against each other, but also my personal impression of each… And this is exactly how I feel about both. But if you want to keep it objective, I’ll make it very simple for you – there’s a reason why Decibel is considerably cheaper. That shows in everything, from the small things, such as the poor textile quality of the bracelets, to the bigger ones, such as the lack of sound relays, or long bathroom queues.
