As the Ibiza season comes to a close, music makes it’s yearly migration across the Balearic to the canals of the Amstel for Amsterdam Dance Event, which brings over 400,000 visitors and 2,500 artists playing over 1,000 events in 200 locations for 5 magical days and nights.
This year, label bosses Lee Burridge and Eelke Kleijn have teamed up to create a unique clubbing experience by curating a two-room day party, split between their respective brands to form All Day I Dream of Days Like Nights.
Diverse party locations are a considerable part of what makes ADE so special. This could be anything from old industrial buildings, schools to cranes towering fifty meters above the city to Centraal Station itself – Amsterdam delivers, and this party was no exception. Transformatorhuis, formerly an old producing plant for water gas and neighbour to Gashouder was the adopted home for the day. More feeling like an old church than an industrial building, the sun beamed through the tall, narrow windows and onto the spacious dance floor as Sébastien Léger started to play.
Sébastien’s early energy was infectious and soon filled the high wooden ceilings with sounds of his new All Day I Dream EP, ‘Underwater Rocket’. As the room started to fill, the energy continued to build, gathering cheer and appreciation with each splendid transition that was made. Seth Schwarz & Be Svenden’s summer anthem ‘The Bar Tender’ gave considerable groove and nostalgic details, that was met with raised hands and gratification as Léger showed no signs of slowing down soon. As he progressed, it was clear that Sébastien was enjoying himself underneath the familiar flora, as this mirrored the music he played with stand out track ‘Lost Miracle’ once again adding oomph to an already vitalic set, to the enjoyment of the party people.
When Lee Burridge made his way behind the booth, Léger was greeted with big hugs, dancing and perhaps a small telling off that the energy of the set was too high, proven when Lee began his and failed to match the pace of Sébastien’s. Although gradually evolving, it was time to see what Eelke and his party had to offer.
You’d be mistaken to think that both parties would comparable to each other, as a short walk up the stairs provided a completely opposite vibe with Days Like Nights opting for a deeper, cooler impression – matched by a refreshing temperature and blue hues radiating from the stained windows. Playing was Chaim, who connected with the room through a tougher approach with tracks like, dOP ‘Your Sex’ and Marlon D’s ‘Jesus Creates Sound’ that provided a welcome alternative, through a respectable sound system that reached all corners of the departed transformer workshop.
As the sounds of Chaim warmed up nicely, Dominik Eulberg took his place behind the decks to begin his journey underneath the blue shimmer of the Westerunie room. Starting progressively, the music was naturally of what you expect from him, with lush melodies and beautifully evolving synth work with pulsating tracks such as Mano Le Tough’s ‘An Hour In The Morning’, before Eulberg mistakenly misread the energy of the room and broke the spell that his earlier magic had cast upon the floor. With a large number of the crowd in agreement, once again sadly clanged in his technique by mixing energy levels with mismatched efficacy.
Dutch curator Eelke Kleijn was up next with a solid opener in the form of Jamie Coins ‘If You Love (Simon Vitullo Remix) to reconnect with the basis of the party, soon followed by the gliding bassline and rubbery chord progressions of his own production, ‘The Calling’ which instilled movement back into the room. Deeper into his set, blinking synth work surfaces amongst a chorus of ghostly voices, almost if emerging through the depths of blue as ‘Underwater’ by RÜFÜS DU SOL drops to uncover the haunting emotionalism behind the track. Amongst other skilled selections, brand-new release ‘Maschine 2.0’ took the journey into a darker tonality as the end of the celebrations approached – demonstrating Eelke’s capacity to conjure a wide spectrum of emotion through his sounds.
There’s air of positivity that surrounds the music of All Day I Dream parties, more so when joining forces with Days Like Nights – albeit, granted each individual party may have benefitted from a slight reshuffle of the lineup order to avoid dips in energy, but that shouldn’t take away from the accomplishment of quality music that was played.
Contrasting, yet complimenting – like night and day.
