DANCE VALLEY 2001 Review

Yo Mamma

August 4th 2001 was a day that 100,000 of Europes dance fans won't forget in a hurry - and for differing reasons. Dance Valley 2001 was the biggest event held to date at Amsterdam's Spaarnwoude Recreational Area, and promised to be one of the biggest showcases of dance music talent anywhere in Europe this summer.

The day kicked off with a few transport problems, the chaos of trying to get a bus at Amsterdam Sloterdijk station proving too much for many, with people to be found getting taxis (if they could, that is), cycling and even walking the 30 km journey...no problem there for us Irish lads who managed to do some splendid blagging and ended up on one of the first Coaches out to the gig!

On arrival though, we were greeted with an astonishing, immense festival site, with all the usual tents decorated and lit to a superb standard, and the main stage nestling in the 'valley', sound system pounding out an eclectic collection of quality house tunes.

Then, as night started to draw in, the superb light an laser show kicked off, filling the valley with an unbelieveable collection of dazzling effects, the soundtrack supplied by the ever-popular Carl Cox, his mixing of an outstanding quality and tune selection as awesome as ever. I never used to be a big Cox fan but after this I really had no choice ! Then, of course, the crowd-pleasing Orbital took to the stage to deliver their own style off Pumping tech House, or whatever ud call it, sending the crowd home with one of the biggest smiles ever seen on their faces.... all in, an awesome display of talent, showing why the dance scene is as popular as it is, and why, with its freshness and vitality, it will continue to grow and develop.

Alas, all good things come to an end, and for those who thought they'd had trouble getting to the site, the journey home was to prove to be far worse. As if on cue, what had so far been a totally dry day turned the corner with some huge rain storms, not what 100,000 people all trying to get home need. The plans for extra bus services put on by the orgaisers failed to materialise, and the intended 150 coaches due to ferry clubbers back to Amsterdam actually turned out to be nearer 30. Predictably, chaos ensued, with several thousand people attempting to walk back to Amsterdam, many requiring treatment for exhaustion and hypothermia en route, and requiring shelter in emergency shelters set up by police and fire departments. Once again we managed to Bull our way on to one of the very scarce coaches, this was a total jammy stroke but it was lucky for us coz it was LASHING down rain, I mean really lashing! What went wrong on the day is not clear, but clearly much, much more effort needs to be put into arranging safe, adequate transport for the thousands of party goers for whom Dance Valley is THE highlight in the annual clubbing calander.

Anyway, much discussion has taken place about the transport problems elsewhere so we wont re-tread that ground, save to say that next year we look forward to a MUCH improved situation. But concentrating on the festival itself, we were bowled over by the sheer scale and quality of the production, DJs, live acts and so on on display. Roll on 2002....

Some pics











See u all there next Year

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Never look here !!




[This message has been edited by Yo Mamma (edited 16-08-2001).]