It was only a mere 4 months ago that I was in Amsterdam and I was already back here. You must have gathered from the last blog that I really enjoyed my time here but this wasn’t to go back to exploring the city primarily. As this time, firstly I wasn’t alone as I was here with my buddy James and secondly, we were here for a special event however I’ll cover that more in the reason for heading to Amsterdam. After my last visit to this amazing city though, I was more than excited to not only see if I would have a different experience of things now that I was joined someone else but to experience the hardstyle event, Freaqshow, that I had lined up and seen so much about from previous iterations.
On top of all this, there was the opportunity to catch up with friends that I’d not seen for a long time and this trip ended up having a surprise addition to the itinerary for me!
Why I Headed To Amsterdam
After being in Amsterdam only a mere few months before, you may have wondered why I was heading back. The main driver this time was to experience Q-Dance’s New Year’s Eve show, Freaqshow, at the ZiggoDome. As my love for the genre was growing and growing, to me it seemed the only way to properly bring in the new year; partying hard from dusk until dawn in true indoor festival fashion! And boy, was I ready for it! OK, apart from one or two things but more of that later…
The fact that his event is hosted in this amazing city was only a further bonus for me, allowing me the chance to see more of the city after I was time bound last time and be able to experience Amsterdam’s festive side with being just after Christmas.
What I Thought of Amsterdam & Freaqshow
My opinion of the city hasn’t changed since the last visit so if you haven’t seen the last, more informative blog concerning Amsterdam that I would recommend you check out the link above.
The only addition to this is the fact that they have a very different way of doing New Year’s Eve which makes things exciting, if not also a little dangerous! There wasn’t a central display as such in the city like you see in a lot of other capital cities. No, instead the populous host their own displays. Yes, they seemed to be the ones in charge and there was no order to it! It’s definitely an exciting way to do things but you need to watch yourself and maybe take a set of ear plugs. I’ll go into more detail later as to why exactly.
The Freaqshow itself was absolutely amazing! I’m not sure where the idea of the it being called the Freaqshow, bringing about fancy dress themes that you would expect at Halloween but it certainly adds a different twist to things. Though if you’re someone like me and doesn’t hold back, you had to make sure that your costume is breathable and allows you to move freely. Alongside the DJ sets from the some of the best in the business, the true novelty is the Top 10 countdown of best hardstyle songs from the year, as voted by the scene and seeing in the New Year with the top song of the year is quite something, along with the pyrotechnics. Also, more on that later!
Recommended?
To go to Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve? Definitely! Whether it’s heading to an all night dance music event or the improvised firework display, it’s an exciting way to see the year in, especially with the additional adrenaline rush from being there. It also allows you to experience the back end of the festive period, with the city looking charming in the festive lights and the associated activities on offer, such as the canal cruises showcasing all of the best displays.
The Freaqshow? I would recommend this but I’m afraid the event is no longer a thing, with Q-Dance changing things up different events over the past couple of years, which brings with them their own novelties but still hold true to the top 10 countdown. If you’re a hardstyle lover, partying hard to the genre with thousands around you from the scene is a pretty special way. Even more so if it’s one of your voted songs that’s number 1, that really hits the spot as I found out.
That rounds off the preliminaries, now for the juicy part; the story of what went down!
Day 1 – Tuesday (27 December)
The first day of the trip was here and I was excited to head out. Not only was I excited to experience Amsterdam in the winter and ready for the night ahead on New Years Eve of my favourite music genre, but I was interested to see what travelling with someone else would be like after so long since my last joint trip.
With a late flight, it meant that we didn’t arrive until the late afternoon but this still gave us some time to get out and about in the city. As I’d already been here, this time it was my turn to be tour guide for James and show him around the sights and scenes of the city. This entailed a bit of a walking tour around the evening sights of Amsterdam, such as the canals, Dam Square and of course, the Red Light District, opening his eyes to what I had my eyes opened to on the first night on my last trip.
Day 2 – Wednesday (28 December)
The start of new day and it was time for some day time tour guide duties. Though this tour didn’t really have a set route nor goal, I just made it up as I went along, making sure to show the main sights of the city or as much as you could make out in the fog. This allowed us both to catch our bearings and do what any tourist would do: photos at the landmarks!
As part of this tour, you’ll never guess one thing I made sure to show him! If you have read my other Amsterdam blog, you’ll know exactly where I’m heading… the Amsterdam sign! For me, this meant another picture with another pose with another kind of weather.
One thing that wasn’t planned but came up spontaneously, was an attraction that I don’t usually invest in but we jointly decided to head to the Amsterdam Dungeons as we passed it. This was an organised tour through some of the dungeons that the city played host to, talking about the various different gruesome parts of the city’s history and what these dungeons were used for. As to how I felt about it? At €24 the jury is out on that one really. It was something different, having some interesting aspects to it and tales to be told during the tour. However, I’m not sure personally if it was worth the money invested in it. We didn’t book ahead so didn’t save the €5 and seemed to take a long time waiting for the next show after queuing outside already, putting a bit of a downer on the experience. Would I recommend it? I would if you wanted to learn about the dungeons of the city, what they were used for and the darker side to Amsterdam. If you are anything like me though, then I’d skip this one.
After seeing Amsterdam in the day time, it was time to properly explore the best places for a tipple in the evening. Of course, there was the gym session at one of my favourite gyms first, TrainMore. The reason why I loved this place is it was cheap for a day pass, had a great variety of equipment that covers all needs for all kinds of training, great music on offer and the shakes and snacks on offer at the cafe bar entrance definitely hit the spot post workout!
The way we decided to see the nightlife was to give the power to someone else and go on the local bar crawl, hosted by Ultimate Parties. The one that did, as shown by the link, was the Red Light District one and was everything you’d expect from a bar crawl. Plenty of new people to meet, free drinks at each place, five of the best places to go in the city and the odd challenge or two to spice things up. All of this for a reasonable price of €20. Before you ask, why does someone who doesn’t drink go on bar crawls? I just love the social aspect of it! And if you weren’t aware that I didn’t drink, I wrote a blog on this and how I went sober.
As the night was starting to get good, we were meeting some great people, getting into a good place as things naturally warmed up and were on the third or fourth bar…
The evening unfortunately ended abruptly for us!
One of the women on the bar crawl had had a little too much to drink for predrinks, getting herself into a bit of a state in one of the bars. As people moved on whilst we tried to help her, we’d been left behind by the group, leaving James and I helping her friend to try and get her home. With the strict rules in Amsterdam on being drunk and with her in the state that she was, the bars were reluctant to help us, with the exception of one reluctant glass of water, and no taxi would accept her. This left one option: carry her! This was an interesting endeavour. The first position of trying to cradle her was futile with the silk dress and tights combination making it like trying to hold on to a wet bar of soap in the shower. This left only one option of going with the fireman’s carry, whilst James kept her modesty as best as possible. Though to be fair, a lot of her dignity had already been lost. It was certainly wasn’t the way you’d want to sweep a woman off her feet but there was other no option!
You’ll be glad to know that we managed to get her home safely and wasn’t a thankless task, as it earned us brunch paid by her and her friend the next day.
On the limited experience of the bar crawl, it’s a yes from me but I wouldn’t mind seeing it through until the end next time…
Day 3 – Thursday (29 December)
As I mentioned before, I had a surprise addition to my itinerary! One of my Dutch friends who lived in Eindhoven had invited me over to catch up and the spontaneous idea of heading to Dusseldorf the next day. I can’t remember where this idea came from but sometimes you just have to roll with it. First though, my stomach was rumbling and we had a brunch to collect from a very embarrassed individual, whilst informing her of the events of the night before.
One of the convenient things about this nation is that it is so small, getting from now side to the other only takes about 90 minutes and the fact the trains are efficient, regular and comfortable, it’s a breeze! The trains are also reasonably price too, which is an added bonus! The Netherlands is also one of the first places that I have seen double decker trains and they certainly work.
Travel Tip: Use big cities as a hub. Don’t restrict yourself to one place and use things like trains and buses to get out and see other places. Perfect example here is using Amsterdam to see Rotterdam, Eindhoven or Utrecht.
Day 4 – Friday (30 December)
At just a 45 minute drive across the border, Dusseldorf laid waiting for us. Laura seemed to have a plan in mind for where we were going and this was started with a picturesque walk along the river, with the addition of the Kaiserpflaz which is a 12th century castle ruins.
Our journey around Dusseldorf further took us into the centre of the city, where we parked up and then continued on foot. The first thing that we came across was the Christmas market based at Burgplatz, which is a perfect spot for it with the square’s Ferris wheel, as the River Rhine stretches beyond behind it. Add in the awesome weather and it was a great day out.
Heading further along the river and into the city centre, we found your standard city scape with an accompanying variety of fountains and water ways to that improves the aesthetic of the place and makes it a pleasant place to walk around.
To round off the day, we headed up the Rheinturm, which was definitely worth the money for the price of only €9. From up here on the observation deck at 170m, it provided you with some great views of the city, the River Rhine running through it and the attached docklands, with the sun setting over it all. The only downside was that we had timed it slightly wrong and should have headed up a little earlier to see the full beauty of the sunset.
Either way though, it was a good spot to sit back, relax and enjoy a drink as there is a bar and seating areas up there. There was also some light hearted entertainment whilst trying to get our photos of the cityscape below, with the constant battle fo the reflection on the inside of the windows. We came to the conclusion that my photos were the best, obviously!
Check out the gallery below for a collection of the pictures taken during our day out.
Finishing off the day up here was a good way to round off a good little day trip across the border and this was followed up by the drive back to The Netherlands, with the backdrop of the Christmas market from earlier as we crossed the bridge out of the city. Laura was kind enough to drop me off at the train station in Roermond for me to head back to the fun and games in Amsterdam.
As to what I thought of my short day trip to Dusseldorf? It was a pleasant city that delivered a wholesome day out and well worth a visit, whether it be for just the day or a little longer.
Day 5 – Saturday (31 December)
Today was the day! But first, the right preparations needed to be conducted! Nothing like leaving things to the last minute but we decided that the day of the event was obviously the best time to actually embrace the fancy dress side of the Freaqshow. Cue the frantic run around the city, pulling together an outfit for an event starting in only a few hours. With a general idea of what we were going to go with each, we frequented several clothing shops to try and achieve our goal. To only add to the pressure, the moment we decided to go for this, the fancy dress shops in the city had already closed so we were on the back foot. You can see how late we left it. Being called Freaqshow, I thought what was suitable was aiming for circus conductor so trousers, a waist coat and a hat were the bare minimum for me.
Thankfully, I was able to get pull this together with a couple of high street stores for a reasonable price. We did also manage to pick up some face paint to get creative but I must admit, my skills weren’t the best but by chance Bea, who’d I met in Stockholm only a couple of weeks prior, was in the city and was more than keen to help out us out with our face paint to complete the look for us both. The end results can be found on the right.
Fancy dress? Check!
Face paint? Check!
Tickets, ear plugs and wallets? Check.
We were all set to go!
Even though we were heading over to ZiggoDome for the Freaqshow and a night of hardstyle until the early hours of the morning, we had an insight into the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Amsterdam. As I headed down to Amsterdam Square with James to get an Uber and head to the Dome, we noticed a variety of claps and bangs from the other side of the square. Without warning, a firework shortly followed by another one soared into the sky and exploded, much to the delight of the crowd below. This was proceeded by a explosions closer to us, as it appeared various groups were dropping firecrackers on the floor right next to each other, as well as some bringing the big stuff to send high into the sky.
Not realising at the time, Amsterdam doesn’t really have a formal organised firework display and instead the crowd creates their own, setting off their own fireworks, whether it be personally at home or in big crowds like we saw starting to congregate in the square or back home with a smaller crowd.
A short snippet of the sort of thing I’m referring to can be seen in the video to the left. I have since looked into the full extent when it gets later in the evening and place goes crazy!
As much as we wanted to enjoy the show, it was off to the ZiggoDome, for us to not reemerge until the early hours of 2017.
As with any Q-Dance event, this event really hit the spot! The finesse with the decorations, the music, the light shows and indoor fireworks, their events always go down flawlessly!
For an indoor event, Q-Dance’s stage design and accompanying decorations around the arena are always brilliant, pulling out all the stops to suit the theme of the event.
As for the line-up, it was a variety of some of the biggest stars in the scene in the main arena, with a second arena giving you a showing of some of the upcoming talents along with a marathon of a set from Jason Payne, one of the stalwarts of rawstyle scene.
Around the event, it was a usual set up. Use of tokens as the currency (not saying it…), two locker sizes to be able to store you stuff in and an array of bars and food outlets to keep you fuelled and ready to rave.
Don’t worry, indoor events are not dissimilar to that of outdoor festivals: you will lose people and it is a very hard to find them again, especially when you have such a small amount of bandwidth when in the midst of it. Though initially it was James and I were attending the event, I did have a few friends there from previous events. We were able to meet up when things were fairly empty but as it filled up, it ended up being by chance that we’d cross paths. I feel leaving it to chance is the only way or else you don’t enjoy the music and spend too long trying to find each other, which is a lesson learnt from previous experiences.
One of the ultimate highlights from the night was the count down of the Top 10 songs from the year. As voted by the hardstyle scene, it takes you through all the good memories of that year with the anthems that shaped the year. I won’t even lie to you but the Number 1 song Gravity by Andy Svage gave me pure goosebumps as it was incorporated into the New Year countdown.
This event is the perfect way for someone to bring in the new year and I would highly recommend anyone who is into the genre to head to this event at least once. One thing to note is that this is purely for hardstyle and if it’s hardcore that you’re looking for, there are other events such as Brutality.
The shear euphoria of the evening came crashing back down to earth though when we headed out of the arena in my trousers and waist coat combination, being met by the cold winter air so that taxi certainly couldn’t come quick enough. My final surprise of the evening was arriving back at my hostel room to find a lot more people in there than what the room was designed for and someone in my bed! This was certainly not ideal when all I wanted to do was get some sleep after dancing for the last 10 years straight!
Day 6 – Sunday (1 January)
As you can imagine, New Years Day was taken at a slower pace than usual after the late night (well, early morning is probably more appropriate…). It was interesting to sit and have brunch with the Australians in my room and see what they ended up doing and finding out how on earth there were so many bodies scattered around my hostel room when I returned.
This was followed up by meeting up with James and Bea, along with her sister, for some lunch and sharing the stories for our separate evenings, which had been two very different paces for sure. However, plans for both groups for now were definitely at the same pace; very slow! All we could muster was an afternoon of just sitting back, relaxing and sharing stories, counting down the hours until it was time to head off to the airport. Back to the real world we went!
That wraps up another blog! I hope you enjoyed reading through my experiences of Amsterdam and one of the wild hardstyle shows it hosts, there are plenty more of those to talk about so drop a comment below if you’d be interested in hearing about them. If your new to the blog and made it this far, be sure to check out some of my other content under the headings at the top. Love it that much that you want hear about what I post as I post it? Then be sure to follow my social media links at either end of the page!
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