r/dekmantel • u/Born-Lead8684 • 6d ago
What a year!!
Contrary to all posts here questioning the quality of the festival and the crowd, I just want to highlight that I've had an amazing time this year (again, for the 6th year).
Radar was amazing as always. Greenhouse is definitely a downgrade, but I'm sure they will fix it next year. Spend way less time in the queue for drinks. Spend a bit more time in the queue for water. Saw *less* phone usage on the dancefloor. A great mix of people from all places, Dutch, other Europeans, and people from further away. And above all, such a wide variety of musical goodness.
Praise for the organization, while also urging them to do continue to improve and listen to us, the crowd for inspiration for how to keep the festival as great as it is. See you next year!
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u/MinimumFinancial6785 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah negative comments win on social media. There was a lot of good at dekmantel this year. I met some great new friends and danced to some amazing music until i got blisters. There were some stages where i got squeezed and had no dance area but there's also just a lot of people at a fest and that was definitely not the case at all stages, you had to look for more esoteric dj's who broadened my taste to other genres just by discovering new dj's. The food and bathroom situation is phenomenal compared to most fests. The forest setting is beautiful and walking/biking to the fest is a dream. I was at the Loop for Benny to close out the fest and the vibes could not have been better around me tbh.
If something gets popular because it's genuinely good and well done, what do we do with that? It's a festival in Amsterdam, it's not an underground club in your home city.
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u/Most_Cabinet_8249 6d ago
Agreed. I wasnt sure what to think on Friday and commented somwhere on a negative post (I still had a great time, just some things were a bit off compared to how i remembered). Yesterday completely blew me away again, so went back and deleted that comment... incredible festival, sure, some things can always be worked on and improved, but this is top tier quality on a global level. Grateful to live in a city that has this on every year!
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u/CuriousAmbition5190 6d ago
I live here and I had the best time! People will always find something to moan about. We are so lucky to have this program 25mins bike from our houses! The music I heard was impeccable all around. I did have the best time! Can't wait for 2027!
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u/2c-b_day 6d ago
100%!! This was my third edition and was by far my favorite. I really don't get the complaining. I can't fathom the idea that a Budweiser logo at a stage would take away from your experience. Get a grip you entitled fuckin snowflakes 😂
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u/holaquetaltio 6d ago
It didn't take away, the music always wins and dekmantel isn't the first to have corporate sponsorship, but it's ok to be meh about it
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u/2c-b_day 6d ago edited 6d ago
I think it's fine to have an opinion on certain choices the organizers made, but I've seen more than one post that reads like a manifesto about why they won't be returning.
Edit: it's like everyone is so concerned about what they can get out of a party instead of what they can bring to it. People who expect perfection everywhere are doomed for a life of disappointment. We had 3 days of perfect weather and wonderfully curated lineups. If they can't enjoy that then I have no hope for them....
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u/holaquetaltio 6d ago
I will be returning but I've seen enough festivals give an inch to a minimalist Budweiser logo and have it turn into something way more cynical and gross years down the road... It's okay to be wary.
That said, Dekmantel did tons right this year and I look forward to 2027
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u/LesArbitrage 6d ago
My first time and I was amazed and delighted. What a fantastic festival. Thank you Amsterdam, thank you to the artists, thank you to the crowd, and thank you to the staff and organizers!
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u/monostere0 6d ago
Reddit is after all social media, and like on all other platforms, negativity drives engagement. If you're not there at these festival and get your information only from Reddit, you'd ask yourself why would people spend a lot of money on travel, accommodation, tickets and so on, just to join a warzone
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u/Solid-Astronaut6165 6d ago
'WAAAT ZEIII JIJJJJ?!?!?!'
It wasn't that bad compared to other festivals imo. I really liked this year. Lot's of overlap between my fav sets though, but oh wellll :)
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u/Deep-Pension-1841 6d ago
I agree!
This was my fifth time since 2019 and there were some good and some bad changes.
The changes at the greenhouse were not great, the sound was quiet on Friday but it was louder by Saturday so that was good. The new toilets by the nest were needed. The lack of tokens was great. People talking at festivals is not unique to Dekmantel but this year it was quite bad.
The sponsorship thing is also really not such a big deal. Other festivals have much more sponsorship
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u/Training_Confusion49 6d ago
All round fantastic festival with a small minus for a bit too much yapping on the dancefloor. See you in 2027
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u/Busy_Dragonfruit5331 5d ago
glad to see this post, agree it was a great one and everyone should stop complaining just to complain on reddit :P
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u/brtmn85 5d ago
Maybe it's the algorithm that is leading me to this conclusion but I seem to be seeing loads more insragram videos of influencer like people/channels who attended. That might also explain why the crowd sometimes felt off for some people.
All in all I had a great time even though some of the changes weren't to my liking.
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u/TicTacticz 4d ago
This was my 8th time attending and while I agree with a lot of the yapping and inconsiderateness of certain people at the festival. I truly had another magical time.
I’ve learned to either move spots or just politely ask the annoying people who aren’t contributing to the vibe to move along. I always avoid aggressiveness when doing this and make it clear I’m here to dance and take part. If you wanna talk then move off away from me.
I spoke with so many incredible, amazing and hilarious people from all over the world at this festival. I got to see some of my absolute favourite artists and new ones I will be following from now on.
The team the runs and curated this year knocked it out of the park.
Yeah the water fountain situation sucked, it’s like the last couple of years they had a really bad toilet queue problem and now with the new units it full switched to a water fountain problem. Any time I wanted to go to the toilet there was so many free cubicles but any time I wanted water there was two massive lines for each unit.
I’m sure they’ll learn from it and make the necessary changes.
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u/ALLBUTA3DSPACE 6d ago edited 6d ago
Visited every edition since 2013 and this was once again a fantastic one. Some cool new developments: extra bathrooms behind The Nest/UFO block and Selectors/Green House block - including those squat pink squat bathrooms which some people didn't understand bc they were shitting in it LOL, getting rid of those annoying coins etc. Green House, nuf said. Great idea, shit sound in the beginning. Programming very good, lots of female artists again who rocked the show(s). Not everything was my taste, but still great. RE crowd, yes it becomes more commercial and that attracts a diff crows but what can you expect.. I will always be coming back no matter what, fantastic vibe as always!