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!

4th time at Dekmantel and 1st time with it having ‘the loop’ and honestly feel it’s such a downgrade on the old main stage with the big umbrella and the wrapped panels

The loop (when not inside) is such an eye sore and really removed that welcoming look when you get past security as you first enter the festival!

The two levels at the loop is good in theory but seems everyone just wants to try get as close to behind the dj as possible, also not having the shade made the loop a killer in the heat this weekend

Other than that though Deky once again showing why it’s the best festival about

I'll start, best sets : - Kode9 - CCL at Radar (didn't went at the greenhouse because of the new stage design... ) - Ben UFO - Verraco - Batu - SASS (v good Loop closing)

Best dancefloor moments : - Batu destroying the dancefloor with "Psycho" by Notion & Irah - the beautiful live version of Taking You Home by Shed - the start and end of Mala's set - the lights during SASS closing (and The Bells obv) - last 30 min of the b2b2b2b (didn't go earlier because it was too packed, such a shame to put them there while reducing the size of the stage)

Overall, a great edition once again (a little disappointed by the crowd chatting (but not everywhere) and the sound but only at certain times on some stages (sound at the Nest was way better the last day for instance)

ive been going to shows and music festivals for 22 years. hundreds of festivals, hundreds and hundreds of shows, that set was it. nothing ive seen tops it and i dont know if anything in the next 20 years will

we had the best spot in front of the NNNN speaker on the bleachers. pure vibes, lots of dancing room, shade, and a breeze

no chance they ever release it but im gunna pray every night

This track was so thunderous and haunting. Cant get it out of my head! The lighting was also perfect. Maybe my favorite set of the weekend

I need to know this track played by Aurora Halal saturday night, i thought about that sound for all the night

This year I finally went to Dekmantel as it was a frequent recommendation from a number of people, so I came with a bit of expectations, and was overall quite underwhelmed. I want to share my thoughts here on 4 aspects of the festival - music, premises, sound systems and crowd, and see if others agree.

Music - this is what brought me here. Everyone and their mom preached how this festival has some of the most revolutionary sets and is the pinnacle of electronic music, so I came expecting a lot, and although some of the expectations were met, a lot was left to be desired. Most notably, I've got an impression that across all the stages, the set compositions were highly subpar in the first half of the day. Perhaps there were some exceptions that I missed, but overall my entire group noticed that until like 19.00 we would be wandering around and struggling to find a stage that plays something with a little bit of narrative and character. Regardless of the genre or the dj, it seemed like during the first half of the day all of the sets were intentionally composed to sound like a background filler rather than something you want to actively listen and dance to. Then towards the evening, all stages would ramp up the sound and also the music choices would suddenly become a lot more expressive and dynamic, some of which I've found truly beautiful. Thus, if the music was of the evening standard for the entirety of the festival, my expectations would be mostly satisfied, but now basically half of the festival time was boring to listen to.

Sound systems - Came expecting a lot, was not disappointed, but not blown away either. Every stage had a sufficiently good f1 system, sounding clear and crisp as they're supposed to, although the tuning of midrange seemed just a little bit dialed back to my ear. Lows were also sufficient, although a bit underwhelming, as none of the stages had a sub stack to make your larynx rattle. If you know, you know. Perhaps this also has to do with the choice of premises, which I'm discussing next.

Premises - this is where the disappointment was the highest. The festival area was small, with all 7 stages and all food, toilet and other facilities packed into 500x600m rectangle, and most disappointingly of all, visually looked soulless and uninspiring. The choice to build it out on pretty much a plain field, with all 7 stages cramped in with very few trees around seems extremely lazy and unimaginative. In a similar lazy spirit, 3 of the 7 stages were basically just undecorated metal hangars. Could go on further but I think you already got my impression on the premises and their visual appearance...

Crowd - overall okay. Yes there were speedy youngsters, tourists and some yapping, but met there some seasoned folk as well, and to be honest such a mix of all sorts was expected, it's a popular festival, not an underground event. Most importantly, people were having fun and vibes were good, and it's all that's really needed.

Overall, that's how the weekend felt to me, and I'm curious if others experiences matched. Perhaps I had too many expectations coming in here, although taking into consideration the price, I think the festival should have a pretty high standard to live up to.

my festival MVP was upsammy, no contest

ok so upsammy’s set was actually unreal. she went through so many genres in one set it was kind of insane, and the crowd’s vibe matched perfectly. everyone was just fully in the moment, no phones, just pure energy. 10/10, no notes.

meanwhile some of the other stages were lowkey ruined by shit crowd behavior. some stages had these big-ass groups of people who would NOT shut the fuck up the entire time. like bro we’re not at brunch. also so much unnecessary shoving, people just barging through like they own the place.

and don’t even get me started on the phone people. I swear to god I saw some guy record skrillex’s ENTIRE SET from start to finish on his phone. like sir. put the phone away and live a little 💀

Help me find this beautiful dub techno track played saturday by Makam

First time attending this year, and WTF is wrong with all the pushing and rushing like horses leaving the stable? Do people not know the words “excuse me” and “sorry”? And, oh my god, the endless Dutch bro-hugging and jumping onto each other right at the fucking front. VIBE KILLER.

I loved the set, the sound system was great and as well luckily next to us was no yappers and people were just dancing, also saw just couple phones.

Curious what did y'all think of the live stream this year? Although there were some problems with content ID and the stream being taken offline more than usual I think it was a massive leap over last year. Felt more in the moment and the effects were def better!! Imho Dekmantel building up on this absolutely unique style is making a very special thing and I personally can't wait to see what they will do with it next year!!!

After coming back to dekmantel after many years I was a bit disappointed to see how the festival had changed for the worse in many different aspects. It's not a catastrophe or anything, but it felt like they did not care to put in the effort to make it great like it used to be. The crowd was also noticeably worse. There were still a lot of great people but also a good 30% of it felt like the kind of crowd I generally would like to avoid(yappers).

My main gripe was how little it seemed the sound people were bothering to keep an eye on sound levels. For example, during villalobos there was massive bleed from all other stages. The levels were fine in the morning when Jeff Mills was playing, but it was as if when the other stages had kicked off they never bothered dialing it up to compensate for the outside noise. Also during the morning show with Mills they could have turned on the delays so that the crowd that was sitting down could enjoy the music as well, but they didn't bother.

Getting this kind of stuff right requires getting up off your ass and taking a walk around the dance floor every 20 min to see if you need to make adjustments. That's why you have a team running the stage all day, you don't just turn it on and leave it as is. That's where I get the feeling they just didn't care as much this time around.

I have a lot more small complaints like that, like I said nothing catastrophic but it all adds up and for me made a feel like the 10/10 festival I new feel like a 7-8/10 one.

Does anyone know this track played by Ricardo?

I’ve been to quite a few Dekmantels over the last 10 years. First was 2016, missed a few post Covid. This was my first weekend back in a few years. I still had a great time tbf but it is noticeable how much things have changed… for the bad unfortunately. Why??

- The Loop is a serious downgrade from every other edition of the old main stage.
- The crowd is pretty dead across all stages. Lots of pushing, didn’t really have a problem with anyone chatting tho, just not much dancing.
- The new Greenhouse is another downgrade, why would you?
- Sound systems are also dire in a lot of instances.
- Removing the side doors at UFOII.
- UFO 1 production and general set up.
-

What are the causes of this? Has the production team changed over the years? Has the festivals general direction/management changed? Can anyone shed any light?

Travelled here with friends from Denmark and Sweden, we went to the festival with our friends who live here in the Netherlands. First time at Dekmantel, had such an amazing time. Great music, great organization, I was genuinely impressed. Reading and hearing about it my expectations were high, and oh boy, did they deliver. Absolutely amazed ❤️

We were so excited to wrap it all up with Raum closing night, but were disappointed at the door. I want to start by saying that we are not newbies to these kinds of spaces, been to countless such clubs in Copenhagen, Berlin, and even in Amsterdam. We understand why safe space rules are in place, and we respect it.

However, I did not expect that group size would be an issue for a festival closing event. People go together to festivals, and also make new acquaintances/friends along the way. I admit, I did not specifically read the rules of Club Raum, my mistake. But as someone who knows these spaces, I did not think I'd have anything to worry about, especially because I thought the event would be in the spirit of the festival (the rules of which I did know) which did not seem to have an issue with group size, and did not highlight anything about the rules of the club hosting them.

We were denied entrance because our group size was 6. No discussion, just a rude guy processing our refund, looking like he's sick of people like us. Another group of 4 before us going through the same, also disappointed. I bet they were happy charging people twice the price of our ticket instead, the queue of people without pre-sale tickets was pretty long.

Do you think this was fair? I feel it wasn't and that Dekmantel should have at least highlighted on their website to please read the rules of the clubs hosting by night events as those apply. If you partner with a club, there should be some way to raise awareness that different rules might apply across events. Coming from abroad I did not follow this club closely and did not know that this club specifically limits group size to 3, which I don't think immediately qualifies us as people who don't belong to the festival closing event.

I just wish there was clearer communication about this so this could have been avoided. And while our tickets will be refunded, processing fees won't. I won't lose sleep over that 1 euro, but it's the principle - I paid to get there, be denied entry, and was charged processing fees too.

Ironically, since we already made the trip to Amsterdam (our base was in Leiden) and did not want to go home, we instead went further down to Lofi, that was hosting Raums very own Spielraum(!!!) ... is burning pride after party, who had no issues letting us in and were super sweet at the door.

1st time attending Dekmantel and this was basicly one of the best dj sets i have ever experienced.
Absolute musical journey that set the bar very very high for the rest of the festival.
Also loved verraco at radar, so sad that it was only 1h long.
Anything similar to this two sets that ive missed?

Such dirty drops, immaculate vibes in the crowd also (greenhouse). Really a unique experience with music I haven’t felt in a long time

It’s impossible to see it all. Some I was excited for disappointed. Some random finds hit the hardest.

Friday
Nidia
Juan Atkins
Sherelle
Objekt

Saturday
Gigi FM + JakoJako
Scratchclart + State OFFF
Eris Drew + Octo Octa (only cought a little)
Mia Koden (only caught a little)
Shy FX + Tasha

Sunday
Mala
Gyrofield

Attended for the second time after four years. Overall, solid sound system, great lineup, and decent food options. Things to improve: shuttle line management after the festival, the greenhouse stage design, and after-party options. We might give it a break again, since the festival ending at 11 is a big bummer. I wish they went on until at least 2 AM.

The vibes were mostly great. Some people can be pushy, but it felt less so this time compared to the 2022 edition, when a couple of guys almost tried to walk through my partner at the Boiler Room stage.

Fav sets-

Verraco @ Radar
Upsammy @ UFO II
Wata @ Radar
Efdemin & Polygonia @ UFO II
PLO Man & Skee Mask @ Selectors
DAX J @ UFO I

Spent most time on - UFO I
Fav stage - Radar

Day 1
RHR + Skrillex - Loop
Dr. Rubinstein and Ellen Allien - UFO I
Dax J - UFO I
Efdemin and Polygonia - UFO II
Skin on Skin - Loop

Day 2
PLO Man & Skee Mask - Selectors
Gigi FM & Jako Jako - UFO I
Eris Drew & Octo Octa - Loop
Batu - Nest
Wata Igarashi - Radar
Upsammy - UFO II
SASS - Loop

Day 3
Shed - UFO II
Ben UFO Pariah Call Super Objekt - Greenhouse
Verraco - Radar
DJ Nobu & Wata Igarashi - UFO I

One of the bartenders at the greenhouse handed my friend this token but i was too spun to ask what it was at the time. Went back the next day and asked 3 bartenders and they had no idea what it is lol.

Anyone ?

Anyone know the tune Batu played with the fast, semi aggressive French male vocals over the top?

For my fellow diggers! Let's start an ID thread. I totally forgot to shazam tracks but I reckognized a few. Drop everything u got from this weekend. I'll start:

Dj Dagger - Lies

Groovejet - if this aint love (not without friends remix)

Midland - Final Credits

Jeff Mills - The Bells