Well, It has been exactly 12 hours since I sat down here after returning from the crazy 24 hour trip to Den Bosch for the ASOT 500th Episode Party yesterday. Was really a crazy day and night. In the end I was awake for nearly 26 hours, although at best the early morning hours remain a hazy combination of sleep deprivation and the falling in and out of full consciousness. Let's get down to the meat of the entry...
So I headed off from Amsterdam Sloterdijk Station (the one nearest to my flat) at quarter passed 11. The route ended up being non-direct to my dismay. Disembarked in Centraal Station in Amsterdam and then had to board a train bound for Nijmegen. Nijmegen? Really? Was quite surprised to hear that. I thought Nijmegen was like 2 hours to the east? Yeah it is. But I would arrive in Den Bosch at 2 pm. So oh well. Headed out of the station and it was a nice nostalgic ride. Traced the exact route I took nearly a year ago when I last visited the east of Holland in June. Going back to Nijmegen was even more of a trip. My good friend Jacob lives there (when he's not in South Africa) which he currently is. But I had some good memories there in that town. And given the chance, I know I could find my way back to his flat as well as the bar in the center of the city, the one with the good beer selection. In any case It was a short reunion with the city and I was quickly boarding a sprinter for Den Bosch. I was there shortly thereafter. In any case once to Den Bosch I headed off into the city centre (a short walk from the train station). I was quite surprised. It was a very large city. A huge open-air market. Lots of shops and restaurants and it was a nice sunny day. So I settled on a nice restaurant with a decent view of passerbys, and had a mozzarella pesto and tomato sandwich, with a nice Duvel to wash it down. Afterwards I relaxed in the sun before heading off to the Afterhours.fm meet-up I would be going to before the show.
It was easy enough to find. Once there I was welcomed with a beer and a chair and some good conversation with other members on the forum. We had lots of beers and ended up talking with a bloke from Victoria, BC of all places. In addition to the canuck, we included two germans in our small group. We grabbed some food, then headed back to the meeting where they were just opening the bar. We had live music and more beers and then at around 8 pm we headed off for Brabanthallen (the venue for the show). Was massive. We got there and were inside pretty quickly. It was a great time. We were all jazzed to be there. 
We bought ASOT 500 tshirts. This show actually decided to put paper timetables available for everyone. So we headed off in search of good music. And let me tell you, with the lineup as massive as it was, it was not difficult to find. We started in the blue room for introductions and the first artist in the main room was Matt Zo. Never heard the guy before but it was pretty good. Next we scooted off to the green room to hear a bit of Ashley Wallbridge and finally went to the yellow room where we listened to one of my personal favorites: DJ Eco. Was a great set. Near the end he busted out the American flag :] gotta represent! After Eco we left and went back to the blue room to check out Markus Schulz. 
This is the second time this year that I've seen the guy (last time was in London at the ministry for his birthday show). In any case was a good set. He can throw down. After watching a bit of Markus I headed off in search of Orjan Nielsen who was playing in the orange room (looking back I guess I never even entered the red room, oh well!).
After checking out Orjan Nielsen for 30 minutes and listening to the live mix of one of my fav tracks from the guy: Mjuzik, I headed off to meet the canuck in the blue room to listen to Above and Beyond and eventually Armin. We lucked out. Really lucked out. First of all just happening to meet the canuck outside of the room (they stopped letting people in because apparently the room was too full). Eventually they let us all in and we plowed through the entrance gates and slowly worked our way up through the crowd until we were next to the sound engineers. There we stayed for the next 4 hours. We watched Above and Beyond (my first time seeing them) and their set was epic. And then directly after Above and Beyond it was Armin (they stopped letting people in after a certain hour I later found out). 
So we were lucky. Even though we were seemingly miles away from the decks, we still had a line of sight to see Armin and it was a great time. Amazing really, I mean in the electronic music world this is the top. There is no one bigger than Armin. This is the biggest stage in the world. And the laser shows were incredible. This is what I had hoped Trance Energy would have been like. Fireworks, flames, smoke, and a billion laser machines worked through the night and I was in awe the whole time. 
Unfortunately no pics (my canon 450d doesn't really fit in my pocket). So I'm hoping the canuck adds me on facebook and I can steal his photos. Either way the night was incredible. Was the electronic music experience I was hoping for here in Europe. But as with Energy, I ran out of funds (I didn't plan to spend 30 euros on a tshirt) and the downside to that was that my drink funds ran out far too early. I had a redbull at 130 2ish but that wasnt enough to keep my motor running. Really sucks, but whaddya gonna do? After Armin was through I hung out for a bit and listened to Gareth Emery. Wish I could have stayed to see the other amazing acts out there, but oh well, I was beat. My feet were killing me and I had no energy. I said peace to the canuck and headed off for the train station with the hope that by 7 or so I would be in my bed sleeping. Didn't end up going that way.I walked to the train station and asked around a bit, come to find out, the last train left just after 4 am. The next one: 7:57. Fml. I fairly laughed as the notion of sitting around at the train station for 3 hours descended upon me. I bought some snacks and a bottle of water and grabbed a seat in one of the waiting rooms. Eventually I was joined by a few others and then 20 others. I sat there trying to relax and rest and my eyes. Unfortunately the benches in the train station waiting room are not all that luxurious. Nor was it all that warm. I heard it was supposed to be 5 celcius that night. I fell in and out of consciousness. I think I may have slept for close to an hour somewhere in between 5 am and 7. In any case I came to a little after 7 and just happened to be glancing outside when I saw one of the german blokes. Initially I just sat there, but then questioned why I was just sitting there freezing my ass off. Might as well have a chat. So I got up and chased him down and we chatted about our experiences for a bit before we headed our separate ways.
Everyone was waiting by the train for them to open the doors. They didn't do so until 7:55. Dicks. That first train was so packed there was no room for anything else and it was 30 minutes or so to Nijmegen; another enjoyable experience. The fool next to me kept falling asleep on my shoulder. Upon arrival everyone exploded out of the doors like a pack of wild animals to catch the next train out. Silly silly. I am experienced. A truly seasoned traveller. And why run to jump onto an already packed train when another one will leave soon afterwards? So I asked someone and checked the screens and it turns out that there was one leaving in less than 15 minutes. Perfect. So I grabbed some breakfast, hung out in the early morning sunlight in the Nijmegen Station and waited for the train. Unfortunately once on the train arrived, I wasn't able to find a nice seat. I didn't really care. I sat on the steps and relaxed. Dozed a bit. And by 1030 am we were in Schipol. 11 am I was just arriving back to my flat. Had a sandwich and passed out at noon. Didn't wake up til 7 pm and now here we are, midnight. Woot. Maybe I feel a bit tired. Idk. In any case, just one more crazy european travel adventure. Good times. Anyway I'm done writing. Hope I didn't lose you along the way. Byebye for now.
Zach
yay! Best entry yet! It's good to see you having fun in Europe. Have more fun... right now!
ReplyDelete