Amsterdam Dance Event 2016 was a roaring success, here's everything you need to know
With something as colossal as Amsterdam Dance Event, it can be very difficult to distil into words just exactly what went down. The conference ran for five days last week and hosted pretty much every DJ, producer, manager, agent, booker, photographer and journalist in the industry. To try and give you a chronological run through of what we saw is far too much for our bass-battered brains to handle right now. So we thought we'd break it down into the need-to-knows, the ABC's of ADE.
N - Name Badge
ADE is more than a little bit about showing off, and nothing makes you look more important that having your conference accreditation pass on show. Well maybe turning up in Tiësto's private jet would be better, but you know, every little helps.
O - Overdoing It
With so much on offer both during the day and the night, it's very easy to over do it. We found the various chill out and revitalisation areas where a godsend. The Breakfast Club is a great place for a revitalising meal (and dance if you're feeling up to it) and if you're need something a little more heavy duty than a smotthy, the Urban Ears Open House was the perfect place to slowly recharge with some music and drinks.
P - Playground
The ADE playground is where all the tech demos and workshops take place. This is ground zero for techies and the best place on earth to try out next year's DJ and production gear.
Q - Q-Factory Presents 20 Years Of Global Underground
Our pals at Global Underground are celebrating a impressive two decades in the game this year. We hosted their birthday party in our club just last week, but the exhibition at ADE was just as enlightening. The photos were selected to sum up the ethos of Global Underground via twenty years of club culture.
R - Rijksmuseum
Easily one of the most unique parties of the week came from the people behind Audio Obscura. Taking place at Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum, the event offered a unique opportunity to catch Maceo Plex DJing under some world famous works of art.
S - Shelter
The newest club on the Amsterdam scene, Shelter held it's opening party on the Thursday of ADE with a jam-packed lineup of international DJ talent. Heading up the night was a one-two punch of the best of the UK and the US in Jackmaster and Moodymann. They were joined by Tom Trago, Jasper James, De Sluwe Vos and William Kouam Djoko.
T - The RA Cup
One of the most unusual events of ADE is the Resident Advisor Charity Cup. This was a football tournament held on the opening day of the conference and streamed on Facebook live. The tournament featured teams from across the dance music spectrum including a Jackmaster-helmed Numbers team and a Dixon captained All Stars.
U - Ubers
With ADE's myriad events spread out across over 150 venues, and such a rich offering to choose from prepare yourself for a lot of Uber journeys. ADE is all about cramming as much as possible into the night, so try to plot a route from club to club that's as kind as possible on your bank balance.
V - VR Cinema
The VR cinema lets you strap in and see what it's like to join a superstar DJ on stage. Warning: rider not included.
W - Waffles
In between all the panels, meetings and events don't forget to stop by one of Amsterdam's infamous fast food vending machines and treat yourself to a late night qaffle. They're much better than you think.
X - ...
Again, lets just leave that there.
Y - YouTube Streams
As it's 2016, many of the bigger events at ADE were live streamed around the world and can be re-watched right now. You can tune into the DJ Mag Top 100 ceremony, Claude VonStroke, Boiler Room and the mighty Awakenings.
Z - ZZZZZZZs
Sleep when and where you can as you don't get much of it.
You can read part one of our A - Z here
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