Tuesday, 14 July 2009 04:22

Rating:	8.0 out of 10.0 (Event: Sat 2009-07-11)
Venue:	Spaarnwoude (Recreational Area)
Location:	Velsen (Netherlands)
Line-up:	Sasha, Nick Warren, Hernan Cattaneo, Timo Maas, Mark Knight, Dave Seaman, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Steve Lawler, Agoria, Hell, Martijn ten Velden, Tom Harding, ATFC, Eddie Halliwell, Funkagenda, Boris Werner, Rahaan, Ida Engberg, Stephan Bodzin, Simon Dunmore, Erick E, and many more

17 stages. A whopping 40.000 visitors. More than 150 acts including the world's biggest names. Sounds like clubber's heaven doesn't it? Saturday 11 July saw the 15th edition of one of the world's biggest and longest running dance festivals, UDC's Dance Valley. 365Mag was present and had a bloody brilliant time...

Ever since its first edition back in the early nineties, the Dance Valley festival is known as one of those Dutch top 3 festivals to visit as well as a globally recognized hotspot that attracts thousands of international party-goers to its site. The festival has become synonymous to the quintessential event where you can spot both top notch quality acts of worldwide fame alongside a myriad of up and coming and underground acts. And did we mention its famed location? Dance Valley takes place at one of the most beautiful outdoor areas of the nation with green hills, a steep valley and loads of trees and stunning decoration creating the perfect atmosphere for a good day's clubbing. This year's edition saw, again, the presence of the world's coolest labels with the festival itself covering pretty much the entire electronic spectrum: from house to techno to electro, acid, progressive, minimal and classics, it's all there for you to go ape on. And on top of it all, the weather was as it should be at an outdoor event: Hella sunny!

We've always been a bit wary when it comes to transporting hundreds of clubbers from a remote location to the event itself. If we could have a dime for every time we've been waiting for over an hour to get into a bus that would take us to the festival, we would be able to spend the rest of this summer spending. However, UDC did a great job in arranging enough transportation to make sure that we didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes to get into one of the busses. After a comfortable 20 minute drive, we entered the festival around 14:30 after which we decided to have a walk around to check out the many eye and ear-catching features of the festival. We soon enough found out that a golf car would have been very convenient! But hey, getting to see numerous funfair-ish elements such as a giant ferris wheel, numerous intimate stages and other great decoration along the way is worth a price!

After having acquired enough (hot priced!) drink tokens we headed straight for the Renaissance stage where Dave Seaman was playing. The Audio Therapy totem played an amazing set, marking a perfect introduction for many more musical delight to come. We then went to see Paul Kalkbrenner who was scheduled to perform at one of the two Electronation stages, only to find out that our German mate was doing an utterly terrible job. His first record, the inevitable Sky & Sand, sure got those hands in the air but after no less than eleven (!) minutes, we were begging him to change tunes. He then engaged in a very, very sloppy set with sudden breakdowns, criss-cross effecting an uninspired cuts. That's it Paul, we're leaving! Back to the Renaissance again, where Hernan Cattaneo was playing a very deep performance with entrancing, somewhat melodramatic grooves that was of big effect on the audience.

Next up on our list was Rahaan, Chicago's undisputed house/disco king who was playing at the Rendez-vous stage, literally on the other side of the festival. Although well hidden in one of the site's corners, the Rendez-vous stage proved to be the place to be for all things Detroit/Chicago/Disco/Africanism (the quality version, mind you!) and although there were no more than five people, the man played a darn funky and super sexy set packed with tunage that seemed to get out of his father's dusty 'Motown goes house' collection. Or something like that anyway. Pure, authentic, raw house and disco grooves fueled with nasty funk, loads of horn and saxes and brilliant chants made up a very, very enjoyable set. After a short stop to watch Armin van Buuren at the massive A State Of Trance stage from the top of the hill, we went for a slice of pizza (again, hot priced, but tasty!) at one of the many food corners, after which we decided to have a look at one of the most infamous DV stages of all time: HQ, the domain of Germany's and UK's most ferocious hard dance artists. We dropped in during Kamui's set who, although we're still not sure if the guy's was actually performing real time, delivered a devastating flow of blazing beats, roaring synths and obscure samples. Awesome! After a short stop at the Multigroove stage for a shot of oldschool mania we spent about half an hour gazing at the main stage from the top of the valley: a very, very impressive panoramic sight indeed. And then, we went off to see our number one attraction of the day who was about to rock the Renaissance stage: the legendary Sasha.

What happened then is hard to put into words. Madness. Ab-so-lute madness. For two hours straight, the world's leading progressive house guru delivered the goods with stunning tunes (including Ladytron's Destroy Everything You Touch!), uplifting breaks and thunderous climaxes, making the entire audience jump up and down like there was no tomorrow. We've heard some pretty cool stuff throughout the day, but Sasha nailed it big time in a way a festival closure should be: epic. Tired but extremely satisfied, we headed for the exit while looking back on a fantastic day.

Dance Valley 2009 has been another fantastic edition and more than ever lived up to its reputation. The vibe? Amazing. The decoration? Jaw-droppingly good. The music? Perfect. With 17 stages and over 150 acts, there was plenty to choose from (understatement alert!). As far as the overall organisation is concerned, I don't think it could be any better: there were hardly any queues at the bars and toilets, and the transportation to and from the site was very well taken care of. This, and much more, made this 2009 edition an amazing event: Dance Valley is not just your ordinary festival. It's an experience on its own.

Video Reportage Dance Valley 2009 - ABRadio.nl
Source: RA