ELECTRIC LOVE - QUICKLY BECOMING ONE OF THE BEST FESTIVALS IN EUROPE!

Written by Cale Hackfath

ELECTRIC LOVE 2019! QUICKLY BECOMING ONE OF THE BEST FESTIVALS IN EUROPE This festival was started with the idea that it could one day replicate the vibe and atmosphere that Tomorrowland creates and I think they are definitely beginning to achieve this. With a 4 day setup and location in one of the most beautiful parts of Austria, Electric Love is quite rapidly starting to see its original idea come to fruition! Attracting all the big names from all genres it can only get better from here!

The festival itself is located just outside of Salzburg in a very picturesque region. Consisting of 7 stages this year for the first time they created an amazing festival that I thoroughly enjoyed! The showpiece’s of the festival were the Mainstage and also the Q dance stage which boasted names such as Afrojack, Diplo, Eric Prydz, Timmy Trumpet, Headhunterz, Brennan Heart and many many more. Apart from these they also had Psy- Trance, techno, progressive, house and hardcore artists performing over the 4 days.

Here are my thoughts on the whole experience.

This festival was predominantly filled with Germans and Austrians and was quite evident that they like their music a little bit harder than most. The warm up party consisted of range of different genres but it wasn’t until the two closing acts of Darren Styles and Da Tweekaz that the crowd really got going. When these acts begun the atmosphere increased 10 fold and was an awesome way to kick off the festival. Over the weekend it became quite evident just how big hardstyle is to the fanbase with the Q dance stage more often than not having just as many people there as the mainstage!

Day 1 was the quieter of the days but nevertheless was an awesome day readgless with acts like Diplo, Afrojack, Tiesto and DJ Issac gracing the stage. Highlight of the day probably being Diplo on the mainstage playing an amazing set that really had the crowd vibing. The pussy lounge stage also had some big crowds at it for some of the more notable hardstyle DJ’s including the legendary Dark Raver and DJ Issac who both played incredible 1 and half hour sets!

Day 2 was by far the best day and also the most stacked day. The Q dance stage made its first appearance of the festival and the Main stage had a plethora of huge names playing all day! The Aussie flavour was well and truly present as well with Code black and Timmy Trumpet gracing the stages! The highlights of the day from the Q dance stage included Headhunterz, Coone and the young wizard Sefa whilst over on the mainstage Tchami x Mala played an incredible set but unfortunately I don’t think the crowd really appreciated it. After them came the showpiece of the night, KSHMR followed by Timmy Trumpet closing the mainstage! KSHMR was a late replacement for Axwell which in my eyes ended up being a massive upgrade as he kicked off his European tour at Electric love in style.

Not to be outdone though our very own Timmy Trumpet finished the night off with a very hardstyle orientated set which goes to show just how much the genre means to this festival. He started his set with 3 hardstyle tracks and played a lot more throughout which really had the crowd going crazy. Everyone we spoke to over the weekend couldn’t get enough of him and he's definitely enhanced his already huge popularity in Austria!

Day 3 saw the festival finish everything off in style with a host of great DJ’s playing across all stages! On the Q dance stage the highlights were Sound rush, Brennan Heart and the incredible end show that Q dance put on. The mainstage saw amazing performances from NWYR and Eric Prydz but unfortunately the final act of Marshmallow was a bit disappointing with a lot of people walking out to go watch an awesome set from Jauz at club circus. Nevertheless the closing of the main stage was a spectacle with a grand piano, fireworks and much more complimenting an well put together soundtrack to end the festival in style!

Overall this festival was an incredible experience and it was quite clear as to why all these big names are attending every year. It is a must to familiarise yourself with the harder styles as it is a very constant theme and even the main stage DJ’s play a lot of it.

The festival is definitely on the up and with 180 000 guests passing through the gates this year, who knows how big this could become? Electric Love 2019 was a massive success and I can't wait to attend this festival some time in the future. Stay tuned for our interview with Neelix and also a focus article on the Q-dance stage at Electric Love.