HARDSTYLE TAKES OVER TOMORROWLAND

Written by Cale Hackfath

Tomorrowland announces huge hardstyle lineup spanning over all 6 days!

With the focus being on what many are describing as a sub-par Tomorrowland lineup (if that is even possible?) no one is taking notice of those huge hardstyle artists that will be gracing the Q dance stage over all 6 days of the festival.

It was announced in the initial lineup phase that this year Da Tweekaz would become the 2nd ever hardstyle artist to play the mainstage closely followed by Mark with a K once again proving the rising popularity of the genre.

The real focus should be the fact that Q dance has been given a stage every day of the festival! No other host has been given this privilege this year.

Q dance is definitely taking advantage of this opportunity bringing a huge range of big names to perform over the two weekends. The likes of Brennan Heart, Zatox, Wildstylez and D-block and S-tefan just to name a few. On top of this, they announced some of the best duos on the planet, including Mark with a K b2b with Warface, Tweekacore b2b with Darren Styles and Ran D b2b with Frequencies.

Weekend One

Friday Q dance lineup has the legend Wildsytlez headlining it back up by the talent of Sub Zero Project, B- Front and Evil activities. One of the less stacked days for the stage but nevertheless, still a great line-up. My recommendations for this day would be to catch Wildstylez set, he has so many euphoric tracks that even people who aren’t into hardstyle will enjoy. Also for the people who are looking to dabble in hardstyle for the first time, Sound Rush is a great option. Very easy to listen to and quite melodic tracks.

Saturday Line-up is definitely one to try to get to at some point. Mr I Am Hardstyle himself, Brennan heart being the standout of the day, backed up by a stack of talent including Zatox, The Aussie Code Black, The 18 year old frenchcore phenomenon Sefa, Phuture Noize who is quickly becoming a staple on hardstyle stage and Ran-D the man who gave us the legendary hardstyle track Zombie.

My must see for this day are Brennan heart purely because he is a legend of the scene and his music will please even the people who despise hardstyle. Also, a must-see is Phuture Noize, this guy has had the biggest year of his life with almost his whole album in the top 20 songs of the year. His music is unique as well and not as hard-hitting as other artists making it very popular amongst a wide range of audiences. Other notables are Psyko Punkz, Ran-D, D-block and S-tefan and Sefa for those who like the extremely fast hardstyle genre of frenchcore(not for the fainthearted).

Sunday is Q-dances “Sunday Funday” lineup with some huge names on it. As mentioned above Mark with a K and Warface playing together has gotta be one of the highlight sets. Two very unique sounds combined creating a crazy hard and fast set. After becoming the first hardstyle DJ in history to play the mainstage of Tomorrowland, Coone makes his return to the festival where he created history last year. (Video Embedded Below)

Those who are avid hardstyle listeners should definitely get to Mark with a K and Warface. Anyone who wants to listen to hardstyle for the first time I would recommend Coone’s set. He did a great job last year of drawing in the main stage crowd and I think he will back it up this year with an equally good set. Tweekacore b2b with Darren Styles is also a must see, for those in the scene these guys have been creating some great music of late and their live set have been nothing short of incredible. For those who want to see something different, you should try to catch the Darkraver b2b with ruthless. The Darkraver is definitely one of the crazier guys on the circuit and after taking a lengthy hiatus he has a lot of whacky sets to catch up on.

Weekend Two

Friday starts off with Frequencies hosting the “Get Whack” stage. This day is probably more for the frequent hardstyle listeners due to a large number of hard-hitting DJ’s on the lineup including, Adaro b2b with B-front, Dr Peacock, and Frequencies b2b with Rejecta.

Recommendations for the day would be to once again catch Phuture Noize and Wildstylez but to also try to get to one of the many b2b sets. The best ones to go to would be Frequenters b2b with Ran-D and also Rejecta.

Saturday has a bit of an Aussie theme with both Code black and Toneshifterz playing, most defiantly a couple of sets to watch! The big names on this day include Brennan Heart, Coone, Keltek, Atmospherez and Radical Redemption. Brennan Heart is once again a must-see along with Keltek and for those who like it real hard Radical Redemption. Another act worth seeing is Audifreq, last year played an awesome set and no doubt will back it up again.

The final day of the festival is definitely not for the fainthearted with a lot of hard-hitting acts. The big names on the lineup including Warface, Ran-D, Sub Zero Project and Ransom b2b with Dr Rude. It is also worth noting that Footworx is hosting The Cage stage on this day as well with some other big hardstyle names including Rooler, D fence and Greazy Puzzy Fuckers.

The must-see for the day are by far Warface and Sub Zero Project. Having watched their sets at Midnight Mafia I'm quite excited to see what they have in store for Tomorrowland. Over at The Cage definitely, give Rooler a watch. If you want to see just how far and wild hardstyle can go and you just so happen to be walking past The Cage, then have a look at Greazy Puzzy Fuckers (GPF). For sure these guys will blow your head off quite literally and definitely kill a few brain cells but worth it 100%.

By having a hardstyle stage every day this year it will allow hardstyle to reach a whole new audience. I myself used to not like the genre but have fallen in love with it and I think there are a lot of people out there who say they don’t like it but have never been exposed to it live. So with all the apparent disappointment with the overall lineup why not give it a go. Its there every day of the festival and we all know that we have times of the day where we have no one pencilled in.

My parting thought is to give hardstyle a chance, if you don’t have anyone to see, hop over to the stage and see what all the buzz is about. I’m sure regardless of whether you like it or not you will have a good time.

Hardstyle is on the rise and the success of the Q-Dance stage this year will play a big part in the future of the genre at Tomorrowland.

#QDance #Tomorrowland #hardstyle #Coone #Codeblack #Subzeroproject