I lived in Holland for a while and I’ve been a few times. It’s actually very good indeed, in fact it’s even up to pay event standards which is probably saying something for a free / sponsored event. Best of all though is the link up in the afternoon after the parade where they make two arenas using all the float’s sounds systems to make up two whole systems until 11pm that is when it all stops. Also the last time I was there, they’d used a mass of shipping containers to make a huge stack for the djs to play from, with the word SILLY written on it in giant letters which I thought was amusing and probably goes to show these people have a pretty big budget..

ik vroeg me af als dit feestje loopt nog? jammer, het is nu afgelast 😥
i wondered if this festival still occurs? sadly, it is now cancelled.

Fast Forward Dance Parade – Wikipedia

TBH I wouldn’t call an event with those named DJ’s sponspored by Heineken as particularly subversive, thats not to say it wasn’t a damn good party.

With the exception of Mysteryland I’ve got the distinct impression that most NL dance events are organised on strict commercial basis rather than as political activism, and Mysteryland (though its ethos is something I agree with 100%) is also a PR exercise to show (in the face of mounting opposition to it) trhat the NL dance scene is about a bit more than just mindless hedonism, without infringing on personal property rights. Not that there’s anything wrong about squatting genuinely disused buildings as emergency housing, but wider society does take exception to them simply being rinsed for parties (which was a big problem in my youth in England in the 90s/2000s and caused a lot of reputational damage to squatting as a whole).

I’m sure you know far better than myself about NL’s background of the Protestant hard work ethic and classical liberalism, and its something Dr B must have encountered too when he was there.

I’ve got some respect even for the first when they do tolerate a bit of hedonism (though less for the second), and I’m supposedly a Catholic! What I have been doing recently with some of the Dutch from the local radio industry is perhaps not unlike Martin McGuinness shaking hands with the Queen 😉

Although it might not seem “cool” or “alternative” in British culture which values conflict, the way the Dutch DJ’s and promoters put themselves across and deal with any negative claims about their scene by trying to integrate with the system isn’t something to be sneezed at. I also realise now why so many British producers work with the Dutch trance scene and its labels.

As for classical music in NL, the Netherlands have an impressive public funded orchestra but that got its funding cut too.

But looking at this particular event, the Dutch text and the research I’ve done into the NL dance scene particularly since deciding to learn the language I don’t think its accurate to simplistically blame the Goverment / bankers.

This event was refused its license after the violence at the Sunset Grooves party in 2009, which was caused by young footy hooligans acting like idiots, similar problems have blighted UK raves. I’ve also seen a fuckload of youtubes of unpleasant incidents at large NL events which TBH quite put me off going there – although I know they might have got more prominence due to Google splitting the single word “vechtpartij” into English words “fight” and “party” then indexing them as such, the comments from the “yoof” (which I can of course read) show some unpleasant truths about youth culture across Northern Europe which come from within rather than conspiracies without.

Even so, today there are still plenty of decent events in NL, and similar ones in BE (they were being advertised on C-Dance)

Much more so than England and many smaller scale venues, just a fraction of that here in England would make things much better. I also firmly believe their culture of tolerating these events is why youths in that country are so much more advanced in electronics and technology than in Blighty and more focused about their normal work if its in ICT because they associate with fun and not drudgery. I’m no short termist free market libertarian or capitalist BTW, but I’m not against ethical small business either and don’t see why these cannot operate from the dance music scene..