Defqon.1 Festival

Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as hardcore, early and classic.

The primary stage at Defqon.1, the RED Stage, is the largest stage. (photo from 2023)
Not to be confused with DEF CON, an annual hacker convention.

Defqon.1 Weekend Festival
The official logo of Defqon.1 Weekend Festival
GenreElectronic Dance music, hard dance, hardstyle, hardcore, hard house, Freestyle, hard trance, psychedelic trance, Hardtechno, Speedcore and Frenchcore
DatesNetherlands (since 14 June 2003)
Australia (19 September 2009-September 16, 2018)
Chile (12 December 2015 & 10 December 2016)
Location(s)Netherlands (since 14 June 2003)
Australia (19 September 2009- 16 September 2018)
Chile (12 December 2015 & 10 December 2016)
Years active2003–Present (Netherlands)
2009–2018 (Australia)
2015–2016 (Chile)
Founded byQ-dance
Capacity100,000 (Daily)
WebsiteDefqon.1 Weekend Festival
Defqon.1 Festival Australia
Defqon.1 Festival Chile

Events

The festival was previously held in mid-June on Almeerderstrand in Almere. Since 2011, it is hosted on the event site next to Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. Since 2009, the event has also been hosted in Sydney in mid-September, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. Until 2011 (2014 for the Australian edition) the festival ran for 12 hours, from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, and ended with a firework display. Since 2012, the festival was extended to three days. Since 2015, the Australian edition was extended to two days. Each edition also has an anthem, an official song that is played in conjunction with the festival. The festival is also livestreamed with video from the largest stages and audio for all the other stages through YouTube,[1] and the Q-Dance[2] website for people all around the world to tune into.

At the Dutch event the audience has grown to 65,000 visitors per day. In 2013, the Sydney event attracted 18,000 attendees.[3] The same event saw the death of a male, around 20 drug overdoses[3] and more than 80 arrested on drug charges.[4]

On 17 September 2018, the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced her intention that Defqon.1 would not take place again, due to two deaths that took place at the 2018 festival.[5] At this event seven hundred people sought medical assistance.[6] Shane Rattenbury, the Greens leader in the ACT, has invited Defqon.1 to take place in Canberra where pill testing could be carried out after a successful trial with Groovin the Moo.[7]

On 29 May 2019, Q-dance announced on its official Facebook profiles that Defqon.1 Australia, after a decade being held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith),[8] would be indefinitely suspended, since they were "unable to secure a suitable replacement venue for the event to take place [...]"[9]

2020 did not see Defqon.1 held after the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte declared that all events in the Netherlands were cancelled until September 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Defqon.1 was held virtually in 2021, with sets from participating performers streamed from the Defqon.1 website.[10]

The festival was held in person again in 2022, with over 100.000 unique visitors.[11]

Festival history
Year Location Anthem & Theme Number of visitors* Number of performers Date
2003 Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands 48 14 June
2004 79 19 June
2005 Emergency Call (The Prophet) 85 18 June
2006 The Colour of the Harder Styles (Showtek) 103 17 June
2007 Get Wasted (Brennan Heart) 124 16 June
2008 Biological Insanity (Luna & Deepack) 119 14 June
2009 Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands Scrap Attack (Headhunterz) 30,000 104 13 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Maximum Force (Zany) 52 19 September
2010 Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands No Time To Waste (Wildstylez) 40,000 115 12 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Save Your Scrap for Victory (Headhunterz) 72 18 September
2011 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Unite (Noisecontrollers) 127 25 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Psychedelic Wasteland (Toneshifterz) 72 17 September
2012 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands World of Madness (Headhunterz, Wildstylez & Noisecontrollers) 55,000 21–23 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia True Rebel Freedom (Wildstylez) 15 September
2013 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Weekend Warriors (Frontliner) 55,000[12] 312 21–23 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Scrap The System (Brennan Heart) 18,000[3] 14 September
2014 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Survival of the Fittest (Coone) 55,000[13] 207 27–29 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Unleash the Beast (Code Black) 20 September
2015 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands No Guts, No Glory (Ran-D) 60,000[14] 250+ 19–21 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia No Guts, No Glory (Frontliner, Dillytek & 360) 21,000 97 18–19 September
Centro de Eventos Munich, Santiago de Chile, Santiago Providence, Chile Unleash The Beast (Wildstylez) 30,000 33 12 December
2016 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Dragonblood (Bass Modulators) 100,000 24–26 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Dragonblood (Toneshifterz, Code Black & Audiofreq) 25,000 17 September
Centro de Eventos Munich, Santiago de Chile, Santiago Providence, Chile Dragonblood (Frontliner) 20,000 10 December
2017 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Victory Forever (Frequencerz) 150,000 23–25 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Eye of the Storm (D-Block and S-Te-Fan) 30,000 16 September
2018 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands Maximum Force (Project One) 185,000 226 22–24 June
Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Dedicated To The Core (Coone) 30,000 15 September
2019 Walibi Holland Evenemententerrein, Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands One Tribe (Phuture Noize, Keltek, Sefa) 78,000 Unique visitors[15] 235 28–30 June
2020 Primal Energy (D-Block & S-te-Fan) - - Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, an @Home event took place.
2021 N/A N/A N/A
2022 Primal Energy (Haunted Grounds) (D-Block & S-te-Fan; under their live act Ghost Stories) 100,000[11] 23–26 June
2023 Path of the Warrior (Sub Zero Project)[16] 250,000 22–25 June

See also

References
  1. "Q-dance". YouTube. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  2. "Q-dance". Q-Dance. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  3. Emma Partridge (15 September 2013). "Man dies at Defqon.1 music festival". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  4. Amy Dale; Nathan Klein; Alicia Wood; Simon Black (16 September 2013). "Dance party drug death victim James Munro pictured before the fatal Defqon. 1 festival". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  5. Kelly, Lidia (15 September 2018). "Two dead after suspected drug overdose at Sydney music festival". Reuters. Retrieved 13 November 2018. 'This is an unsafe event and I'll be doing everything I can to make sure it never happens again,' she added.
  6. Megan Palin and Natalie Wolfe (17 September 2018). "Sydney music festival deaths: Two young people dead". news.com.au. News Pty. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  7. Scott, Elise (8 October 2018). "Push for Defqon.1 to move to ACT, where pill testing is supported". ABC News. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  8. Rota, Genevieve (30 May 2019). "Defqon.1 festival 'postponed indefinitely'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  9. Defqon.1, Australia 2019 (29 May 2019). "Warriors, it is with great sadness to inform you that Defqon.1 Festival will not return to Australia this year". Facebook. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  10. "Defqon.1 at Home 2021". Q-dance. Q-dance. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  11. "Report: Defqon.1 2022 - Primal Energy". Festival Fans (in Dutch). 5 July 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  12. naam (21 June 2012). "Festivalterrein Defqon.1 open - Dossier: Defqon.1" (in Dutch). Omroepflevoland.nl. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  13. "Defqon.1 Holland | Tickets Sold Out". Q-dance. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  14. "Ruim 60.000 bezoekers bij Defqon.1". www.omroepflevoland.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  15. "Defqon.1 2019 heeft alle verwachtingen overtroffen" (in Dutch). fok.nl. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  16. "Q-dance Reveals Defqon.1 2023 Theme, Anthem Creators, and More". edmidentity.com. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
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