For five days each October, Amsterdam becomes the world capital of electronic music, as the Amsterdam Dance Event fills clubs, concert halls and conference centres across the city with hundreds of thousands of fans, DJs and industry figures. Part festival, part business conference, it is the largest gathering of its kind on the planet. The event was founded in 1995 and has grown enormously over the following decades, mirroring the rise of Dutch DJs and producers to the forefront of global dance music, and it now spans hundreds of events at well over a hundred venues throughout the city. By day, the festival hosts a vast professional conference where artists, label managers, promoters and technology companies meet to do business, exchange ideas and debate the future of the industry, making it as important to the music trade as it is to fans. By night, the city erupts into a sprawling festival, with performances ranging from intimate club sets and underground warehouse parties to huge shows in major arenas, covering every shade of electronic music from techno and house to the harder and more experimental styles. The atmosphere spills out across the whole city, with pop-up events, record fairs, art installations and parties animating venues large and small, so that for a few days the energy of the global dance scene is concentrated in the streets and clubs of Amsterdam. Drawing visitors from around the world, the Amsterdam Dance Event offers an unrivalled immersion in electronic music culture, and whether for the serious business of the conference or the round-the-clock celebration of the festival, it has become an essential fixture in the calendar of the city and of dance music itself. The festival rise has gone hand in hand with the extraordinary success of Dutch DJs and producers, who have become some of the best-paid and most influential figures in global pop music, turning a small country into a powerhouse of the electronic scene and giving the event a special resonance in its home city. For five days the worlds of business and pleasure intertwine, as deals are struck by day and dancefloors fill by night, all within the compact, canal-laced city. Drawing fans and professionals from every continent, the Amsterdam Dance Event has become both a pilgrimage for lovers of electronic music and a vital marketplace for the industry, cementing the place of the city at the very centre of a global cultural phenomenon.

Type: Activity

Address: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Website: https://www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl

Opening Date: 01/01/1995