Almost 100,000 visitors from over 100 different countries united in Biddinghuizen this weekend for the biggest edition of Defqon.1 Weekend Festival. For the first time in its 20-year history, fans could enjoy four days of the best artists in the scene at the iconic harder styles festival.
From Thursday until Sunday, 50,000 camping visitors attended the event, taking in the unprecedented performances from the likes of D-Block & S-te-Fan, Angerfist, Sefa, Ran-D, Warface, and Gunz For Hire. The 10 main areas on the festival grounds were complemented by additional areas such as The Big Chill, STËLZ party bus, and pop-up areas at various locations throughout the festival, such as the toilets, the lockers, a caravan, the gym, and a mobile area across the grounds. During the night, the party continued with three silent discos that were all packed until 3 am. Those who stayed at home had something to cheer about as well: the event was livestreamed through the Q-dance Network app, where thousands of fans of the scene from all over the world watched the various live streams of the event.
The festival weekend was packed with numerous impressive activations under the theme of ‘Primal Energy’. Traditionally, during Power Hour, the ‘left to right’ moment took place on the mainstage, where this year a helicopter directed 60,000 festival fans at the mainstage from left to right. On Saturday morning, thousands of visitors gathered to do a workout at one of the main stages during the Warrior Workout.
Jonas Schmidt, Creative Director at Q-dance: “If you ask us, Defqon.1 2022 was our best edition ever. We’re very proud and humbled that we succeeded with the event after three long years. The addition of the fourth day exceeded all our expectations; it gave people more time to discover the world of Defqon.1 and to temporise. In the end, everything we came up with worked out almost perfectly, from established moments like POWER HOUR and The Endshow to new show moments and other experiments that immediately drew thousands of visitors. Everywhere I went I saw happy visitors and the atmosphere was fantastic. There’s a reason for us closing the festival with ‘This Is Who We Are’; this weekend we once again showed who we are and what we stand for as a scene.”
During Defqon.1’s famous end show, the unprecedented unity of fans of the harder styles was once again a highlight. Not only because of the state-of-the-art production, but also through special show moments. Among those moments was the collaboration with ‘The Iceman’ Wim Hof, who closed the third festival day with a breathing exercise together with thousands of visitors at the RED. 2022 reached its ecstatic climax with the spectacular final show with phenomenal special effects and realised fireworks.
