Open Air Amsterdam kicks off festival season in style…

With festival season in full flow, what better way to kick of my season that with a trip to everyones favourite getaway, Amsterdam. Anything goes here, we all know that, so Open Air Festival, now in its third year should be plenty of fun. Ticking the boxes of festival achievements I hadn’t covered, once of them was to arrive in style. This was soon completed as I was taken to the festival site in a blacked out Audi Q7. Luxury bonuses were a plenty from the festival organisers as I was also handed my own personal maid to be at my back and call. Further more I was given an exquisite tipi fitted with bed and my a personal stash of toilet roll. Now that is a festival bonus if ever there was one.

Being greeted with impeccable hospitality was just the icing on the preverbal cake at Open Air. The Team behind the ming blowing and indoor outing Valhalla really do know how to put on a show. Opting for a an obvious summer outdoor theme, rather than the more debauched outlook they choose for Valhalla, the decor offers a very hypnotic hippy theme marrying with a twist indoor strobes, punchy soundsystems, hints of Glastonbury style portrayals with weird hang outs all added into the fray. Some may think that sounds to much but because the settings was round a lake and the arenas were correctly and perfectly spread apart the different options were all well thought out with pin point accuracy. Further more all the tents and arenas were from local and homeland promoters, none were from out of the Netherlands which I thought was a true testament to the promoters.

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The line up spoke for itself. Big hitters like Derrick May and Paco Osuna were on hand to add their techno ethos on the onlooking audience, while local hero Tom Trago and the elegant Gerd and San Proper added their more subtle take on proceedings. The rolling house came from stalwart performers DJ Sneak and Tanzmann.Covering both days there was plenty of music that could have taken your fancy throughout the 7 arenas, but the before mentioned artist were my pick.

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A mass of food emporiums and toilets meant that no one was kept waiting and the cleanliness was always up to date. Secret chill out areas and quirky hotspots were jotted around which added spice on the occasion too. Slightly concerning was the fact that there was no cash points which probably kept folk a little at bay with their spending, but that was the only fault from my opinion.

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Its rare at this day and age, especially with the amount of festivals going on in 2013 that you would get this sort of quality, whether it be from the music, the organisation and the ideas brought to the forefront so that is a very important point and anyone wishing to check out Open Air Festival should do so with only minor speculation. A very good start to the summer…


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