The circular dance festival DGTL kicks off the dance season – the sooner the better

Electronic music festival DGTL (pronounced: digital) opened the festival season in style under a blue-grey sky with occasional watery sunshine. From (predictable) international names such as Camelphat and Hony Dijon, to surprising local talents such as singer Ju-Lia and DJ Vuur. The line between commercial and underground is thin at DGTL, and that works.

A strange smell of toasted pine nuts hung over the concrete slabs of the NDSM wharf. It won’t have much to do with it, but DGTL is a completely circular festival. A “living lab”, according to the organization – “an experiment for society.” You are asked to separate your waste, there is only plant-based food and there are waterless toilets where you must indicate in advance whether you need to defecate or urinate: the excrement is filtered and used as fertilizer for, among other things, the field in the Johan Cruyff ArenA. Every year, DGTL innovates one step further.

This is possible because DGTL is a festival of international allure. The diverse line-up offers something for everyone: from hard-hitting industrial techno in the Generator room to tropical danceable house in the green Frequency tent. The common thread: greatness and professional spectacle. With peak sound. A small downside is the large Modular tent, where the high kicks against the back wall sometimes echoed back into the room. And the Generator stage also felt a bit tucked away, right at the back of the large shipbuilding shed.

But when Colin Benders (once Kyteman) is putting together an analog set live on his modular synthesizers, you immediately forget that. His rock-hard beech techno taps at times to a tempo that makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand on end. The hairs on the back of the neck also respond to the design of the halls: it is like rubbing your eyes at the light design. In an unorthodox way, the lighting design focuses on the audience – the lights do not come from behind or above the DJ, but rustle throughout the room. The level is sky high. Also musically.

For example, the internationally renowned Carista catapulted the audience towards outer space around dinner time with a set that was drenched in garage bangers (such as ‘Tonights the Night’ by DJ Pooch). A highlight turned out to be Canadian energy bomb Jayda G. She effortlessly moved from deeply melodic disco (like her Grammy-nominated edit of ‘Both of Us’) to straight-up rhythmic beats (like ‘Exploration of Space’ from the German trance duo Cosmic Gate). Dancing and jumping behind the DJ booth, Jayda G turned out to be an entertainer pur sang.

The high beats per minute content of many sets on Saturday was striking. It is a trend that has been going on since corona: the sooner the better. Almost every DJ takes a touch of trance with him. Especially in the famous boiler room stage, with a view over the IJ. The Parisian DJ/producer Bambounou, voted number two of the last Amsterdam Dance Event by 3voor12, was allowed to close the boiler room. His raging beats with strange sounds draped his UK techno set in an acid-like jacket.

Chicago house legends Honey Dijon and British duo Camelphat ended the first Saturday of the festival season simultaneously, in the Modular and AMP stages respectively. Vocal, accessible nineties house that leans towards disco, such as ‘Tell you no lie’ by Floorplan at Honey Dijon and grand, room-filling house music at Camelphat. Predictable valves – not too difficult, but very good. With, among others, Philou Louzolo, Chris Stussy and Sherelle, Sunday also promises a lot of good. The festival season has started.