Amidst the festival giants such as DGTL & Dekmantel nestle some homegrown gems, born out of budding friendships and a vision to provide others with what they feel missing within the scene. Festifest is one of those gems.
Perched in a small arena like area at NDSM, Festifest welcomes around 2000 people, all of which snapped up their tickets within days of release. The demand to attend Festifest took me by surprise as many people I had spoken to hadn’t really heard about it but I soon found out that the reason being was because I was speaking to expats and British students. What I found special about this festival was its community like feel, amongst predominantly Dutch attendees.
The motive to tend to a small crowd comes with its perks. Although a huge budget isn’t always accessible, you attract people that really aren’t bothered about the crazy epileptic inducing light shows. I found it evident that everyone there really wanted to be there rather than the bandwagon jumpers. With only two stages, one in the ‘garden’ and the other on the ‘riverbank, the crew really managed to create a distinction between the two, and allocated the array of artists to each stage perfectly. There were some big names across the entire day, Midland, Some Chemistry and Tsepo to name a few, but the set that really spoke to me was the live set from Lövestad.
The duo banished the ‘performer-attendee’ hierarchy and instead of performing on a pedestal, they slammed their decks and keyboard amongst the crowd. The two were so involved in their perfomance my friend and I couldn’t believe our eyes. With 80’s synths transcending into funky disco vibes, I felt their whole set, both stage presence and sound encapsulated the aura that Festifest stands for. My eyes are definitely on their similar edition in August.
Featured Image: Raymond Van Mil
