ADE Celebrates Record Anniversary Edition

Amsterdam Dance Event celebrated its 20th installment with what organizers say was its most successful yet.

A record 365,000 visitors and 5,500 industry professionals flocked to Holland’s capital Oct. 14-18.

More than 2,280 artists performed during those five days with big names like Hardwell, Skream, Afrojack and Tiësto joining a lineup covering all forms of dance music. At the conference part during the day, about 500 speakers addressed hot topics of the trade, gave keynotes and answered audience questions.

One of ADE’s 2015 highlights included the MusicTalks session with OWSLA, the label of Skrillex, who was joined on stage by his label mates What So Not and Vindata as well as Wiwek.

Richard Zijlma, director of ADE, commented: “Over the last 20 years we have widened the scope of ADE step by step – and we want to keep developing. This year, for example, we had the first ADE Beats, a hip-hop program, and ADE Sound Lab about the technological evolution of sound. We will always look for ways to keep things fresh and ways to move forward and add to the festival.”

For many consecutive years ADE has managed to raise its attendance figures. Last year’s event, which had attracted 350,000 festivalgoers along with 5,200 delegates, had been overshadowed by four deaths, three of which local news outlets had linked to drug abuse.