Twenty years after his first Hard Bass performance, Coone will return to the event for the ninth time this Saturday. Together with Noisecontrollers and Wildstylez, he forms Team Blue, before Brennan Heart LIVE closes out the first team of the night. With so much history between them, a set packed with classics might seem like the obvious choice, but that is exactly what the Belgian wants to avoid. “The idea isn’t to focus solely on the nostalgic feeling of Hard Bass.”
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Coone first performed at Hard Bass in 2006 and was also responsible for the event’s official compilation that same year. Now, twenty years later, he is preparing for his ninth appearance. Once again, it will take place at the GelreDome, a venue that, according to him, holds a special place within hardstyle. “They sometimes call the GelreDome the holy grail of indoor hardstyle events. It’s always absolutely massive. It’s almost impossible to comprehend how many people are standing in front of you.”
This time, Coone will form the core of Team Blue alongside Noisecontrollers and Wildstylez, with Brennan Heart closing out the team with his live act. Although Coone usually prefers performing solo, he believes the team concept can add something special at Hard Bass. “When you’re up there with the right people and there’s a certain synergy, a concept like Hard Bass can work incredibly well. The guys I’m playing with, we go way back. So it’s definitely going to be a lot of fun, and musically our sounds fit together extremely well.”
“It’s more about the sound than the eras”
Preparations for Team Blue are already well underway. Coone, Noisecontrollers and Wildstylez have created a group chat and are currently putting together their 90-minute set. Coone has already made one thing clear: simply playing one huge hit from the past after another would be too easy. “I think people will expect a completely recognizable set. Obviously, you’ve got three guys up there with so much legacy and history. But to me, it would be too obvious to just play ‘Timeless’ and Noisecontrollers’ ‘CTRL.ALT.DELETE’.”
Instead of focusing on one particular era, Coone mainly wants to showcase what he considers to be the quintessential Hard Bass sound. “Basically, we want to show what the feel of Hard Bass is to us. So for me, it’s more about the sound than the different eras.”
At the same time, that means Team Blue will not be stuck entirely in the past. According to the Belgian, new music can fit perfectly alongside the recognizable Hard Bass tracks. “For me, that can include new stuff as well, let’s put it that way. It just needs to be balanced properly. That’s important.”
Coone does not want to reveal much more about Team Blue beforehand. What is clear, however, is that the three DJs have no intention of simply running through twenty years of familiar tracks. For Coone, his ninth Hard Bass appearance is primarily about bringing back that recognizable sound without living entirely in the past.
In the latest episode of PLAFONDDIENST, we take an extensive look ahead to the return of Hard Bass. Besides Coone, we call Jort from B2S, Niels on behalf of B-Freqz and Crypsis on behalf of Minus Militia to talk about their history with the event and what they have planned for Saturday at the GelreDome. The full episode is available now via your favorite podcast platforms.
