Gunz for Hire invaded Sweden, Armed & Dangerous

By Jan-Jaap Top 31 January 2018

Sometimes, we just have to experience new things. And 2018 seemed just the right time to start to collect some new memories. My brother had just finished his semester abroad and our German friend Andy and I teamed up to go to Sweden together. This was the first time in a long time I really had to plan a party way in advance!

Even though I’m used to a little travel when I’m going to parties (I’m from Groningen), Sweden was something else!

In Gothenburg we kind of seemed out of place, wether it was because of our clothes, or Andy’s colourfull beard: people were staring! But who cares? We came to party!

With an outside temp. Of -10 degrees we went to Trädgar’n (Excuse the Swedish A, I don’t have the right keyboard key), this was the location of the venue. We were shook when we waited in line: No pushing or pulling, just a nice straight line. Security wasn’t armed, but could have been a militia judging by their muscles. They weirdly looked at me when I started emptying my pockets in anticipation of searches. However noone needed to be searched: something unheard of in the Netherlands.

Let’s Party
After we spoke to the organization and artists, it was just about time to take a look inside. Nenad, a Dutch artist living in Sweden, was busy with his opening set. A set jam-packed with classics; loads of Noisecontrollers and Crypsis tracks! Also, the venue got a warm-up for later that night when “Gangsters Don’t Dance” blasted from the stereo.

After that, Ran-D was welcomed warmly by an entire venue screaming. He opened by playing his new track “Nirvana”. His Roughstate brothers were represented by tracks like “Renegades” and who can imagine a Ran-D set without his killertrack “Zombie”?

The mere energy of the people on the floor was unheard of. Every track was drowned out by the sound of everyone losing their mind! This was something, as a veteran partygoer, I had never witnessed.

However, the craziness did not stop just there: When MC Da Syndrome grabbed a beer and yelled the Swedish word for ‘cheers!’ the entire venue raised their beer and his cheers was met with theirs. After Ran-D closed down with “Seven” and “America” MC Da Syndrome showed everyone he has trained his Swedish and closed the set down with some words of the natives. They seemed to enjoy it, as they got wild after he ended his speech, but unfortunately I don’t speak any Swedish, so his words will remain a mystery.

Next Up: Clockartz!
After Ran-D it was time for the gentlemen of Clockartz to show their power! They sneakpeeked during Ran-D’s set to show support during the Clockartz’ collab with Ran-D, ‘Victorious’. The tempo went down compared to Ran-D, but this was no reason to slow down the partygoers! Especially floorfillers like “Before You Go” by Myst and “The Art Of Being One’ helped in the ‘Go Crazy-Department’

Swedish Raw Power
Someone who has lately started making Hardstyle again, and who is VERY familiar with Swedish parties: Riddle me this! Of course I am talking about mr. Psycho himself: Chris One. Although he wasn’t on the line-up, he decided to come by and play a few records.

Whoever thought that climax-screaming were only a thing in The Netherlands are definatelly mistaken! This phenomenon has reached Sweden for sure. This was very, very noticable during “Delirium” when the entire venue filled itself with “OOOOHHH’s” made by the audience.

The moment we’ve been waiting for
After Chris One it was finally time, time to confront Sweden with the madness that is called Gunz For Hire Live. The stage and venue were completely covered in darkness and everyone clustered in the front in anticipation. Even though it was packed, there was no pushing or pulling again (Way to go Sweden! Big thumbs up). Once the intro had ended, Gunz opened with “Plata o Plomo”. As a Dutchie I thought I was used to people going insane, especially with live-acts, Sweden however completely raised the bar. I mean the entirely knocked the bar out of the park. The audience sang along with ev-e-r-y track and went completely mental during the entire duration of the set. How we felt stared at in the citycentre of Gothenburg, we became one with everyone inside. When my favourite track: “Lions” hit the decks, I had to represent our country and dance just a little bit harder!

Time flew by and before we knew it, the end of the set was announced. And as seemed tradition in Sweden, Gunz left the stage while getting smacked by a sonic wall of applause.

Left too early
After Gunz a part of the venue left together with the headliner of the night. However they did miss the gravy of the night: Phuture Noize. While some people headed back to the cold outside world, our world contained Phuture Noize and B-Front – Paradox. On one of the sides of the venue there was a G4H signing session happening. The rest of the floor was filled by people enjoying tracks like “Black Mirror Society”, “Strike You Down (Qlimax Edit)” and Vic Mensa – There’s A Lot Going On (Phuture Noize Bootleg). Saying I had goosebumps was the understatement of the young new year.

Not Over yet
The night just kept giving and the next present of Sweden was a set of The Haunter Of The Dark: Adaro in full force! Thijs decided he would take us on a memorytrain by playing tracks like “Magic” by B-Frontliner and his signature track “The Haunter Of The Dark”: Goosebumps again!

Luckily I wasn’t the only one. Me and a Swedish fan were more than happy to listen to these beats. He told me he loved every second of it, and boy was he in for a treat: “The Sky Is The Limit”, “Greta Is Great” and of course “Dark Universe” were yet to be played!

And just when you thought you had heard it all, there was the cherry on the cake: “Black Rain”. The Hard Bass anthem of 2018 made by Adaro ft. E-Life. Damn, me and my Swedish friend had enjoyed one of the best sets of our lives. Unfortunately this meant the end of Adaro. The decks were taken by Evil Activities to close down the night.

This meant higher BPM’s and more sonic violence. Unfortunately Andy left after the hardcore remix of “Bolivia” as he had to catch his plane. My brother and I were luckier, we could spend the night in the venue and we had to head back way later. We ended our night TOGETHER with Adaro, as he joined the audience to get freaky. After going insane on “The Voice Of Mayhem” the night came to an end, and we had to head back tot he Netherlands!

The most astonishing things were the lack of searching, the huge amounth of people inside early on, drinking from glasses instead of plastic cups and the insane atmosphere!

Sweden, you were amazing, I can definately advise ANYONE to party with the Swedes.