Last weekend, the hardstyle festival season officially kicked off. REBiRTH Festival has marked the start of the outdoor season for years and attracts visitors from all over the world. This year, the event experienced its biggest edition to date, featuring larger stages, brand-new REBiRTH Evolution Specials, and a series of impressive live show premieres.
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Even before the festival grounds opened, hundreds of visitors were already waiting at the campsite entrance. To welcome the campers, Eleven Travel and later Hardstyle Daily provided the opening acts.
The crowd in front of the red fire truck serving as the HSD stage quickly grew into a mass of people. During Incult’s set, there was no escaping it: the festival season had begun. With every drop, the crowd jumped into the air en masse, and lungs burst with unprecedented force.
The weekend was packed with highlights and amazing sets. To keep things organized, we are only highlighting the absolute standouts, but that was no easy choice.
Comebacks, collabs and premieres
Aversion made his comeback this weekend after a difficult period. Prior to his set, he announced on PLAFONDDIENST that he would be bringing no fewer than eight new tracks, ranging from slowtempo to melodic hardstyle. That renewed energy was immediately palpable: playful, creative productions ensured a fresh and surprising start to the weekend.
One of the highlights of Friday came from B-Front and Phuture Noize with their face-to-face set. The chemistry between the two was undeniable and resulted in an hour-and-a-half-long rollercoaster of classics and crowd favorites. The audience sang along to virtually every track word for word. An experience that made an impression both on and off stage.
Missy and DIMMA also made an impression with their joint debut. Their new live act, Missy en DIMMA SLOPEN DE TENT, completely blew the new RESiST tent away. For half an hour, fans were treated to almost exclusively new music. The combination of themed vocals, fake drops that captivated the entire crowd, and hard-hitting kicks made this one of the most energetic sets of the day.
REBiRTH Evolution Specials take Saturday to the next level
Saturday was packed with brand-new REBiRTH Evolution Specials, a concept that guarantees unique musical journeys through the past of the harder styles.
For instance, Chapter V and Repeller took the audience on a journey through the label’s roots during the Spoontech special. Classic Spoontech sounds echoed through the REBELLiON, with classics like ‘D’, ‘Absolute Terror’, and ‘Zimmersion’ managing not only to get the entire crowd klaplonging, but also to scream through the tent at full volume.
Coone had a special reason to go all out this weekend: Dirty Workz (the label he founded) is celebrating its 20th anniversary. During his hour-and-a-half-long Evolution Special, he played a carefully curated selection of classics and new tracks from various label artists, combining both nostalgia and a look towards the future.
Rejecta and Act of Rage also proved why their collaboration as REJECTOFRAGE is so beloved. Their Evolution Special was packed with rawstyle classics from both artists and popular collabs between the two. During tracks like ‘Homicide’ and ‘REJECTOFRAGE’, the audience went wild without exception, screaming along to every note at maximum volume, creating an atmosphere of pure old-school raw energy.
The long-awaited 4444 Four Of A Kind set did not disappoint either. Legendary duos D-Block & S-te-Fan and Sub Zero Project joined forces in an act that does not revolve around nostalgia, but rather around innovation and renewal within the scene. The set managed to keep familiar hardstyle elements like screeches interesting and deliver hard-hitting new kicks, without straying into other genres.
This set was not only a musical highlight but also one of the best of the weekend in terms of showmanship. With various show elements taking the lead in different songs, the set showed a real build-up in which more and more elements of the music and the show came together to complement each other, resulting in a beautiful final outcome.
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Sunday full of energy and surprises
On the final day of the festival, Mish managed to draw a large crowd to the main stage early on. As always, there was an exuberant atmosphere during her set, with the audience and the artist effortlessly connecting through energy and enthusiasm, while a wide spectrum of harder styles blasted through the speakers
Later in the day, BMBERJCK provided one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. During the premiere of his new live set Temple of Raw, he combined blistering kicks with surprising edits and melodic drops. Early in the set, Michael van Gerwen unexpectedly appeared on stage, accompanied by a ‘Seven Nation Army’ edit, a moment that caused many surprised faces in the tent.
Adaro managed to completely fill the REVELATiON with his Evolution Special. Under the last rays of the day’s sun, songs like ‘My Eyes Spit Fire’, ‘Oldschool Lovers’, and ‘Men Of Steel’ effortlessly created massive sing-along moments.
A finale at top speed
The honor of closing the weekend lay in the hands of Noxiouz, who closed the main stage in impressive fashion with his live show, The Catalyst. With a build-up from an already high tempo to over 200 bpm, visitors were pushed to the limit one last time. The mass sing-along during ‘The Catalyst’, ‘The FOMO’, and ‘Nightmares’ gave everyone goosebumps, a perfect conclusion to the start of the festival season. Tired, but with renewed energy for the rest of the season, the visitors left the grounds. The kick-off of the festival season could hardly have been more convincing.
Footage by: REBiRTH Festival
