With the tickets in our pockets we rode towards the Sportpaleis & Lotto Arena in Antwerp for the 10th edition of a special event. This anniversary could only mean great things, so that was also what we expected. With music blasting from the car speakers, shivers started to arise the closer we got to our destination. The time for Reverze had finally come!
It must have been around 22:00 when we arrived and parked our car, which was only €5,- (pretty cheap compared to some big events in The Netherlands). It didn’t take long to enter the venue and get our stuff to a locker, so after we got some tokens it was time to head into the mainstage.
Sportpaleis
Reverze is known for its massive stage and epic lightshow. When we entered the duo Wasted Penguinz was getting the crowd pumped up for other great things this night would have in store. Their set consisted of some brand-new tracks, but also some classics like ‘Stay Alive’ and ‘Melancholia’.
The size of the area was pretty big, but even bigger when you also counted the platforms on all sides of the stage. We could easily mingle in the crowd and get a good spot to dance our asses off. People were enjoying themselves and we decided to talk to some to ask them about their Reverze experiences.
“This is my third Reverze, I come all the way from Italy and absolutely love it here! Just wait until the show starts.. You will immediately see why I will definitely be going here for the next 5 years as well!”
“The sound system here is so sick! It doesn’t matter where you stand, you will be blown away by the sound, the show, the music… Great sh*t haha!”
The clock kept ticking and before we knew it the Penguinz left the stage to make room for the next act. We decided to head over to the Lotto Arena to check out the raw side of the night had in store for us. The Sportpaleis is connected to the Lotto Arena, and it’s easy to get from one to the other, but even so it still felt like we walked into a completely different event.
Lotto Arena
It was a bit smaller than the Sportpaleis, but that made it feel more intimate and once we got on a platform it felt a lot bigger than we initially thought. We immediately got blown away by the sounds of Phuture Noize, who were performing live and promoting their new ‘Phuture Propaganda’ album. They even dressed up for the occasion! We couldn’t have received a warmer welcome. The Vision entered the stage right after them and after his new track ‘Bring Me Up’ things started to get really raw. He closed his set with B-Front’s remix of ‘Of Verona – Zero Gravity’, which was an excellent choice because let’s be honest, which track of his doesn’t do well on the dancefloor?
We walked back to the Sportpaleis and decided to grab something to eat. There were a lot of different things to choose from so that made us very happy (and hungry) men. One thing you need to know is that your tokens are only good for drinks. All the food has to be payed in cash.
Da Tweekaz were working their magic in the Sportpaleis mainstage and people were absolutely loving it. An occasional ‘Heeey Hooo’ couldn’t stop us from going nuts on tracks like ‘Bad Habit’, ‘Hewwego’ and ‘#TWEEKAY14’. Suddenly a familiar voice rose up from the decks and everyone knew what was coming. Da Tweekaz played their remix of ‘Frozen’ and the crowd went insane. We could only join in and were amazed by the crowd’s overall excitement. The people here sure know how to party.
The Show
At 01:00 Brennan Heart came to the stage and opened with his anthem for this year’s Reverze, called ‘Illumination’. The stage and its show were absolutely amazing. The panels in the sky were crazy beautiful and lights and lasers popped up out of nowhere. The stage itself looked great, but the panels included made it look and feel like the entire room had gotten you in its grasp. You couldn’t go anywhere because the Sportpaleis said so and wanted you to party as hard as you could. We were happy to oblige.
He played tracks like ‘Imaginary’, ‘MMVIII’ and ‘Outta My Way (Sub Sonik Remix). In the hours after that we visited Frequencerz, Zatox, Titan and Digital Punk, who all got the raw fans exactly what they wanted. Exploding kicks and shattering screeches filled both areas. This was definitely not for the faint-hearted.
The Reverze Flashback offered some great classics and got everyone bouncing on their feet. Hard Driver live was the act right after the Flashback and after that we went back to the Lott Arena. We caught the last minutes of E-Force and were very curious about Endymion. They recently announced their switch to (raw) hardstyle, but they didn’t disappoint for one second. Raw hardstyle with hardcore influences made for a perfect set, whilst Radical Redemption was tearing down the Sportpaleis next door.
Art of Fighters drained all the energy that was left in our bodies and when the music stopped we slowly walked back to our car. It had been a great experience and besides the €0,50 you had the pay for each toilet visit, we couldn’t think of anything that we didn’t like. Reverze will definitely be on our list for 2016!
CD Contest
Do you want to win a copy of the Reverze 2015 compilation, consisting of 3 CD’s? The only thing you need to do is like + share the Facebook post about this report on your own timeline. You can find the post here: http://goo.gl/R9Xpm3
We’ll choose a winner on Thursday March the 12th.
