Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Defqon.1 Festival
Annual music festival in the Netherlands From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
[1] Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as rawstyle, hardcore, uptempo, early and euphoric hardstyle. Over the years, Defqon.1 has grown into the largest harddance festival in the world, attracting over 250.000 visitors[2] from over 100 countries.
Remove ads
Events
Summarize
Perspective
The festival was previously held in mid-June on Almeerderstrand in Almere. Since 2011, it is hosted on the event site next to Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. Since 2009, the event has also been hosted in Sydney in mid-September, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. Until 2011 (2014 for the Australian edition) the festival ran for 12 hours, from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, and ended with a firework display. Since 2012, the festival was extended to three days. Since 2015, the Australian edition was extended to two days. Each edition also has an anthem, an official song that is played in conjunction with the festival. On 29 May 2019, Q-dance announced on its official Facebook profiles that Defqon.1 Australia, after a decade being held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith),[3] would be indefinitely suspended, since they were "unable to secure a suitable replacement venue for the event to take place [...]".[4] In addition to the Dutch and Australian editions, Defqon.1 was also briefly organized in Chile. The festival took place in 2015 and 2016 at Centro de Eventos Munich in Peñaflor, near Santiago, before being discontinued.
2020 did not see Defqon.1 held after the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte declared that all events in the Netherlands were cancelled until September 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Defqon.1 was held virtually in 2021, with sets from participating performers streamed from the Defqon.1 website.[5] The festival was held in person again in 2022, with over 100.000 unique visitors.[6]
Defqon.1 has grown in recent years into a festival defined by its signature rituals, which for many visitors form the heart of the experience. One of the most iconic moments is the Power Hour, where the crowd joins together in energetic dance moves, followed by the spectacular Endshow filled with fireworks and lights. The weekend comes to an end with the Closing Ritual, a show with fireworks and lights that highlights the strong sense of community. Other traditions include Defqon Legends, where icons of the hardstyle scene perform their best songs, the Tribute, a show that ends the first day of the festival, and The Spotlight, which places a chosen artist in the center of attention with fireworks and lights.
In 2025, Defqon.1 celebrated its anniversary edition and welcomed 250.000 visitors[2] from more than 110 countries. This milestone once again confirmed the festival’s status as the world’s largest hardstyle event. The festival is livestreamed with video from the largest stages and audio for all the other stages through YouTube,[7] and the Q-Dance[8] website for people all around the world to tune into.
Remove ads
Stages 2025
Remove ads
Festival history
Summarize
Perspective
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads