Pandemonium 2010

Written by Marijn van Laerhoven

Saturday the 8th of October saw the tenth edition of Cyndium's Pandemonium, a hardcore (gabber house) happening taking place in the legendary Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The night was themed 'The Chains of Babylon' and visitors were asked to dress accordingly.

Techno music may have been flown over all the way from Detroit but the harder styles of electronic music originated right here in Holland. Back in the nineties there was this immensely popular Dutch subculture of the gabbers. On their much beloved Nike Air 'maxies' they'd walk the streets, heads shaved, in Australian training outfits. The tunes they'd listen to are best described as loud and obnoxious. Heavily distorted kick drums at a rate of no less than 180 beats per minute with some catchy melodies and vocals, many of which sampled from well known movies as Pulp Fiction and Scarface. Many believe the era of the gabber is long gone and those Australian's have disappeared into some forgotten closet. Truth is gabbers are still here today in 2010, and tonight promised to be excellent proof of that. We so happened to have an Australian jacket in the closet ourselves. So, dressed in style, we headed for southern Amsterdam. Located merely steps away from the Olympic stadium is a sporting complex with a history not only in sports but also in raves. It's a place where many, many ravers have raved before. As for tonight, approximately three thousand.

Pandemonium took place over two areas. Well, actually only one. One room was named 'Paradox' with hardcore from between 2000 and 2010; the main 'Pandemonium' room for everything from before the new millennium, so called early rave. Performing artists included The Darkraver & Pavo, The Prophet, Laurent HÔ, Endymion, Angerfist and Partyraiser. The two rooms of the Sporthallen were interconnected by a series of stairways and corridors, great for the adventurous ravers who like to do some exploring. Cyndium threw in plenty of multi colored laser action in both rooms, a major player to the element of show. Another thing worth mentioning were the four moving (inwards and outwards) elements with lights and lasers in the Pandemonium room, pretty neat. The same room also had a platform situated right behind the DJ's that looked like some sort of VIP platform. In reality this platform was open to all visitors, making them part of the decoration by forming the tower of Babylon.

Enough on history and show, let's talk music. Our personal highlight of tonight was Ruffneck and Predator teaming up for a special set dedicated solely to Ruffneck tunes. Ruffneck's sound has always been somewhat different, and in fact lead to a sub genre named 'artcore' (or darkcore). It was great to hear back tracks that we used to listen to on a daily base more than a decade ago. For the majority of the night we preferred the trips down memory lane with the early sounds of the Pandemonium area but one set that made us stick around in the Paradox room was the live gig of Radium & The Sickest Squad. Not much catchy melodies here, just energetic beats. While there, it seemed the Paradox area was in fact more popular amongst tonight's visitors than the main Pandemonium area. Meanwhile back at the main room, hardcore grandmasters Vince and Promo teamed up for a back to back set. And after that, Frantic Freak to close the night. The man has proven before to be more than capable to give Pandemonium nights a proper frantic ending. Tonight he delivered once more, sending us home both exhausted and satisfied.

We had a great time at Pandemonium, and, judging all the smiles and friendly faces, so seemed the rest of the crowd. Then again we also felt something was missing. While some made short work of raving on the beat, some seemed not to bother even trying. There just wasn't as much energy amongst the crowd as seen at previous Pandemonium editions... but surely that energy will return when Pandemonium returns?

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