Defqon.1.

So I've come home after spending the last week and a half in the company of my gorgeous boyfriend. I'm really sad about having to come home. We've decided to travel while we still have the luxury of living at home, so we can't afford our own place yet, which, in all honesty, is tough. I know it'll be worthwhile because there is so much we want to do and see, but it's hard not being able to be with him.

Anyway, that's not the subject of this blog. This is my Defqon blog!
So for those who don't know, Defqon.1 is music festival which is held every year in the Netherlands and Australia, and is hosted by festival organiser Q-dance. It's a festival where artists play the "harder styles of music", including hardstyle, hardcore, techno, dubstep, jumpstyle and hard trance. It was held last Saturday, on the 14th of September. Bert and I traveled 5 hours to Sydney for it, so we had high expectations. We traveled down on the Friday, went shopping (look out for some high-end makeup product reviews ;)) and got an early night. We woke up around 7 on Saturday, and got ready.

This is how excited we look at 7am!

I told Bert to give me his best excited face haha.

This was my outfit. I recently dyed my hair red so I just decided to keep with the whole red and black theme (which is the Defqon colours anyway). I just put my hair in pigtails because wearing it down is annoying at festivals. My fluffies are from ebay, my shirt is from Target, and my skirt is from asos. And don't worry, I was wearing shorts under the skirt because I know it's super short!

So we were tossing up between taking the courtesy bus that was offered, or driving. It was $20 to park or it was $10 each way on the bus so we decided to drive, just as it's more convenient. So we set off at about 8:30, as it said on the site to arrive early if you want to park. The Regatta Raceway is only about a 10 minute drive from where we were staying, so we headed on down and arrived, but we were told by the gateway officer that you couldn't park until 10. Straight off that was a little bit annoying, because it said NO WHERE on the website that you couldn't park until a certain time, and as Bert and I had never been to a Defqon before, we had no idea. After that, we went and waited in a nearby McDonald's for an hour and a half. Then at 10, we headed back and were told by a different person that parking wasn't until 10:30, which enraged and frustrated me as I felt it wasn't boding very well for the rest of the day. So we went and parked down a little street for another half an hour, and then head on back where we were FINALLY allowed in to park. So we parked and we seen groups of people heading in the same direction, so we followed suit and found the entry. The lines weren't too long, which surprised me as the festival was due to start in like 20 minutes. Bert and I bought VIP tickets, so we lined up separately to a lot of the others. One of the perks included in the VIP tickets was express entry into the festival, however when it hit 11 and the gates open, all the general admission tickets were let in before us. This was a little bit annoying, but in saying that I was quite impressed with how quickly and efficiently everyone was let in. Another VIP perk was that we got a goodie bag, which included a drawstring bag, stickers, a C.D, a bracelet and some other goodies.

After going over the bridge, this was the entrance way. When we first went in, we wandered around for a bit before deciding to go buy our tokens.

Instead of using money at food and drink stalls, we buy tokens and use those instead. It was $50 for 20 tokens, and most food was around 3-4 tokens and drinks were around 2-3 tokens. We worked out that tokens were worth around $2.50. I quite liked the token system. It was VERY efficient. People were able to buy drinks and food quickly without having to muck around with money and change and all that. I think it's a great idea and that more festivals should adopt the idea. 

After buying our tokens, we decided to get in early and go to the merch stand. Apparently, though, everyone else had the same idea. We waited in the merch line for an hour, which is beyond ridiculous. It was pretty much just a free for all. There were people cutting in left right and center, there were no lines and all was all pretty much just a huge amalgamation of bodies. It was kind of annoying too cos the sun was burning down and I got a sunburn real bad on one arm. ONE ARM. Now it's turned in to a mismatched tan.

Anyway, after we got our merch we heading straight over to the red stage where the Wasted Penguinz were playing.

We were there for about an hour before we went and got food, and then we wandered around for a while. Then we headed back to the mainstage and checked out the roped off VIP area. I LOVED the VIP area. It was so worth the extra money. There was a big raised up grandstand-esque area that was specifically for people with VIP tickets. It had a perfect view of the mainstage. Then out the back of the grandstand, there was a private bar, private toilets, and a nice grassy area where you could sit by the river and still hear whoever was playing on the mainstage clearly. After spending a while at the mainstage, we headed over the black stage to see Endymion. Endymion was the only artist I knew of the day, and the black stage was BY FAR my favourite part of the day. When we got there, there was an artist on before Endymion called AniMe, and she was fucking fantastic! Bert and I managed to get a prime position spot on the raised up railings along the side of the stage so we could see the stage and the DJ's so clearly without any obstructions. I danced hard for AniMe and when Endymion finally came on I danced even harder for them. It was SO much fun and both artists were incredible.

After being at the black stage, we headed back to the VIP area and chilled there for ages, til we finally went up to try and find a good spot so we would have a good view for the end show. We got prime positioning for this too, and I just could not believe our luck! We watched a couple of artists and then finally Frontliner followed by Brennan Heart performed, and I could not be more impressed. I know nothing about this scene, but the vibe and atmosphere of the whole day was infectious. You couldn't NOT have fun, because everyone around you is just laughing and smiling and dancing.

I missed the end of Frontliner and some of Brennan Heart's set as I literally couldn't stand so I had to go sit down while Bert kept our position. When I finally went back, it was getting pretty intense. Then about 20 minutes before the festival finished, the end show started, and holy fuck I could not be more impressed! Bert has shown me end shows through video before but absolutely nothing compares to being there, and feeling the bass pulse through your veins and feeling the warmth of the fire on your skin and appreciating the amazing things they can do with these lights! It was a perfect end to a great day.

All in all I could not be more impressed with my experience at Defqon. Apart from a few early hiccoughs, the whole day ran so smoothly and we got SO lucky with our views of every artist we wanted to see. The vibe was amazing, and we had no dramas the entire day which is everything you could possibly ask for at a festival. All in all I would rate my experience a 9/10 and we will definitely be back next year!

Check out the end show here.
Listen to some Endymion here.