Review: Extrema Outdoor 2015

On July 11th, the 20th edition of Dutch festival Extrema Outdoor took place near Eindhoven. With an audience of 25.000 people and a line-up featuring artists like Madeon, Oliver Heldens, 2MANYDJS, Boys Noize, Flosstradamus, RL Grime, Mike Mago, Mr. Belt & Wezol and Gorgon City, the festival can righteously call itself one of the more unique festivals Holland has to offer.

The XO organization does their best to get the most unique artists and exclusive live shows to the festival every year. As a result the 5 main areas (\’Diamond\’, \’Quartz\’, \’Crystal\’, \’Ants\’ and \’20 Years Of Love\’) featured a diverse selection of electronic artists.

The most unique stages this year were the \’Ants\’ stage, which brought the \’Ants\’ Ibiza concept to Holland, and the \’20 Years Of Love\’ stage that brought \’old\’ DJ heroes (Lady Aïda, Miss Monica, DJ Jean, Joost van Bellen and Marcello) back to Extrema\’s wheels of steel. Of course there was also plenty to see on the gigantic outdoor \’Diamond\’ stage and the indoor \’Quartz\’ stage.

Highlights of the festival were the French Madeon who started out slow, but surprisingly, his set quickly became a trap and progressive house infused dance-off. Oliver Heldens also stepped up as a proper crowd pleaser who even had time to do a little dance on stage. Chicago based duo Flosstradamus laid down a hard hitting set in the \’Quartz\’ tent that made the ground shake. Also, a personal big plus for me was the relaxed atmosphere. Extrema always make me feel right at home. Even in the burning Dutch sun.

The festival ended with a spectacular show, which was a trip down memory lane, featuring actors, lights, videos and a big inflatable heart, all to older hits that were popular during the rise of the festival throughout the years.

Next year the organization will be back with the 21st edition of Extrema Outdoor and I’m pretty sure that it will, once again, be one of the must-see events of the 2016 summer festival season.