Largest Amsterdam Dance Event party, AMF, cancelled over Covid rules

The Amsterdam Music Festival (AMF), the largest party of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), will not take place this year due to the coronavirus restrictions. The organizers announced that it cannot organize the event with only 75 percent of attendees, as per the new restrictions announced by the cabinet on Tuesday.

The AMF was scheduled for October 16 with 40 thousand attendees at full capacity and performances by DJs Afrojack, Tiesto, Nicky Romero, Armin van Buuren and David Guetta. The event was already sold out. This is the second year the AMF can't happen due to the coronavirus.

"We need your love on that special night on the 16th of October in the beating heart of Amsterdam - the Johan Cruijff ArenA. We need your energy. We need your beautiful smiling faces. We need you to embrace each other again. We need you to make AMF your escape and take this journey with us once again. But the Dutch Government has other plans," AMF said on Facebook. "We did all we could to reunite with you on the dancefloor again, but the world is still in a very surreal place and we will have to sadly miss you for one more year."

Festival organizer ALDA said it hopes to be able to hold the AMF next year, on Saturday October 22.

A spokesperson for the ADE told NU.nl that it is discussing the possibilities of holding the multi-day dance event with the municipality of Amsterdam. "The fact that AMF is canceled does not mean that the entire Amsterdam Dance Event has been canceled," the spokesperson said. "With the measures that have now been announced, we certainly see opportunities to organize an ADE and we are now going to work out with the municipality how we can shape this."