Amsterdam Dance Event kicks off on Wednesday with over 1000 events
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) kicks off its 28th edition on Wednesday. This five-day festival in Amsterdam dedicated to electronic music features over 1000 events from Wednesday to Sunday, held in more than 200 venues across the city.
ADE has become an important gathering for DJs, managers, social media experts, and promoters in the electronic music industry. The event features various events including conferences, panel discussions, arts and culture showcases, live music, and DJ performances all over Amsterdam. More than 2,500 artists will participate. Top DJs coming to Amsterdam this year include Afrojack, Charlotte de Witte and Amelie Lens.
A spokesperson for the organization told NL Times that they expect 450,000 visitors from over 146 countries. Many events have already sold out. However, tickets remain available for the ADE Lab training sessions, the ADE Beats conference, and the ADE Green, which focuses on sustainability and innovation in music. Seats are also open for the BMIM x ADE workshops.
Purchasing a ticket at the last minute is no longer an option this year. The municipality has prohibited ticket sales on the event day to both online sales and at-the-door tickets. This action was prompted by a fatal stabbing at the Solid Grooves festival in Amsterdam in May. Investigations revealed that the event had sold too many tickets.
The Evenementen Vereniging Amsterdam (EVA) shared their dissatisfaction with the decision with NH Nieuws last week, wondering whether this measure will really increase safety for visitors. "This will lead to extra crowds at the door and more black-market sales, because visitors will still look for an ticket for an event where they would like to go.”
Websites that facilitate ticket resale, such as TicketSwap, are exempt from these new rules. This is because such platforms enable private individuals to offer their tickets, rather than selling new tickets themselves. An ADE spokesperson informed NL Times that for sold-out events, tickets will only be available through TicketSwap.