A Week Inside ADE · Hippie Playboy

I flew out of Portland on the eighteenth with a carry-on, a backpack and a plan for the Amsterdam Dance Event.

If you've never heard of it: ADE isn't really a festival. It's a conference for the electronic music industry, and seemingly everyone in that world in Europe goes. Then at night it spills out across the whole city, a week-long party with dozens of shows every night in a few hundred venues.

I came because my dear friend Gabby is a DJ. She plays as Aneya Rose (@aneyarose_), she went last year, and for an artist it's a great place to network. I'd never been to Amsterdam, and with that much music on every night, you can't go wrong.

Magical, in an ordinary way

Amsterdam is kind of magical in a way that makes it seem ordinary. The canals and the bikes are amazing, and they're also just how people get around. If you aren't a car, the city works beautifully.

We picked the perfect place to stay, a little apartment-hotel just north of the center across the IJ. The ferry over is fast and free, and we rode it back and forth all week.

Days for the canals

My first full day I walked, all day, with no plan beyond a loose loop through the old center. The weather did its part: cool, clear and low autumn sun on the water.

I found the Begijnhof, a hidden courtyard of old houses around a lawn, through an unmarked door off one of the busiest streets in the city. Step through, and the noise just stops.

And then, on a canal-side street, the yellow banners went up and the week announced itself.

ADE banners and a crowd outside a canal-side building ADE takes over.

Gabby flew in that evening, and we rode the ferry back across the IJ in the dark, with the A'DAM Tower lit up for ADE's 30th year.

The A'DAM Tower lit up at night across the water Lit up for ADE's 30th.

Eric and Gabby smiling over coffee at a café table Coffee with Gabby.

Nights for the music

The plan was simple: go to Gabby's gigs. She arrived with one booked and got invited to play two more during the week, and she killed it every time.

The first was the Female DJ Society's event (@femaledj_society), close to home in Noord. Gabby is a founding member, and this was the second year the society has held an event at ADE. Our friend Kelila (@kelila_music), who founded and leads the group, couldn't make it this year, and she was missed.

Gabby DJing back to back with another DJ in a bright, warm-lit venue Aneya Rose, Female DJ Society.

While the DJs played, a graffiti artist called Freak painted a wall live.

A graffiti artist spray-painting a bright mural at a party Freak, live.

The other big night we'd both circled was Miss Monique (@djmissmonique). It started with sunset at the Eye Film Museum on the water, about as good a pre-game as a city can offer.

Sunset behind the angular Eye Film Museum building Sunset at the Eye.

Then across town to Sieraad, a beautiful old industrial building with great sound. The only disappointment was the stage, set so low it was hard to see her. The energy made up for it, and it was special to be there with Gabby, who opened for Miss Monique in Tampa a few years back.

Beams of white light cutting through smoke above Miss Monique at the decks Miss Monique at Sieraad.

Everything else we picked as we went. There were too many options, and the best shows were sold out. Next time I'd plan further ahead, but we still had a blast.

The party on the train

Gabby's set on Rave on Rails was the highlight of the week. The Sunset Express ran a loop out of Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam and back, with DJs in the carriages and the countryside going by the windows as the sun went down.

Gabby DJing in a train carriage under a glowing red flower-shaped light Aneya Rose on the train.

It was packed: everything you love (or hate) about a crowded nightclub, except the whole room is swaying side to side. Being with the artist meant backstage access, which was a little less crowded and a nice place to catch your breath. I met a great couple back there, her from Vietnam and France, him from Texas.

One more for the road

The next night, Sunday, the last night of ADE, Gabby played her third gig of the week at 50:Hertz, the house and techno club on Rembrandtplein. A fitting way to close it out: lasers, a full room, and my friend at the decks one more time.

Gabby smiling behind the decks under green laser beams at 50:Hertz Aneya Rose at 50:Hertz.

Amsterdam until dawn

Saturday night, between the train and that last gig, deserves its own mention. Back at the apartment just long enough to change. The rainbow trousers had been waiting all week for the right night.

Mirror selfie in rainbow trousers and a bucket hat Saturday night fit.

Then NDSM in the small hours, a club in the center after that, a walk across Dam Square at four with the whole city asleep, and at five in the morning, a new friend and a selfie in front of a giant glowing heart.

Eric in a red jacket and bucket hat with a new friend, a glowing red heart behind them at night 5 a.m., new friend.

One night during the week I wandered the Red Light District on my own and came out of it with some new friends too. Amsterdam is like that.

Would I go back?

ADE is an entirely different thing from a festival. Not being in the industry, I don't know that I'll go back for it. But I wouldn't hesitate to go if the chance came up, because Amsterdam and ADE are both amazing.

If I come back for the city itself, I think I'd come in spring. It was cold in October, and getting colder by the day.

On Monday morning I flew to Lisbon. A month in one place, after a week of not sleeping, sounded exactly right.