The party is part of Awakenings’ annual ADE program. As every year, the local promoter hosts a string of large techno gatherings at iconic venues. This is not only the biggest Awakenings indoor event – it is also the first techno event held at Ziggo Dome. As Amsterdam’s biggest concert hall, it has seen many world-famous live acts throughout the years. 

“After more than a year of no Awakenings events, we are excited to be back with a new ADE event which will be our biggest indoor production ever,” reads a statement by Awakenings Marketing Manager Tim Middelesch. “The fact that we can do this together with Reinier Zonneveld, a great home-grown techno artist, is great.”

“In order to get the real Awakenings feeling in the Ziggo Dome, as fans are used to, we will renovate the entire Ziggo Dome,” he continued. “We will move the entrances and put up the widest and highest stage that has ever been.”

Awakenings has organizing techno events for more than 22 years now. The event brand started out at the famous Gashouder in 1997. Since then, the massive productions have taken place at locations like Now & Wow in Rotterdam, Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, and the Klokgebouw in Eindhoven.

Find tickets and information on the other events at Awakenings.com.

Following the Dutch government’s recent announcement that festivals may potentially return in July, the trial event took place on March 6th in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome. Research group Fieldlab Evenementen supervised the study.

Over the gathering’s four-hour runtime, guests got separated into five groups of 250 people, plus one of 50. Each group was presented with different rules. For instance, one group attended wearing mouth masks only but had to stand in their designated spot. Another one was drinking fluorescent drinks and were encouraged to sing or scream to monitor saliva spread and reach. All of them had to submit negative COVID-19 test results 48 hours before the event.

The event took place from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM in order to be compliant with an ongoing nationwide 9:00 PM to 4:30 AM curfew. In addition to that, contacts and movements had been traced the whole night.

In the coming week, all guests must take another test. The Dutch government’s advisers will use data of the recorded behavior when making decisions on whether to ease restrictions on nightlife. With U.K. festivals returning and the Netherlands potentially opening up as well, many feel that there’s light on the horizon for the global event industry.

More than a year has passed since events of 100 people or more were banned in the Netherlands.