Hotel 538, are you in? Even though we were on the guestlist we thought it was a good idea to be there 30 minutes before the doors were going to open. The venue, the NH Barbizon hotel, is a really attractive and authentic 17th century building, in my opinion a wonderful location for an exclusive party. At about 20:45 we entered the building and we got a 538 bracelet & we could drop our coats/bags at the cloakroom (for free, a nice touch!). Tokens for drinks could be bought near there as well for only 1,50 euros per token (soft drinks & beers were only 2 tokens).
Timetable:
20:30 Doors open
21:00 Support act Don Diablo
22:00 Nicky Romero
23:00 End
At 21:00 538 radiohost Barry Paf kicked of the party & Don Diablo could start his set. It was very noticeable that many die-hard fans were present. People were going crazy already at the first beats Don played. Obviously he played his big hit ‘Housetime is anytime & anytime is housetime!’ and some really catchy mashups of for example ‘Oliver Heldens – Koala’ and ‘Iconapop – I love it’ were played. Throughout the whole set there was a very nice house-vibe which managed to get everybody in the mood to sing along & jump on his command. For many of my friends it was the first time ever to see Don Diablo playing live & they were all very impressed. The visuals on the LED-screen behind the DJ booth were on point and definitely fitting to Don’s set. ‘Back to life’ out today on all download portals was also amazing to witness live. Unfortunately we don’t have a video of that but here’s the official music video:
Don Diablo’s set was already really great but at the moment Nicky Romero was announced the enthusiasm of the crowd only got bigger and bigger. His set was filled with many recognizable tunes. Nicky has obviously been all over the world this festival & rocked so many big stages. Next to that his tracks have been supported by Hardwell, Tiësto, Fedde le Grand and many more. My personal highlights of his set were absolutely ‘Coldplay – Sky full of stars (Hardwell remix)’ which gave me straight goosebumbs like at Dance Valley and his newest track ‘Nicky Romero & Vicetone – Let me feel (ft. When We Are Wild)’
Just like everybody in the crowd I would have wanted to make a selfie with Don Diablo & Nicky Romero but due to their busy schedule that wasn’t possible unfortunately. In conclusion, a great party at a really nice venue with great music! I would like to thank Radio 538, Freetix.nl, Don Diablo & Nicky Romero for this great evening!
Date: 16th October 2014
Venue: NH Barbizon Hotel (Saint Olofs-chapel) in Amsterdam
Reporter: Alexander Bouten
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