Last Saturday, the 23rd of May 2015, we visited the 2^nd edition of Suppression:Make RAW not War.  Suppression is a Raw Hardstyle event which always features some great upcoming artists together with bigger names. This edition was held in Beach Club Fuel (in Bloemendaal Aan Zee),  which surprised us since it’s not common to have Hardstyle parties in beach club’s. The anthem for this edition was made by Nemesis, and is called ‘Free Yourself’.  It’s an anthem with some amazing raw kicks and we thought it really set the mood for this second edition. We were very excited to check out this relatively new event, and here’s what we thought..

 

Entrance

After arriving at the beautiful beachside of Bloomingdale, we walked down the beach on our way to Beachclub Fuel. The view was beautiful and the weather was very nice, which really helped set the mood! When we arrived at the entrance, there was relatively no line so after a quick bag search by the security we were almost ready to go! After a quick stop at the ticket/guestlist post we were told we had to buy a bracelet that would allow us to use the restrooms. Buying this bracelet was obligatory, they cost 3 Euros each. All of this was done very quickly, we were inside in under 5 minutes which was a big plus! All that was left to do was getting a locker (12.- which include a deposit of 5.-which was returned after giving back your key).  What stood out to us was that we didn’t have to buy any tokens, payment could be done with cash here, which for us was a plus since that meant less time standing in line for tokens and more time to enjoy the party!

 

There were two areas:  Area 1 was located inside the Beach Club and (the smaller) second Area was located outside in the sun, which really gave us the nice ‘’beach-feeling’’.

D-Sturb at Area  2

As we entered, we noticed that, since we were quite early, there were almost just as much DJ’s as visitors there. This made for a very friendly and intimate atmosphere, which we really enjoyed. After getting our first drinks at the bar (very quick service and relatively cheap prices) it was time to really enjoy the music!

Artifact

At this time, Artifact was finishing up his set. He played some great tracks of his own such as ‘Lunar’, which was featured on the Loudness EP, and ‘World is Mine’. This last track was released just 2 months ago on End of Line Recordings, where Artifact signed this year. His tracks have been supported by great artists such as B-Front, Crypsis and Titan and he’ll be playing on huge events such as Defqon. 1 and CRAFT Festival, and never disappoints during his sets, so we really recommend you check him out when you get the chance!

 

Act of Rage

Act of Rage is a member of the Minus is More label and never ceases to amaze with his musical vision, but most of all energetic performance! This was no different  at Suppression; with tracks like the recently released ‘Rock ‘N’ Raw’ by Francesco Zeta and ‘Rage’ (the Raw Op Je Dak Anthem he made with Mc Jeff) and crowd-pleaser ‘Broken’ by Regain,  he really set the tone for the rest of the night!

 

Titan

We were really looking forward to this set! Titan never disappoints and always knows how to get the crowd pumped up and make them go totally crazy! During this set he played bangin’ tracks with the rawest kicks such as ‘Black Demon’ (Digital Punk remix) and ‘Sentinel’ which resulted in an explosion of energy in the crowd! During Titan’s set we decided to go outside for a smoke and see what was happening in the second area, where Up Syndrome & Electric Punk were playing one of our favorites: ‘Bring the Riot’ by the queen of raw, miss Deetox. After a quick smoke and checking out the merchandise they were selling, we went back inside to see our favorite Frenchman X-Pander play.

X-Pander starting his set

 

X-Pander

This Most Wanted DJ youngster has been doing great lately! With performances at events such as XXlerator Raw, Loudness and upcoming bookings for Defqon.1 and Dominator this promises to be a great festival season for him. We really enjoyed his set which included amazing track variety! He played tracks such as his own track ‘Don’t Fall Asleep’, ‘Funky Shit’, but also classics like ‘Rockstar’ by Frequencerz and ‘Hard Bass Junkie’ (the Digital Punk remix).  During the end of X-pander’s set we decided to go outside for a smoke , where we ran into Deetox (who was next behind the decks).We had a lovely chat and she told us she was really looking forward to playing her set. After this quick chat we followed her back inside Area 1, since it was almost time for her set!

 

Deetox

The queen of raw immediately claimed her title by opening her set with ‘Path to Extinction’, a very daring/risky (but amazing) move if you ask us! The crowd reaction to this track was amazing, people were running forward to the stage and everybody was going crazy! Other tracks she played were ‘Terrordome’ by Phuture Noize , which you don’t usually hear in a lot of sets, ‘Nightlife Criminal’ and other tracks that did especially well with the audience were her collab with Delete: ‘Fatal’ and her closing track: ‘Rawness’ ft. E-force.  Because everybody went all out during miss Deetox’ set, the heat inside area 1 had become so intense that we decided to see our favorite Italian talent in area 2: Unresolved!

 

Unresolved (Area 2) & Typhoon vs. Delete (Area 1)

We personally found out just how good Unresolved was during his set at Loudness this year and have been following him ever since! Unresolved’s choice of tracks is always a guarantee for a crowd going nuts, which was exactly the case during Suppression! Therefore, the atmosphere during his set was great. He played a set with tracks that really went well with each other and we even got a chance to hear his new remix of ‘New Beginning’ by the Beast Project, which is to be released in July ’15, which really is a floorfiller!  Since we also really wanted to see Typhoon vs. Delete perform, we decided to go back to Area 1 and see what tracks they were firing! Typhoon & Delete opened their set with their collab ‘Firing’,  Delete played his new track ‘Funky’ and they also played classic ‘Natural Born Raver’ which of course resulted in the whole crowd singing ‘’Face it, you are a natural born raver’’, which was really cool!

 

Jason Payne

After all this madness it was time for Theracords youngster Jason Payne! Jason Payne has been doing really well this year and has been booked for some amazing gigs since he’s been signed with Theracords/Limitless Agency, such as Defqon. 1, the Qontinent and Decibel Outdoor! Jason Payne really knows how to close down a stage and get the crowd to stomp and dance out all of their last energy! This time he did so with tracks like ‘Cocaine of the Devil’ (Jason Payne mash up), ‘Broken’ by Regain and ‘Mashup 5.0’, especially this last track was really appreciated by the crowd! Unfortunately we had to leave halfway during his set, since we needed to catch our last train home.

 

Conclusion

We thought it was really cool that this event was held in a Beach Club, since you don’t see that very often with Hardstyle parties, so for us, that’s a plus. However, at one point the heat became too much and we even noticed some artists dripping in sweat, haha! So for the next time we recommend they do something about the air-conditioning. Other than that, we were pleasantly surprised by the quick and friendly service at the entrance, bar and lockers! Also we really loved the line-up, since it’s not a line-up you see every day.  The sets were great, the MC (MC Invalid) showed amazing energy on stage and knew exactly how (and when!) to get the crowd going. We also really enjoyed the friendly and intimate atmosphere. All together, we had an amazing time and we really hope to see Suppression: Make RAW not War #3 happen!

 

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