Every weekend right before labor day weekend, the Netherlands is graced with a festival unlike any other. Being the first of its kind in the country when established in 1993, ravers all over the world come every year just for Mysteryland! From the masterminds at ID&T which hosts legendary festivals such as Tomorrowland and Electric Zoo, Mysteryland is Holland’s oldest EDM festival and is even older than Tomorrowland. Hosting two full days of fast past festival action and one day exclusively for campers, Mysteryland brings diversity and quality all in one. With myself originally doing the American edition at Bethel Woods in 2016 on the holy grounds of Woodstock, I was truly amazed by this festival and knew I had to experience it from where it was organically grown. While I can talk about how amazing this festival is below, check out below the top three reasons Mysteryland stands out above all other festivals and why you should check it out in 2020!
3. Diversity
In the festival world, the market is quite oversaturated, festival line ups tend to look the same all year round and the same headliners are on rotations year-round as well. One thing that truly made Mysteryland stand out to me was all the different genres that are blended into a single festival, hosting over 15 stages and squeezing 300+ artists. Mysteryland has everything from Trance, Techno, Hardstyle, Drum, and Bass to Hardcore. This festival is perfect for music lovers and single music genre lovers as well if you’re into dance music there a stage here for you somewhere. The stage curates also help diversify this festival, hosting curates such as Trance Energy, STMPD Records, DJ Rush presents, Thunderdome and many more! Trance Energy was the main reason for coming to Mysteryland in 2018-2019 myself, but I loved all the other stages as well. I found myself stuck at the DJ Rush presents stage this year all day Sunday, not knowing anything about him or the artists that share the stage with him. It was the highlight of my Sunday for sure, this is surely one of those festivals where you can roam to get lost in and end up having an amazing time still.
2. Production
While I truly believe production isn’t everything, Mysteryland goes above and beyond when it comes to production. I’m blown away with just how much love and attention are put into these stages, even the smallest stage will have fireworks and confetti. While I only went to the main stage once this year to see Martin Garrix, the main stage this year was beautiful and I enjoyed this amazing stage while the sunset for Garrix Sunday closing set. Another quite impressive stage was DJ Rush stage, it reminded me a bit of Eric Prydz EPIC 4.0 production and synced up well for the fast pace techno beats that were happening here. Below are some personal shots I took from this year, to understand just how massive and unique these stages are.
1. Creativity
From stage dancers, in-crowd props such as sunflower showers and inflatable beach balls. Mysteryland takes the cake when it comes to creativity, as well as partnering up with Holland Casino to provide a unique zipline opportunity that allows you to cross over from one end of the festival to another to take in this beautiful venue. If the minds behind Mysteryland strive, for one thing, it’s that your festival experience will be unlike any you’ve ever had or will experience. One of my favorite moments was walking back to the campgrounds on Saturday night to see a minion on stage dancing to hardstyle! This creativity flows into the crowd and enhances the vibe of the festival, it was refreshing to see after 8+ years experiencing festivals I was able to still be surprised and excited for new experiences.
Mysteryland without a doubt should be on your festival calendar for 2020, it offers everything you could imagine and then some. In my opinion an amazing price point for what included, Mysteryland breaks the generic festival cycle that is happening too often with festivals these days. To me, it ranks up to high tier festivals that provide unique experiences such as Electric Forest, Glastonbury, Burning Man and so on. With over 25+ years in the festival market, this festival is a hidden gem and underrated. I’m excited to return next year and spend an unforgettable weekend in the Netherlands to see some of the best acts in the world across all genres, I’ll be counting down the days till August 28th, 29th, 30th 2020!
