All About Defqon.1 Festival

Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, Netherlands

Open-air

XXL – 50k+

Electronic

$$$

Live music

+3 Days

Defqon.1 is a record-breaking festival and one of the world’s most popular hardstyle music celebrations.

The festival specializes in electronic music and a mix of related genres such as hardstyle, hardcore, hard house, freestyle, hard trance, psychedelic trance, hard techno, and speedcore.

Besides its flagship location, the festival also used to be held in Chile and Australia, before getting suspended in those countries. Defqon.1 has been welcoming thousands of music fans since its inauguration.

Here’s everything you need to know about Defqon.1 Festival.

Q-dance is the organizer of Defqon.1

Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals focusing on the harder dance music genres – mainly hardstyle, hardcore, and hard trance. Founded in 2003, Defqon.1 Festival was a product of the company’s love for the bumpy genre and music fans’ need for more hardstyle beats.

Defqon.1 is one of Q-dance’s most popular events. Qlimax and Qapital are other two events that reflect Q-dance’s work and constant commitment to delivering the best hardstyle beats.

Defqon.1 used to be held in other countries

After several years of success in the Netherlands, the festival took place in Australia and Chile. The festival rocked Australia’s grounds from 2009 to 2018, and in Chile from 2015 to 2016.

Due to two deaths that resulted from drug overdoses during the 2018 event, the organizers postponed the Defqon.1’s Australian edition until further notice – but the festival never came back to the southern hemisphere.

While the festivals in Australia and Chile were both suspended, the Dutch outpost is still going strong.

It grew from a one-day festival to a multiday festival

When it first saw daylight back in 2011, the festival used to last only 12 hours, from 11 AM to 11 PM.

But the following year, the organizers transformed the rather short-lived party into a three-day behemoth.

To make up to for the lost time during the pandemic, Defqon.1 added an extra day for its 2022 edition – nobody ever complained about having too much hardstyle, right?

Guests can tune into Defqon.1 through YouTube and Q-Dance

Those who are not able to join the festival can tune in through YouTube and Q-Dance and get a taste of Defqon’s hypnotic visuals and electronic beats.

These platforms livestream the festival showcasing live-shot footage from the main stages.

Tickets of Defqon.1 sell out in the blink of an eye

After launching on the festival market, the festival has become an event that people from all over the world look forward to.

Otherwise we can’t explain how most of the times, the festival passes sell out in less than an hour.

If your check out skills aren’t fast enough to secure your place at Defqon.1, beware of ticket scams.

The electronic festival attracts dozens of con artists and scammers that would gaslight music fans for a few extra bucks.

Defqon.1 has hosted top artists from around the world

Hosting some of the biggest names in the music industry, the festival managed to rank – and protect its status – as one of the most coveted festivals. With more than 250 performers taking over its stages every year, it is not hard to see why music fans hurry into booking their Defqon.1 tickets.

The most popular DJs who performed at the festival include Headhunterz, Wildstylez, and D-Block & S-te-Fan.

In a 2018 interview, Dutch DJ and music producer Headhunterz called Defqon.1 a “home that I cherish so much” and a platform that allows him to “play a lot of new music.” If top-tier DJs speak so highly of Defqon.1, it must be for a good reason.

Defqon.1 has a capacity of 100,000 attendees

The festival takes place in a space that can accommodate up to 100,000 attendees every day. The number of attendees varies depending on the artists that are performing.

Every edition has its own anthem

Each edition of the festival has its own anthem, which translates into an official song performed in conjunction with the festival.

In the 2018 edition, Project One performed Maximum Force, which was the official anthem of that year’s edition.

In 2021, Defqon.1 took place virtually

Defqon.1 Festival knows how to turn the groovy mode on – even with a pandemic roaming around and national lockdowns rising one after another.

Back in 2020, the festival had to skip that year’s edition because of COVID-19 restrictions. But Defqon.1 is not a quitter. In a true reveler spirit, the organizers decided to stream it online. 

It seems like this festival has the “a party is wherever you are” mantra at its core.