The next morning, after everyone had showered, dressed up, put loads of make up one etc., we headed off to Aquabest. After the smooth entry as e-friends, we checked out the festival area...... as there was no DJ that I wanted to see until 3ish, we just relaxed and strolled around all different stages, enjoying a well-deserved beer in the sun. We thanked the weather gods for making the sun shine brightly, which had resulted in all ladies wearing beautiful, though little, clothes... bikinis, short skirts, little dresses, and many, many flip flops. But also for the ladies, plenty of guys wanted to show off their muscled upper bodies, so I would say it was even for both sexes! And everybody was in a good mood, although that is the standard every year at EXTREMA.
At the 'Mixed stage', usually the biggest and therefore main stage, a guy called Warren Fellow was playing. Not good enough though, so as soon as we had finished our drinks, we went on to the neighbouring stage. This was the 'Border Community Area', hosted by a British DJ/Producer called James Holden, a relatively small area almost completely covered by a big tent cover, but with the sides open. The decoration was a bit sober for EXTREMA's standards, but the line up was possibly the most exciting. When we arrived, a talented Dutch girl called Sandrien was playing some high standard Deep Techhouse (jargon, ignore if you want). Unfortunately, it was still early and not many people had found this area yet, so when Nuno dos Santos took over we continued our tour across the festival area. Next up was the 'Royal Dutch Stage', with only Dutch DJs playing.... think Eric de Man and Victor Coral. No well known DJs, so it was no very surprising that after one drink we decided to move on again.
Nicely set up, but at the outer corner of the festival area, 'The Lakeside Stage' had not attracted many people yet. But on the podium on the water, we enjoyed a bit of sunshine, music and beer while Chris Lake (known from the hit 'Changes) was playing. By 3ish, it was time to go to the Future Funk area for the first DJ on my 'to see list'.... Desyn Masiello, who was doing an act with Demi and some other London-based DJ. Now the Future Funk area has gradually taken over as the main stage, with the best decoration and biggest crowds (see photo on the right). For some reason Ron Caroll (singing his hit 'Lucky Star' live) before him just kept going and going which would have been fine if he was doing well... so by the time Masiello took over, I was fed up with this very, very busy area. After 20 minutes, the music was still building up too slowly, so we thought it was time for some proper energy. Time for the 'Techno Dome', where my long-time hero Jeff Mills was playing.
'Sjefke van de Molen' (for friends, see photo on the left) is a living legend, mixing fundamental Techno in a high tempo (he once played 75 tracks in 1 hour!). He has never disappointed me, and this time was no different. It was getting quite warm in the circus tent-formed dome, but it did not affect us because the music wat just too good!
Joris Voorn took over, one of Holland's best techno/technhouse producers, and I actually have several of his records (I might put one or two in the MUSIC section at some point). Now, every DJ generally starts slow and builds up towards a climax... but that is not too smart straight after Jeff Mills, so it was not super, but he was doing well, making use of the spontaneity and flexibility that you have in a live set, and was clearly working towards a good half of his set. But we could not stay, as my annual dosis of Misstress Barbara was scheduled around 18h00.
Back at the 'Border Community Stage', Fairmont was still doing his live set.... not bad, but not Barbara. While waiting, Bart Wijers (my friend from University) and I did an experiment (science is a hobby, remember!); we both tested two Bavaria beers and two Bavaria malt beers (without alcohol) blindly. Interestingly, we could not consistently separate the real ones from the malt ones, suggesting that maybe, I have found a great non-alcoholic beverage for those nights that I have to BOB/drive!! Anyway, back to the music. Finally Misstress Barbara started, about an hour later than scheduled. I was very curious as Misstress Barbara is known for her high energy sets of funky drummy techno, but has changed her style a bit in the last two years. As I have recently purchased some of her latest productions (have a look at the MUSIC section), I was not surprised by the deep techhouse sound that she played. After about half an hour, however, the weather turned. I don't know if it was because of what I was doing on the toilet, but when I stepped out of my dixie (a mobile toilet), it started raining!!! So when I came back to the area, it was completely packed with people looking for shelter under the big umbrella that was covering the dance area. There was no way of getting in the crowd and reaching Janneke and the rest, so I just stayed outside... in the rain, beer in the hand and Barbara playing the tunes. And I had the best of times as I was the only one dancing there, with the all the sheltered people looking at what that weird guy was doing... haha!

After that, straight through to the 'Techno Dome', where Ben Sims was playing his well known tribal techno at high energy and speed. I do not recall ever seeing Ben Sims live, even though I was a big fan in the days that I still went clubbing regularly. He was at EXTREMA about 4 years ago, but had to quit after about 20 minutes because of a thunderstorm. But it was worth the wait, cause he was flying, and so were we. That hour was over before we knew it, so we only had one set left!! Panic, what should we do?
We decided to go to the 'Lakeside', where another legend was playing real progressive sounds: John Digweed. Like during Barbara's session, rain caused the plateau on the water to be almost empty. But as it was not that bad, we took over that area, and finished the day with a great view of all the podia along the lake. At 11 all the music stopped, and things finished with an act with fire, fireworks and a 60 foot man walking over water. It was all over, we will have to wait another year.......

See you all next year!!

Short Summary:

Who were there (in random order): Janneke, Bart Wijers & Manon, Jan & Wietske, Wendy & Niels, Bart Maas, Nick, Arno and even Heleen. Really missed Rianne, Michael & Vanessa, Uriell, Marije, Etienne and many more...

Weather: perfect till 19h30. Rain after that, but not so much that it affected the festival too much. The setting was done better this year, so that most people could get shelter quite easily.

Atmosphere: In contrast to parties like 'Sensation' and 'Mystery Land', people at Extrema are generally quite grown up. Well dressed, people are always in a good mood at Extrema, and are there to enjoy themselves. They are not there to get pissed or drugged, although there are always exceptions.

Decoration: The stages were again bigger, but still as creative and beautiful as ever. Future Funk, Royal Dutch, Mixed stage and Lakeside were top, Border Community was sober, but functional.

Toilets: Free if you had an e-ticket, so that was good. But very very busy to get in. But what do you expect with 30000 people drinking all day?

Food/drinks: Much variety, from 'poffertjes' to Thai food, but more importantly frikandellen and kroketten! Perhaps I was just lucky, but I never had to wait in line for drinks, so that was great. And the Bavaria malt, what a finding that could prove to be!

Highs: I cannot remember giving my legs a rest during Ben Sims' set, that much energy!!! However, dancing in the rain while Misstress Barbara was playing 'Don't leave' (see MUSIC section) cannot be beaten.

Lows: Although I have heard very few bad sets, I also heard very few really brilliant sets.... not many sets that got me euphoric and will last in my memory! Also, The Future Funk area is beautiful, and often very good DJs are playing there, but it is simply too busy....