At the beginning of June, a two-day music festival, Free Your Mind, took place less than an hour from the Dutch capital, Arnhem, to whose program we also contributed.
After the festival’s multi-year hibernation, people were more than clearly eager for socializing, music, and the euphoria that such events cause, since all the tickets were already sent 2 weeks before the event. We arrived at the field one day before the event started. We arrived at the scene on Friday, June 3. around 4 p.m. The scene was almost ready. An anthill of technicians was walking around, arranging the last micro-tasks for the perfect course of the event.
After touring the entire venue, we only recognized the size of the festival, which with all its activities and four stages, accommodates way more than 15,000 people.
The next day: Saturday, started sunny and stayed that way until the end of the evening. After the opening, the festival was filled to its maximum capacity in almost three hours.
After a short observation of the audience, it was impossible to determine the dominant age group. However, the venue was buzzing with the positive energy of the elderly and the younger ones.
The HYTE stage was soon filled with a crowd of people, and under the hot sun and sandy floor, they, all sweaty, danced to the conductor’s cues of the following selected DJs. Laura van Hal, Len Faki, Marcel Dettmann, Remy Unger, Sama, Speedy J, and Thimo Konings. With his HYTE debut, Thimo Konings opened the stage, warmed up the audience, and welcomed them into the festival season; for many, it was the first festival after the covid era. After him, Laura Van Hal took over the DJ desk, also the debutante of the HYTE story, and with her set, she accompanied all the participants well until the next performer – Marcel Dettmann. The sun was still high then, the temperatures were suitable, and the energy was already well developed.
After all the troubles brought by the virus, the participants showed the will to live still smoldered in them, and it seemed as if a flame had re-emerged from a tiny spark, which burned until the evening hours. After Marcel Dettmann, Sam took over the stage with a slightly harder set, as the clock was slowly approaching the second part of the afternoon and slowly turning into the evening.
He was followed by the unique Len Faki, followed by local Remi Unger, who connected the evening into the night. Finally, speedy J took over the night drive to the finish line.
The atmosphere of the first day could be summed up in three words: Dusty, sweaty, and raw, and we are glad that we could share the joy of music with such an eager audience.
The second day, looking out the hotel window, he seemed a little more gloomy, as the sky was obscured by cloudy gray. At the beginning of the second day, the all-day rain began, which intensified into the pouring. However, the weather conditions did not affect the mood of the visitors in any way, as everyone left the comfort of their homes without hesitation and maintained a positive atmosphere despite the rain.
Over time, large puddles formed on the venue, making it impossible for visitors to exit generally after the end of the festival, but in the end, everything turned out well.
The two-day Free Your Mind festival proved that despite the suppression of the human spark and fervor, the flame in people does not go out quickly. Top Lineup, top production, and organization. Thanks to the organizers for the performance and to everyone who came dancing in the sun and in the rain.
