January 25th - Rave-O-Lution , Oss

Last friday it was time for the first bigger rave with lots of happy hardcore dj's .. RAVE-O-LUTION !

A party with Mental Theo, Highlander, Dune, Paul Elstak and The Rizzler .. 

Our settime was from 2 to 3 AM, after Paul, and I was crazy ill ! I had been in bed all day so that I could perform an hour in the evening ..

We arrived at 1.30 AM in Oss, a place about 20 min from Den Bosch, a bigger city in Brabant.

It was a big sports hall with about 900 people. Pretty big stage with a big LED screen.

Our set went rather well, although it was very hard for me to focus due to my illness ... But I managed! And Bruce did an awesome set !

To show you what the party looked like, check out the pictures made by Danny from PF ..

Thanks Hardmotion Events & Confusion Events for having us !

- overview of the party -

- Dj Paul Elstak -

- Our very own Bruce -

- ... and myself -

- Highlander -

- Mental Theo -

- Dune -

- the big LED screen -

- Critical Mass dj team -

- put your hands up in the air -

- Theo & Paul -

- Great stage at RAVE-O-LUTION -

Schedule week 4

The first bigger party of this year is taking place in week 4 already ... With the biggest names in happy hardcore land ... 

• January 25th - Rave-O-Lution , Oss

Dj's like Mental Theo, Dj Paul, Dune and The Rizzler will play so the bar is high ! Make sure you will be there, this will be one wicked party !

Our photographer Jasper will be there too to take pictures !

December 25th - Army Of Hardcore, Oberhausen

Last tuesday it was time for the annual christmas party in Oberhausen !

ARMY OF HARDCORE !

With a line up, hardcore minded people can only dream of !

Mainstream ( 2 area's ), frenchcore, speedcore, freestyle and ofcourse, early !

Dj's like Evil Activities, Art Of Fighters, Angerfist, Bass-D, Paul Elstak, Tha Playah, Viper, Neophyte, Korsakoff and many more were bringing you some serious damage in your ears !

When we arrived, we came in at the main 1 where Dj Korsakoff was playing. She was almost finished and after that it was time for our good friend Kelly ( Evil Activities ) and E-Life, to begin their live act ! It was massive ! What a sound !

We had to play in the early area together with Darkraver, Dune, Paul and Panic which is quite the early line up !

It's always more difficult choosing your tracks when so many awesome dj's are in the same ine up as you. You want to be different, and that's not always easy.

I think we did a good job. The people danced, although it was freakin' hot in the early area. They even sang along! We had a great time ! Afterwards we talked some of our colleagues, and at 4 it was time to go .. It had been a long day !

Here are some partypictures by my man Danny from PF :

- Art Of Fighters -

- Dj Korsakoff -

- Jeroen / Neophyte -

- Dj The Viper -

- that's me -

- Kelly / Evil Activities -

- Elvis / E-Life -

- Mainstage - 

December 15th - Rainbow Rave, Uelsen

Last saturday it was time for an old fashion 'Happy Hardcore' party ... the winter edition of RainBow Rave. 4 years ago, we started Critical Mass at this party, at this location, so it always cool to be back.

The location is the megaclub ZAK, in Uelsen, Germany. It's pretty long drive for us, but always worth it.

The line up was awesome. 2 live acts, and 4 dj's! Bass-D, Waxweazle, Paul Elstak and us ! Plus our friends from 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor and 4-Tune Fairytales !

We had the kick off. Our settime was from 12.30 till 02.00 AM, which was okay since we were attending Thunderdome after this.

The club was not too crowded when we arrived ( the night was still young ). The dancefloor was empty, and all people were having drinks and stood around it. This I had to change ofcourse.

After 5 minutes the first people came to the dancefloor, after 15 minutes this was changed to let's say 25 people ... At the end of our set the dancefloor was full and the hands were all the way up in the air ! Very nice Uelsen ! We liked it !

After us it was time for Des'ray and D-Rock to play for all those enthousiastic people ! As the vibe was set, I think that would not be a problem ! Unfortunately we had no time to see the others, because we were attending the last Thunderdome in Amsterdam !

Here are some partypictures made at Rainbow Rave :





- Our very own Critical Mass dj, Mr. Mogwai !  -

  

- the one and only Dj Paul Elstak -





- Dj Waxweazle -

  

- Lilian aka. 4-Tune Fairytales -

 

- Des'ray and D-Rock aka. 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor -




November 17th - Happy Wonderland, Beesd

At a party like 'Happy Wonderland', it's always hard to play, because of so many good dj. I mean, Dj Paul, Mental Theo, Waxweazle, Dune and Highlander are all oldschool heroes.

Also all happy hardcore tracks made will be played several times, so when you have to start at 4, chances are very big people think 'that track again' ?

So we stepped up the game, and played some very nice early tracks. Started off with 'Geleihoofd', and people went nuts !

I didn't expect people to be partying that hard at 4 in the morning, but they did ! Damn !

Much respect to all partypeople still raving like it was their last party, we had a blast ! I hope you did too !

Thanks to Confusion Events, for again another great booking!

October 5th - Time2BeHappy, Würselen

Second gig of friday was one in Germany, Würselen to be exact ..  It's near Aachen next to the Dutch border. This party was organized by our friends from Sonicbangers, which is one of the leading hardcore organisations in NRW Germany ...

Our settime was 12 AM, but due to the bad weather we arrived at 12.15. Sorry ! We drove like mad, and any faster wasn't going to be safe anymore. Before us, Tim ( Dj Xtreme ) played and he played 15 minutes more for us ( thanks Tim ! )

It was quite packed in Berks Dancing, so this party was ready to go ! It was already a pretty good atmosphere so we had a good lift off.

Our set was well received, and we got a lot of good responses ! It was like a good old gabber party, great stuff ! Well done Sonicbangers !

We even signed some t-shirts just like back in the day.

Our set went on till 2.40 AM and after us Mister 'At The Count of 3' Chosen Few did his thing. Lots of Mokums came by. It was a lot harder and faster than our set, but people still picked it up.

After Chosen Few, the one and only Dj Paul was up, and although I was also the host of this event, he brought his own microphone master with him, MC Ruffian. So I couldn't do much there. Paul did a very good set, starting from very commercial to hard, and back and forth ... Lots of energy there!

All in all a great evening ! Eindhoven and Würselen, you were both great ! Hoping to be back very soon !

Schedule week 40

Friday we will have two gigs again ... and again two different ones ! One in Holland and the other one in Germany.

• October 5th - House Of Revolution, Eindhoven
• October 5th - Time2BeHappy, Aachen ( GER )

In Eindhoven we will start the party and afterwards we will drive ( fast ) to Aachen, because there we will do a dj set and I will host the party!

September 14th - Nightmare in Germany, Bochum

Last friday it was NIGHTMARE time ! Location, not oldschool Rotterdam but Bochum ! The Event Center to be exact.

More than 30 dj's, mc's and acts rocked 3 different stages .. Some of the biggest names were representing the hardcore scene ... Tha Playah, Partyraiser, Promo, Endymion, Darkraver, Bass-D and godfather Paul Elstak.

We were happy to be there, cause these events you don't wanna miss out. It's always cool to meet so many colleagues.

After a 1,5 hour drive, we arrived at the location which was pretty big. Our setttime was very good, from 2 to 3 AM.

Many guys from the last time we were in Bochum were there too, it was very cool to see them again ! We played a very nice set ( I do say so myself ) and got many compliments afterwards.

Thanks again Bochum ! You are definitely hard 2 da core ! Thanks also to Alex Events for having us !

Schedule week 37

This weekend we will have 2 gigs, one on Friday and the other on Saturday. Both very different from eachother. Friday will be in Germany, at the infamous Nightmare in Germany, so lots of early hardcore and Saturday we will rock some great happy hardcore tunes in a bar not too far from where we live.

• September 14th - Nightmare in Germany, Bochum ( GER )
• September 15th - 90's Night, Hoensbroek

The good combination of one hard and one 90's is cool, because that way we can show people we are quite diverse. We just want to make a party! Call us the 90's PARTYSQUAD !

September 7th - Happy Typhoon, Utrecht

Last friday it was the first time that we rocked Utrecht as a dj team. As Critical Mass live ( together with Ludmilla ) we've been here a couple of times including the infamous Mystery Land 'Winter Edition' in 1997 where I rocked with my buddies Drokz, Mouth Of Madness, Weirdo and the rest.

This time, it was Bruce and me rocking stage ( well actually the dj booth ), but the cool party was it was in a rockcafe. Utrecht is a very big student city, so hardcore parties are pretty rare. At this particular location, Stairway to Heaven, it was the first ever harder style party. Normally there are bands playing here, and their is live music. Maybe some soul, or disco music. But now it was happy and early hardcore brought to by For-U productions, MC Tha Watchers' organisation.

Unfortunately the headliner, Paul Elstak, was cancelled but they had a great replacement called DARKRAVER .. Other dj's that night were The Beast, OCD, Mercenary, Freeze, The Menace and the guys of Basic Grooves.

Our setttime was from 2.00 - 3.00AM, and when we arrived at about 1.15AM, it was not that crowded. However, the people that were present, were partying like mad! And that's the vibe we need to have at these early hardcore parties! We played a very nice set and got some serious positive feedback from people in the crowd. GREAT !

Thanks to Tony ( MC Tha Watcher ) for having us at his #oneofthosenights Happy Typhoons.

Partypictures that were made by our own photographer Jasper will follow soon!

July 27th - Happy Typhoon, Tilburg

Last friday we drove to Tilburg, a city with 200.000 inhabitants and is situated not that far from Eindhoven. In this period it's also the time that the big fun fair takes place. It's the biggest in the BENELUX ( Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg )

The club where we are playing, Club Plaza, is in the middle of that fun fair.

Our settime was 02.00 till 03.00 AM, but I wanted to be there at at least 1.00 AM because Paul Elstak is playing before us, and that's always difficult. Even when he is not playing his best set, he still is PAUL ELSTAK. And I wanted to know what tracks he played, so that we wouldn't play the same ofcourse.

So we drove off at about 11 PM, and at that time the weather was still good. But when we arrived at Tilburg, it was raining heavy ...

But that didn't stop us from playing some good old early hardcore ! Ofcourse Paul did his thing together with his MC, Ruffian so the audience had a good warm-up :)

At 2 AM, it was our time to rock, and we did ! The partypeople seemed to think so too because I saw a lot of people dancing .. And we also got some good feedback afterwards. Again another party taken care off ...

Here are some partypictures that were taken at the crime scene :



- Fun Fair Tilburg -

   

- Tilburg ' Tilly's Finest' -



 

- MC Tha Watcher -




- Critical Mass dj team 'Dj Mogwai' -



- Critical Mass dj team 'MC Energie' -

   

- Paul Elstak -

 


- MC Ruffian & MC Energie -



Schedule week 30

Last week it was a rare weekend, because we had no gigs which was very fine too I might say ...

The coming friday, we will be playing again, and the party is called Happy Typhoon. This party is being organized by our good friend Anthony from For-U Productions aka. MC Tha Watcher ...

• July 27th - Happy Typhoon, Tilburg

Other dj's that night are Dj Freeze, Human Resource, Mercenary, Amada and the one and only Paul Elstak.

June 16th : Springflowers festival - Eindhoven

2 days ago Springflowers festival went down for the first time and then it's always the question, if it will be a success. All depends on the weather, and if people wanna go ( because there are so many festivals in the summer ). The line up and the ticketfee is very important.

The line up was defenitely okay. There were two stages, a springstage ( house ) with dj's like Bingo Players, Jamie Westland, Nicky Romero and Sister Bliss, and a flowerstage ( happy hardcore ) with dj's like Dune, Mark Oh, Paul Elstak and us. And although the predicted I believe 50% chance that it was going to rain, it stayed dry! The sun even came up! It was a nice festival.

Our settime was early ( 2.30 - 4.00 pm ) , but when we arrived the flowerstage was already pretty crowded. I didn't expected that, but it was super cool! I think there were about 4/500 people. That became more and more during our set. We had some new bootlegs from our friend Dj Triax and they rocked big time !

After our set it was time for Dj Mark Oh to play some tunes. And after that the great Paul Elstak got on stage together with MC Alee and he definitely rocked that stage, together with the host of the festival MC Apster. After Paul came Dune and Flamman & Abraxas.

All in all, great day ! Good looking festival, good dj's, many partypeople ( that sang along ), and good weather! We will be remembering this one !

Schedule week 24

This saturday we are playing at a festival in Eindhoven and we very anxious to see how crowded it will be. I think it all depends on the weather. 

• June 16th : Critical Mass : Springflowers, De IJzeren Man, Eindhoven 

There will be two area's, a Mainstage playing house ( progressive/electro ) with dj's like Marc Benjamin, Nicky Romero and Bingo Players. The other stage is the 90's stage. That means music from back in the day, in particular happy en early hardcore ... With a pretty nice line up ! Dune, Mark Oh, Flamman & Abraxas, Paul Elstak and us ! Settime is pretty early ( 2.30 - 04.00 PM ), so let's hope partypeople come early to see and hear us play.

April 30th - Queensday

April 30th is a special day in Holland .. our queens birthday ... that means parties in almost every city in Holland, especially the bigger cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven.

On every square in a city you hear electro, techno or even hardcore beats ... it's quite nice .. thousands of people everywhere, and when the weather is good, you only see happy faces ...

We had 2 gigs that day, and man oh man was I looking forward to this ..

The first one was in Eindhoven in a big venue called 'Beursgebouw' .. it's a huge eventlocation with a total capacity of 6000 people I think, and I think they were there at that moment ... people everywhere!

First gig called 'House Of Revolution goes Q-Day' as seen on the flyer. Many dj's including the top happy hardcore ones, Paul Elstak, Mental Theo, Dune and Flamman & Abraxas ( Party Animals )

We were playing after Mental Theo, and he played some hard stuff! - No happy hardcore ;) - A lot of old tracks in a new 2012 coat, including the new 2012 remix of 'Wonderful Days' .. 

Settime 6.00 - 7.00 PM. We started of our set with 'Raveworld' which is a classic! The tone was set! There were a lot of gabbers in front of the stage, and our set was appreciated. People sang a long and danced so we were quite happy. We started of a bit hard ( early ) and then worked our way to tracks like 'Turn Around' from Damage Inc. and 'Destiny' from Brothers In Crime.

It was nice to see that happy hardcore is still doing it's thing!

I also saw my niece in the audience with I haven't seen in a long time and she looked proud :)

After us were our friends Flamman & Abraxas with MC Remsy, and that's always fun! Haven't seen them in a while.

After the gig we had little time because at 8.00 PM we had to be in a place called Veghel. A small village about 25 km from Eindhoven. I had to host the last 3 hours as a MC, but in between Bruce and I had to play our dj set. Our setttime : 9.00 till 10.00 PM.

We arrived at 7.45 PM and we just a little to eat some snacks. I started of hosting with Dj Graphic, a hardstyle dj ... Veghel was ready for some harder sounds, after a whole day of electro beats.

Although hardstyle is not really my kind of music, Graphic played some dope ass tracks and I liked what I've heard!

After this it was time to ROCK! The audience was great! A whole square full of people who loved hard music! Great fucking vibe! I saw a lot of people dancing, singing, screaming and more.

It was a real great atmosphere! A great way to close down this Queensday for us as Critical Mass.

My Queensday was not closed yet though. I had to rock once more with no other than The Darkraver. And closing down a stage with The Darkraver is another level.

We went from happy, to oldschool, to hardcore till LOUDER! There were some tracks I hadn't heard in years ! The people loved it!

The last track was Rob Gee's 'Ecstasy You Got What I Need'. What a party this was. Steve ( The Darkraver ) throwed at one point a whole bucket of ice cubes to me ( as a joke ) but instead of me most ice cubes came down on the Pioneer equipment .. We had fun ..

We hope to do this again next year ..... !!