Defqon.1 Festival

Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is a prominent annual event organized by Q-dance, dedicated to intense music genres such as hardstyle, hardcore techno, hard house, and hard trance. Since its inception in 2003, the festival has electrified audiences in the Netherlands, Chile, and Australia. Initially held in mid-June on the sandy beaches of Almeerderstrand in Almere, it later moved to a new venue near Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. Meanwhile, the Australian edition was hosted at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

Initially, Defqon.1 was a 12-hour celebration, commencing at 11:00 am and concluding with a spectacular fireworks display at 11:00 pm. In 2012, however, the Dutch event expanded into a three-day extravaganza, while the Australian festival evolved into a two-day event. Each year, a unique anthem sets the tone for the festival and is played throughout the duration. For those unable to attend in person, the event is live-streamed on YouTube and the Q-Dance website, reaching a global audience.

The Dutch edition has become hugely popular, attracting 65,000 attendees daily. Tickets are in high demand and often sell out in under an hour. In 2013, the Sydney version drew 18,000 fans but faced significant challenges related to drug overdoses and arrests. The situation worsened in 2018 when two attendees tragically died, leading the New South Wales Premier to ban the festival from the state. Discussions about relocating the festival to Canberra, to facilitate pill testing, did not come to fruition.

In May 2019, Q-dance announced that Defqon.1 Australia was on an indefinite hiatus due to the inability to secure a new venue. The 2020 festival was subsequently canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers plan to revive the same theme for the 2021 edition.