Blasting into the New Year with the absolute highscore at EPIQ 2019

Mitchell van Eenige - 6 January 2020

No fireworks or boring board games, and no strolling around the neighborhood to wish everyone a Happy New Year or other sweet clichés on New Year's Eve. Tonight we’ll play the last level of 2019 and pop out with a high score. Let’s step into the game and count this motherf#cker down!

This year, Q-dance has come up with something new to enter the new year with a bang. The world's biggest pinball machine is ready for epic battles. When you walk into the Ziggo Dome, you're almost blinded by the bright neon colors and the big, round LED-screen makes you really part of the game. Wow, this looks good!

Primeshock opens the evening and they are followed by Demi Kanon. The first two hours of EPIQ start with a cheerful, euphoric touch. At 22.15 hrs, the Sound Rush brothers join Demi Kanon for a multiplayer game, which is followed by a solo set by Sound Rush. The atmosphere in the Ziggo Dome is great and everybody sings along with tracks like ‘Army of Fire’ and ‘Take Me Away’. We also notice that it gets a lot busier during this set, because it’s almost time…

The Q-dance Hardstyle Top 10 is presented in the last 20 minutes of the year. Number 10: ‘Fallen Souls’ by D-Block & S-te-Fan (Ghost Stories) and everyone shouts along. Number 9: ‘Starlight’, this place is for the amazing Phuture Noize and Frequencerz collab. Number 8 is a personal favorite: ‘Elektronic Symphony’ by B-Front and Adrenalize, this record really deserves to be in the Top 10. Number 7: ‘One Tribe’, the Defqon.1 anthem by KELTEK, Phuture Noize and Sefa. On to the next one, number 6: ‘I Need You’ by Warface is received with great enthusiasm. Number 5: ‘Brace Yourself’, our favorite anthem of the year. Number 4: a deserved place for this collab of the Roughstate collective Ran-D, Frequencerz, and Adaro. Number 3: Headhunterz takes third with his ‘Orange Heart’. And now it gets really exciting, number 2 is for ‘Run From Reality’ by Ran-D, Endymion and LePrince. But the track that achieved the high score and is the number 1 in the Q-dance Top 100 is ‘Darkest Hour’ by D-Block & S-te-Fan and Sub Zero Project. Absolutely deserved!

On the beat of the ticking clock, we all count down the last seconds of 2019. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Couples grab each other tightly, friends embrace each other, but there's not much time for a sentimental start to the new year as Frequencerz enters the stage and run the first hardstyle set of 2020.

Devin Wild, one of tonight's anthem makers, takes over the stage. He surprises us with deep, hard kicks and euphoric melodies such as his track ‘Mind Bending’. In the last half-hour of his set, he plays back-to-back with Rebelion: a combination we haven’t seen so far at a party. Of course, they play the first EPIQ anthem ever ‘Highscore’ accompanied by lots of fireworks and lasers. From the back of the Dome, the fireworks shoot forward and the brightly colored lasers reflect on the pinballs. “TONIGHT, WE MAKE IT EPIQ!”

One remarkable set is followed by another: Mr. Psyko versus the leaders of the Wolfpack, a.k.a. Psyko Punkz vs. Frequencerz. After the hard Rebelion kicks, the euphoric feeling returns with the fine melody of ‘Spaceship’. Niels and Pepijn of Frequencerz kick it hard by throwing in some Rejecta tracks, especially ‘Courage’ brings in a nice vibe. We are constantly being thrown back and forth between the different kinds of hardstyle tracks, but on such a crazy epic evening like this, we love it.

After this set, Psyko Punkz plays solo for another half hour. His set is good, but we notice that the audience is ready for the harder work and we are too. On to the next, the combination that we are really curious about D-Block & S-te-Fan versus D-Sturb! An awesome set that combines the best of both worlds. They open with their collab ‘Feel It’. This track was played for the first time at Defqon.1 2019 and tonight, it gives us goosebumps again. We can't wait for this track to be released. ‘Feel It’ is followed by ‘For The Night’, freshly released on the new Warface & D-Sturb album. The energy of this dream team is unbelievable and one great track is followed by another. We would love to see this combination more often in 2020.

We’re totally in the moment but then the pinball machine goes crazy for 10 minutes and suddenly giant inflatable pinballs fly through the Dome. TILT MODE! While hearing the Luminite remix of ‘Crispy Bassdrum’, it looks like we’re literally inside a pinball machine and we could be crushed by the huge pinballs at any moment. When ‘Das Weite Land’ burst out the speakers, everyone throws their arms in the air and shouts with: “Tete... tetete.... tetetetetete!” Add smoke, lasers, and fire to it and you have a crazy show moment!

If you think there will be peace and quiet now, you are completely wrong. Rebelion is ready to blow the night away with their special powers. The Overdose edits break through the sound barrier! Act of Rage is also ready to fill the Ziggo Dome with rock-hard records. A lot of new album material comes along, but he also surprises us with tracks like the unreleased collab of E-Force & Bloodlust ‘Deathrow’. He closes with ‘DJ Mad Dog vs. Tha Playah - Embrace The Fire’, but Act of Rage does not disappear from the stage. It's time for the last multiplayer set of the evening: Act of Rage vs. Sefa. The end of EPIQ is in sight, but not before we hit the road with tracks like ‘Psyko Punkz - Forgot About Dre (Radical Redemption & Act of Rage Remix)’ and ‘Sefa - Wegtikken’.

In the final moments of this night, the frenchcore hero goes even harder, but then solo. A harsh mix of uptempo and frenchcore lets us going loose until we’re tired. A memorable end of an epic beginning.

With WOW WOW still in mind, EPIQ is a totally different experience. Not a show stage, but a big arcade, and instead of looking back at the past year, this party is a glimpse into the future, with crazy multiplayer sets you won't find anywhere else. We achieved the high score and made the first edition of this party quite ‘EPIQ’. Happy New Year!