If you’ve been to Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) before, then you’re no stranger to the concept of a ‘label night’. This year, numerous record labels held their own events, featuring insanely stacked lineups of artists on the label. Among those was electronic music legend Nicky Romero’s label, Protocol Recordings.
Venue
While Escape Amsterdam is not my personal favorite venue in all of Amsterdam, it claims to be one of the most popular nightclubs in the city. It also does have a decent set-up for hosting an event of this kind. The venue itself has one larger room where the main performances take place, and one smaller room upstairs where smaller artists perform or different music genres are played. Having spent the majority of my time on the main room dance floor, I really got to take it all in. The dance floor did get very packed, while the bottle service tables surrounding it seemed to have plenty of room. While this is typical of an upscale club set-up, I do wish this event would have taken place in a slightly larger space so it could accommodate more people and leave more room for dancing.
Artists
The artist line-up was truly the main draw of this event. From artists like Dubvision and Third Party to Charles B and Repiet, each one played amazing sets that truly kept the crowd going all night. To top it all off, the ‘mystery guest’ was Mr. Protocol Recordings himself- Nicky Romero. But, it gets better. Throughout his set, Nicky brought out several different guests, including Hardwell and Alan Walker. Seeing Hardwell and Nicky play their new track “I Wanna Dance” live right before its release on Friday was really something else. Seeing Alan Walker was also a very pleasant surprise, and was one I did not expect at all. Overall, the line-up was full of talented artists and I wish I had time to watch every single person’s set.
Vibes
For me, the vibes are the most important factor of any event. I could be watching my favorite DJ perform at Tomorrowland Mainstage, but if the vibes are off, I’ll be able to tell instantly. Thankfully, at Protocol Label Night, the place was packed full of good vibes. While the crowd did have its occasional moments of pushing and shoving throughout the night, it did not bring down the vibes at all.
Conclusion
Protocol Label Night did not disappoint. Truthfully, it was one of my favorite events of the entire weekend. If you love progressive house as much as I do, be on the look out for more events from Protocol Recordings in the future.