It has been a pleasure to watch Amsterdam’s own Dekmantel collective grow over the past couple of years, and see them comfortably settle in the festival circuit. Over the last years, we attended both editions of Dekmantel Festival in 2013 and 2014, and after a one year break we returned to the fourth edition of sister festival Lente Kabinet festival in het Twiske park to the north of the Amsterdam. Usually, with the growth of any type of nightlife initiative, a looming sense of disbelief lingers within the mind of its regular club-goers. Expansion, both in venues and crowd types, often means that the initial intimacy and effortless vibes that draw you to a specific night digress with time. Yet, Dekmantel have repeatedly proven that expansion can be done without dilution. Despite their earliest venture Lente Kabinet having moved to a much higher magnitude than its first two editions, this year’s edition perfectly maintained delivering a quality line-up, impeccable sound and a magical vibe. Plus, we don’t know which weather gods Dekmantel bribe every year, but to always have sunshine bless its forest-setting festivals in Amsterdam is nothing short of a miracle.
This year’s Lente Kabinet hosted four stages, two of which were main stages that presented some of the larger names. De Eerste Kamer was the biggest open stage in het Twiske that day, which hosted the likes of Dekmantel principals Casper Tielrooij and Thomas Martojo, as well as guests Moodymann and Nicolas Jaar among others. We caught bits and pieces of Moodymann’s meandering but nonetheless interesting set, which went from Âme’s “Howling” remix to both Detroit and hip-hop classics back to ‘80s rock. The second biggest stage was de Tweede Kamer, a tent which was opened by Amsterdam locals and closed by a four hours b2b between Joy O and Ben UFO – as expected another blessing of a set, and a worthy closer to another edition of Lente Kabinet which today can be seen as a hors d’oeuvre to the three days Dekmantel Festival bender in August.
It was the relatively modest DJBroadcast stage that stole our hearts that day. Lena Willikens inaugurated the afternoon with her performance, but the time of day didn’t hold her back from expressing her signature dark and rough sounds that somehow managed to perfectly blend into the earthy environment. Following her up was Berlin-based Palms Trax, with a first showing of his live appearance that showcased his own melodic sounds – putting us in a dusky Detroit and Chicago alluding atmosphere that were perfect to listen to in the afternoon sunlight. The absolute highlight of our day was watching Chicago’s The Black Madonna work her magic behind the decks for one of the most uplifting sets we’ve witnessed in recent history. It wasn’t just the fact that she was able to shift from powerful disco diva vocals to raw juke anthems effortlessly, it was the pure love with which she shared her selection that included Loleatta Holloway, Michael Jackson and old Daft Punk material. To see a DJ truly connect with their picks so joyously makes for a genuine set that is impossible not to enjoy and this was reflected in the audience’s atmosphere at the stage during the rest of the day.
It was difficult to leave the DJBroadcast stage at all, but its insanely good atmosphere was echoed at the Red Light Radio stage where two of Vancouver’s finest, the Pender Street Steppers, took over the stage during the afternoon and where Gilb’r and Young Marco closed the stage by means of a pleasantly eclectic set during the dawn of the night. All in all, the Lente Kabinet checked all our boxes: wonderful sets, great sound systems, a lovely location and an abundance of sunshine and kind people. It might not be just to always refer to Lente Kabinet as a warm-up to Dekmantel Festival because as a standalone festival it was a huge success; but if anything, the atmosphere reminded me us of our favourite weekend of the year and we’re ready for the last weekend of July.