Thunderdome launched with a giant octopus on an ice rink – and created the Netherlands’ biggest youth culture movement. Three decades on, it’s stronger and tougher than ever
Last weekend, Thunderdome made history: 50,000 ravers massed at a convention centre in Utrecht for the biggest indoor hardcore dance event ever staged, breaking its own record set two years ago when it pulled off the mother of all comebacks, and reclaimed its crown as the world’s greatest living hardcore rave.
The site is mapped out like a theme park, with six areas of music ranging from the slower early rave sound of the “Thundergods” to the 200+ beats per minute blasting from the Tunnel of Terror. Tonight we’re paying homage to the most significant youth culture movement in the Netherlands, gabber, which is why there’s also a gabber museum, displaying limited-edition Nikes and multicoloured Australian-brand jackets – the gabber uniform – plus a tattoo station inking diehards with Thunderdome’s iconic Wizard logo, and a gabber barber serving up undercuts.
Continue reading...by Holly Dicker via Electronic music | The Guardian