Dekmantel is the festival that always gets it so right

DJ Harvey – Selectors, Friday

Conditions were ideal as we arrived into Amsterdam on Thursday. The sun shone brightly until late evening and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, just our palpable excitement hanging thick in the air. It was a different story early Friday afternoon, with the heavens opening and sending rain pouring down almost the very second we entered the site. Dancers prepared with just two t-shirts and a pair of shorts for the weekend shared worried looks and huddled beneath trees, but they should have known that one artist guaranteed to bring the sunshine vibes was DJ Harvey. As his masterful three-and-a-half hour opening set on the Selectors stage rolled into action the skies steadily cleared and rain was banished for the remainder of the weekend. Concurrently, the crowd of sheltering early birds soon grew into a packed out and pulsating throng, dipping low to Harvey’s juddering basslines and raising hands high to the twinkling melodies of his unparalleled collection of disco heaters. Warm-up sets have rarely been so perfect.

Moodymann – Greenhouse, Friday

No matter the setting that Moodymann plays in, be it vast warehouse or compact basement, he always seems to create the exact same communal atmosphere. Whether he’s using his rider to pour drinks for the front row or simply asking his guests “What up?”, the Detroit don never fails to fulfil the courteous role of host during his sets, lending them the feel of an intimate house party. Naturally, Fred Wesley’s ‘House Party’ was a flawless record to draw for, and the enclosed space of the Greenhouse stage was a similarly ideal location to fuel this mood. Broad grins and energetic moves dominated the palm tree-dotted dance floor as the heat turned tropical, while billowing smoke machines enveloped the crowd at intervals as people lost themselves in the both the fog and the music. For these moments, we were transported out of the Amsterdam forest and into Kenny Dixon Jr.’s front garden.