Saturday the 17th of July saw the establishment of Extrema Outdoor land yet once again in Aquabest, near the city of Eindhoven. Two weeks ago we celebrated 15 years of Love Family Park in Germany, today Extrema too did celebrate its fifteenth edition of Extrema Outdoor. However different the festivals may be, Sven Väth was the major name of both happenings.

First things first, a list of the Extrema Outdoor 2010 stages and their artists. The Futurefunk with Benny Benassi, Chukie and Dennis Ferrer. The Cocoon with Dubfire, Extrawelt and Sven Vath. The Bedrock with Marco Bailey, Joris Voorn and John Digweed. The Ovum with Sneak, Steve Bug and Josh Wink. The Viva Music with Audiofly, M.a.n.d.y. and Steve Lawler. The Rauw with Joost van Bellen, Crookers and Tommie Sunshine. The Royal Dutch with Afrojack, Erik E and Don Diablo. And the last three stages were Broke 'n Disco; Ricco's Village and the Solar Playground. Plenty of choice, yes. We personally were mostly interested in the Cocoon, Bedrock and Ovum stages. The festival sold out each of it's 50.000 tickets a day before the festival. 50.000 tickets equals 50.000 visitors equals 50.000 different stories of a day at Extrema Outdoor 2010, this is only one of them.

"We personally were mostly interested in the Cocoon, Bedrock and Ovum stages.”

As the Dutch railways were working on the railroads our journey for Best took us a little longer than usual. Well, a little? Three hours by train, quite a journey. Then again, we have done +8 hour bus trips to get to festivals in Germany so let's not make a big issue out of this one. The Extrema Outdoor shuttle bus service dropped us off at entrance 1, or rather a 20 minute walk away from it. The entrance we had to get to however was entrance 2, right on the other side of the festival grounds and the lake surrounding it. Half an hour walk extra, big deal? Once inside the stage of our choosing just happened to be - yes, you guessed it - right next to entrance 1. And so our day finally gets started. Time for a drink.

The Cocoon, one massive indoor area. Due to the time it had taken us to get there, we only saw a short bit of Egbert's live set. Some weeks ago Egbert made a big impression on us and the rest of the crowd when he played at Free Your Mind festival. Today's audience did not seem to be as impressed as the audience back then, but was that all on Egbert? Soon Dubfire would take over, playing some great tunes but again, a big share of the audience seemed to be lacking party spirits. Then again, was it all on the audience? Not entirely.

"(...) there were also places where it was impossible to tell if the bomb had just dropped or the DJ was still building up to that climax.”

Something we that fell short today was the sound system. If one paid attention and listened there were spots where the sound came through just fine and basses could be felt. Unfortunately however, there were also places where it was impossible to tell if the bomb had just dropped or the DJ was still building up to that climax. Our favorite spot in the centre of the frontline happened to be a spot like this, a key spot of any musical area as that nearly always happens to be where the fanatic party people gather to go crazy. Sven Väth arrived in the late afternoon to lead us into the evening with a three hour gig. Apparently Extrema had been trying for years to book Sven, this time they finally succeeded. Sven being one of today's headliners, a considerable amount of extra people had find their way from other areas into the Cocoon to witness what the hype is all about. Dancers and visuals reminded us of the Cocoonclub in Frankfurt and other Cocoon events. Again it was a shame the sound system did not.

Time to get backstage, time to get a proper picture of Sven. Once we arrived on stage we could tell immediately Sven was annoyed by all the video and photo camera's in his face. We quickly made that picture that we came for and then left again to that spot Sven does appreciate; on the dance floor amongst the crowd. Sven noticed. First eye contact, then our arms both go into the air. I point to Sven, Sven points to me. Sven makes a heart, I do the same. The appreciation goes both ways. Not being a groupie but still, moments like these are just priceless and can go a long way. It most certainly wasn't the best set Sven played but it had its moments. The 'Ibiza' sit downs that seem to be organized at just about every event we go to nowadays might get a little cheesy, embarrassing even when the unexperienced give it a try at a bad moment. The sit-down during Sven's set however was one of the better moments of the day. Apparently party spirits did exist amongst the crowd.

"We quickly made that picture that we came for and then left again to that spot Sven does appreciate; on the dance floor amongst the crowd.”

After Sven finishes the Cocoon area is abandoned by many. Lots of space is cleared as people leave for other stages again. But why? Next up is Extrawelt, a legendary duo. Don't they know who these guys are? While we loved the trippy sounds we still got into a conversation with another party organizer, but once we recognized the first signs of Soopertrack that conversation ended abruptly. What a great track this still is today anno 2010, wow! Our friends have left the Cocoon some time ago, about time to go look for them. Somewhere between 50.000 visitors, and no mobile network... like searching for a needle in a haystack. Still, no more than half an hour later we are reunited with our friends at the Ovum stage. First Steve Bug, then Josh Wink. The vibe is good, and so is the sound. Plenty of reasons to stick around. Josh's housey beats pound right through our body. Time flies, darkness falls.

Around 23:00, all stages end and people are asked by a female voice to gather around the lake. The day ends with a spectacular end show at the lake side. Fireworks, water, music. Apparently the end show alone had cost the organization a small fortune. An eye opener for us party people to the amount of money involved in these events. Meanwhile we left for the shuttle bus, not to the trains but to the parking lot. It took us almost two hours before we finally hit the road.

Extrema Outdoor clearly is an event aimed at the general audience. The event itself is well organized in general and has plenty to offer but some of the sound systems and logistics around getting there and leaving again could use another looking at. After all, an event isn't quite over until people are back home again. Once we had gotten back home we concluded that despite these issues, we most certainly did enjoy our day at Extrema Outdoor 2010.