Every year, ADE (aka Amsterdam Dance Event) takes over the city for 5 days filled with electronic music, conferences, parties and a playground. But with an overload of things to do, it’s easy to lose track and that’s why we provide you with our definitive ADE to do list. ADE 2014 begins on Wednesday 15th October and ends on Sunday 19th October (or rather the following Monday morning for those who can last that long).

Wednesday 15th October We start off our ADE with the yearly DJ cook-off (18h, Keizer Culinair) which promises to be more spectacular than ever. Boy George will challenge Pan Pot (who both worked in a kitchen), Kompakt’s coming man Kölsch (who competed in the Danish Iron Chef), and Arthur Baker. Their culinary skills will be graded by Dave Clarke and Seth Troxler, who isn’t allowed to compete anymore after winning three times in a row. Then we head over to Tolhuistuin for the concert by FKA Twigs (20h30), who might not qualify for ADE at first sight, but who will definitely surprise. (Trust us, we’ve seen her perform before – with emphasis on ‘perform’.) In between those events, Melkweg will screen the film ‘I Dream Of Wires’ (19h30) which is a unique film about the modular synthesizer: extremely expensive and seemingly old-fashioned with all of its knobs and wires, but loads of producers wouldn’t trade it thanks to the unique and deep sound it can provide. If FKA Twigs gave you the taste to dance, there’s two parties you can head to that night. In Studio 80 there’s the R&S Records x Apollo Records (23h) party of the iconic Belgian label, alternating jazz, broken beat, dub & techno the whole night through. Another option is the Rush Hour night (22h) in Trouw with a.o. Young Marco and San Proper. Thursday 16th October On Thursday afternoon we head over to the conference where Seth Troxler opens the conference (12h30) with a keynote speech. At 15h30 we listen to Hans Zimmer, the Hollywood soundtrack producer who often collaborates with Junkie XL. On this day citizenM, MassiveMusic and R&S Records organise their Portfolio Night (19h) where young artists get the opportunity to present their portfolio to the ‘masters of the trade’ and ask them for feedback, references and connections. Today we’ll also visit a few playground events that are open every day during ADE, such as the two exhibitions in Foam: Daniel Gordon’s ‘Shadows, Patterns, Pears’ and ‘Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography’. Then there’s a couple of films to be checked out at De Balie Cinema: SILK (about the independent record label & taste maker 100% silk), Säkhö The Movie (a 16mm documentary about Finnish techno label Säkhö Recordings), and Escape To Olganitz (the film that investigates how one of the most respected electronic music festivals could grow in the backwoods). Lastly we pay a visit to Melkweg Cinema for the movie We Are Modeselektor (19h30). After watching all of those films, you’ll want to stretch those legs with either the DGTL Life & Death Label Night (22h) starring Tale Of Us or the 22tracks House Party at Sonos Studio (20h) where the curators of the music discovery service will give the audience a taste of their music selection in a live environment. Friday 17th October Today we head to the conference for a keynote on Spotify (12h10) and afterwards a speech by Michael Rapino of Live Nation who we expect to talk about the bigger competition SFX at 14h. In the evening we move to BAUT for the LTGL Release Party (16h) with tunes by FilosofischeStilte, Moodprint and of course LTGL himself who’ll present his first EP. Later that night there’s the Dekmantel Detroit Night with Moodymann, Carl Craig and Mike Banks at North Sea Jazz Club where we’ll party until 8 o’clock the next morning. Saturday 18th October Those who didn’t go all out the previous night should head over to Melkweg with their Breakfast Club which starts at 7 with a line-up featuring a.o. Mathew Jonson and Minilogue. At the conference that day, we’ll hear Tony Andrews of sound system Funktion One (that is used in the best techno clubs). During the afternoon we’ll pay a visit to the Kompakt Pop-Up Store in the red light district where the guys from Kompakt will play records the whole week through. On Saturday Michael Meyer closes the store with his set at 18h. Afterwards there’s the Kompakt Label night at DGTL (22h) with Gui Boratto, Kölsch, Weval, Troels, Abrahamsen, etc.. Other options are the Joy Orbison curated Dekmantel party at North Sea Jazz Club (22h) or the Four Tet and Jon Hopkins headlined Resident Advisor party at Trouw (22h). Sunday 19th October If you went to Resident Advisor at Trouw, there’s no need to go home since you can keep on partying the whole Sunday through with Trouw Op Zondag featuring Job Jobse, Luc Mast, Omar S, Tom Trago and many others. The traditional closing event of ADE is Dekmantel’s Ostgut Ton night with the Berghain DJs that are used to keep going until Monday morning and that’s what they’ll do at North Sea Jazz Club.