Mysteryland - 15 years - Documentary

15 YEARS MYSTERY LAND Do you think that this kind of technology will result in a new kind of pop music? That has already happened, I think. This kind of computer software is already widely used in recording studios. We're now 15 years down the line, but House has been a real revolution. I mean, an audience used to stand and watch a band during a gig, and applaud when it was over. But to have everyone moving all the time, that is something that House has brought to the rather stiff Dutch music culture. House isn't just music, or just another party. House is a phenomenon. Right at the start when house parties were up and coming in the Netherlands and Amsterdam, all parties were illegal and took place in secret warehouses. There was the Beatclub, there were all kinds of events located in all kinds of shady places. I was always visiting the illegal house parties. Everything was illegal then, very exciting. You'd drive up behind Central Station and you'd follow a van, not knowing where you'd end up. And then it all started, this idea. Together with Sander, who also lived in Edam, we came up with the idea to do something big. We first had the idea to host parties on a boat. This didn't work out as we couldn't find a suitable ship. Then we thought of an island. There was the island of Maurik, a small peninsula in the Tiel area. We got in touch with someone who knew the manager of the island and he could tell us that it would be okay to organize an event there. We wouldn't even need to apply for any permits. He had everything under control.... Long story short... of course nothing was under control at all. We had distributed flyers advertising Mystery Island with an expected visitor total of 15.000. The mayor of this tiny village was so shocked at this that he cancelled the event. And then we had to pull out all the stops to find an alternative location, which is how we came to Lelystad. And as this was not an island, the name Mystery Island became Mystery Land. I think here was the Eclipse, next to that lamp post, and this was a large catering square -- at the far end the Acropolis, just inside those gates. Behind the gates was the Ambient Forest, over there by those shrubs. The entrance was near the signs on the fencing. We'd made a kind of a makeshift entrance gate, with some sort of graffiti above it... and we hung some lights amongst the trees en added some sound at intervals. It was quite remarkable that you could just walk into the trees and there would suddenly be another musical area. The Friday we arrived, we put up our tent, played a set in the Ambient Forest and went to sleep in our tent. Only, it went on all night, so I was lying-in my -- tent -- like- this -- ***-***-***-***. It was only 20 meters distance from the festival terrain so no, that didn't really cut it. So, at around 3 a.m. we just drove home and came back the next morning. And saw all those people who had gone through the night -- was it the Tunnel of Terror -- a large tunnel with only hardcore music... and to see all those pale faces, some eating pale French fries -- it was terrible. It was also about entertainment, it was not purely a dance event. So we were already thinking along those lines even then. We had a bungee jump and just after the doors we had one of those sticking walls -- the kind that requires a special Velcro suit. But the very first visitor through the gates takes a running jump at this wall, not wearing any Velcro and he falls off and breaks his collar bone. And that was the first ambulance, we had only just opened the gates. Right at the very beginning. Ten minutes later someone pulls a generator off one of those crane lorries, and this generator lands on someone's feet. The guy's feet were completely flattened. So the second ambulance had to be called. Two ambulances in the first hour -- off to a good start. The officials from the council and police were thinking Oh My God what is happening here -- because they didn't really know what to expect en we still had 3 days to go and they had just seen the first visitor being carted off to the hospital with a broken collar bone. He was back 2 hours later, dancing with his arm in a sling. And the same goes for the guy with the generator on his feet. Back on site with one foot in plaster and the other bandaged up. Those were real die-hard visitors during the first ever Mystery Land. How important is house to me? Let me put it this way : if it wasn't around and I couldn't do it, I'd go back to being a criminal It started off as an event on a Saturday afternoon, with just one festival tent. But then it went further... it needed camping, we wanted more tents... before we knew it we were building a complete village. Yes, it grew too big for us. We had no experience, nada -- we were in way over our heads. The first year, looking back on it now - I had no mobile phone, no email address - it is a miracle that we were able to organize it at all without modern communication technology. Now it would be unthinkable to organize any event without mobile phones. But in the end it all worked out. And the visitors absolutely loved it. The year after, Mystery Land was an even bigger success and nowadays pulls in 60 thousand people -- who would have thought that all those years ago? Not us. Funny thing was that when we wanted to organize the 2nd Mystery Land on the Maasvlakte, we used a small printing firm in Wormerveer to print our flyers, the pre-flyers, and this happened to be the same business that ID&T used for all their printing work. And this is how we actually ran into each other. I started out as courier and then central here in Zaanstad (don't laugh) we started out with the three of us: my brother, myself and Irfan and then quite soon Erik joined us too, so really it was the four of us that started here with Final Exam, then Thunderdome, and in that same year I met Sander Groet who was interested in doing Mystery Land together. Mystery Land 1994, Maasvlakte, Rotterdam De Maasvlakte, that was a huge project. There is absolutely nothing there. It is 80 kilometers from civilization or the nearest utilities. So there was no water, no infra structure... our lorries got stuck in the soft sand and we had to steady the ground with ramps -- it was sheer hell to organize but still we had a kind of blind faith in the successful outcome of it. Meanwhile sales were below expectations. We couldn't really afford it but we had to build up this festival and the Maasvlakte was just something else -- those boats just passing - and we have been building it with our own hands. For us it was terrible. I have given interviews to the press there with sand coming out of my nose -- I looked dreadful not having slept because of the stress of it all. What a lot of sand we have seen there -- building a village in the middle of nowhere. The Maasvlakte earlier this afternoon. The last preparations are being made for Mystery Land, the largest House party ever held in the Netherlands. This terrain will soon welcome 25 thousand House lovers who will dance to the extreme loud beat of 60 dj's. Thousands of youths have gone off their heads on the merciless beat of the House music, some with a little help from XTC. Ah yes, the Maasvlakte... with Mystery Land on the Maasvlakte we turned a significant loss. And the worst thing was that we saw that coming during the event. We simply knew -- look, there aren't that many people and we knew more or less what we had spent. And I mean more or less, because we had kind of lost sight of expenses as we had to overcome so many last minute problems and adjustments which then resulted in this enormous loss. Just plain bankruptcy. That had a lot of impact. ID&T was already doing other projects -- we were already into our 3rd or 4th year and how old was I, really? 23 or 24? So afterwards at night the four of us stood there: Duncans brother, Duncan and me and my little brother, overlooking the empty festival terrain. Everyone had gone home and all we could see were seagulls picking at piles and piles of rubbish. As far as the eye could see there were glistening foil disposable cups and we thought Oh My God how are we ever going to clean this up because there was no budget for professional cleaning. There sure were a lot of cups ... and all that sand was going everywhere. When the gates were removed, all that rubbish went even further. The council would have given us a huge fine if we had not cleaned it up, so... I have cried real tears there -- ***, sheer impotence... how could we ever bring this to a good end ? Yes it has affected me quite badly. We had to save up for a year to regroup and pay up. Brian had disappeared... didn't hear from him again and then Sander Groet said: Can't I work it off? Pay off the debt that way? ID&T was financially much more secure. For instance, they had the Thunderdome CD's that were moneymakers and so they had a lot more leeway than I had. So that was really the beginning for me. And it isn't the case that I didn't want to know -- I find that a wrong version of events. But relations between us had deteriorated badly because of it. There was a financial disaster, tension and stress amongst the partners so no, the atmosphere wasn't great, so to speak. But in the end everyone has paid off the debt in their own way. We've had to save up for a year, using all the CD sales income to survive. After that, we decided to catch our breath for the next year. Then in 1995 there was no Mystery Land. Mainly because we were still paying off debts from the year before, but also because it was really difficult to get a permit. In the end it started itching, in 1995, as I felt surely, this can not be the end. Then I started looking for a new venue on my own. I called council offices, visited places up and down the country and in the end came up with Eindhoven. He had another permit ! Brian is always very clever... we had no permit, no terrain, nothing. And he says Well, I've got the terrain, let me use it to pay off my debt. So then we went to Eindhoven. In 1996 we could use some land of the former military airport in Eindhoven and so that is where Mystery Land 1996 was held. Mystery Land is a festival that concentrates on the dance scene in the Netherlands. It consists of 5 different parties which are held in 5 different festival tents. We want to be -- our aim is to become an alternative to all other existing festivals. Interviewer: so it will become the Pinkpop of the House? Sander: the Pinkpop of the House, yes, or the Dynamo of the House. Yes there are of course many festivals that focus on the rock side of things, but we want to go the other way, towards the Dance. In those days Mojo had an attitude like, this is just a trend, it'll be gone next year. That was how most of the rock scene thought about Dance. I knew they were wrong, but I couldn't convince anyone. What happened was that Mystery Land started it off, then came Dance Valley and later Extrema and you name it... No one else was doing it and that is why they started organizing their own events. In the subsequent years they learned exactly how to do it professionally. My estimate is that between 15 and 20 thousand people are here tonight. It's unstoppable and Mystery Land is a fact. And that's it. The gabber came on to the hardcore scene. And from that moment Mystery Land couldn't fail. Visitor: I think this party is insane Visitor; I'm loving it here, mate, must do this again, right? Visitor: this is incredible. Have you ever seen anything like it? This is crazy. Have you been to that tent? Five tents, never been so full. For young, and old. Young? And Old. I'm old but I love House. Go for it -- Hakkuh! Mystery Land always had between 10 and 12 musical styles, but that wave of hardcore is what made us grow. Just before the start of the event, the skies opened up. To me it felt like it rained more than it did in the last century and the terrain turned into one big swamp. At the start everyone tried to avoid the puddles and stay clear of the mud -- keeping their white trousers clean. So here we have those guys dressed in a shiny tracksuit, new sneakers all soaked from the rain, and once inside the gates they went whoosh ... I'm laughing now but at the time you'd have to feel for them: losing their sneakers which got stuck in the mud - or the sight of the tough looking gabbers carefully avoiding the mud on their clean tracksuit... After a while everyone just went sliding through the mud. It was a total mess, they were black from top to toe. Fantastic, I'll never forget that. Towards the end of the nineties the whole gabber hardcore scene was collapsing. On top of that ID&T started to lose confidence in hardcore scene. Now it is becoming clear that we need to broaden our focus and start all kinds of new events and styles. It will be fun to use our 7 years of experience in other areas from now on. The hardcore scene self destructed. There was no creative innovation. The whole scene around it, everything including the gabber Piet story, nothing made sense any longer. We didn't know what to do. Hardcore had been such a big part of Mystery Land. But we needed to change and we did so drastically by cutting it out completely and turning the event into a one day festival. This spot, this is where people came in. And this road wasn't there then. Everywhere we drive at this moment was festival terrain. It took us over 2 months to get there, using diggers to level the ground, build bridges for visitor paths... all in all a huge logistical operation. A lot of things came together during this festival. All kinds of things that we had neglected for years, made a come back now. We gave extra attention to the fringes of the festival like food, artists, installations, the chill-out areas Once we changed to a day festival and into Amsterdam, we started by using the Dadara ship as main stage. That was something new and different. The Dadara ship that he took to Burning Men was now the backdrop for the DJ -- a completely different atmosphere. This is my personal favourite Mystery Land. Firstly because of the weather, because at last it is real festival weather and because I love the décor. The ship I'm playing in ? All good. All of it came together here. The partly new audience gelled just fine with the old crowd. We know from the feedback on the forums that it was very well received. It was a super festival. I think there were 18 thousand people there, before it used to be 40. Perhaps I had been somewhat too drastic but at least the message was clear: This is where we're taking Mystery Land. I remember it well, the edition in the Westelijk Havengebied in 2002, and remember Duncan saying how happy he was to have it this close to home, near the office, close to station Sloterdijk. By that time I'd already visited the Floriade terrain a few times and tried to convince Duncan to relocate. I remember taking him down once, failing to convince him as it was a grey rainy day. When we climbed to the top of the hill he did see the potential but he wasn't convinced as Amsterdam was cool too ... and he didn't want to move the whole circus again... and who knows, we may not be able to stay longer than 1 year in Floriade... In the end he did see the beauty of the terrain, and when the Amsterdam location didn't want to give a guarantee about future years, we decided in 2003 to go to Floriade after all. Ah, there everything fell into place. The terrain, the duality, the fact that harder music lines went well with it. And that is what really makes Mystery Land unique. We've always done it, 12 different musical styles together but somehow now the time was right for it. When we went to the new Floriade terrain, we had this beautiful wooded area and Sander Groet suggested that I'd do something fun with it. The budget was 10000 Euro and I bought all kinds of decorative material like butterflies, toadstools -- a bit of everything and I singlehandedly decorated the woods. I rented a witches hut and asked my friend to play witch for the day -- all sorts of stuff like that. It was great fun and because we received so many positive reactions we decided the next year to make this bigger and upped the budget. We had confession cubicles, manned by guys dressed as priests. The idea was that anyone could sit down and confess -- but the response was overwhelming and it did the guys' head in with all the strange stories they were told... I supervise the love motel. I clean the rooms and allow people to enter -- or not... People can come in here and withdraw for 20 minutes in one of the rooms. Afterwards it will be cleaned before the next guests enter. But at this moment we can't allow any more people as we're complete out of fitted sheets. With a day to go, when you have storm and rain, and everything that you've worked towards for a whole year has been blown away or rained away, it's tough. Tents about to collapse, 5000 liter water in tents that rip, police who can't decide to give the go ahead until Friday 5pm... That was 2 or 3 years ago. It was such a heavy storm that the festival nearly drowned. Literally. And miraculously... halfway through the morning it cleared up. The rain stopped, the water eventually drained off the terrain and it turned into a very nice day, but that was very very intense. Those are the times that you realize that your team has to be strong. What we've had to learn was to stop feeling sick about things that are designed but don't make it to the day. I say: guys, forget what we had intended, people don't know about that. It's not there now and nobody will miss it or notice. Switch over fast on the day and move on. At the end of the day, we had a terrific party. And after a day like that the discharge is 3 times stronger. That weekend is etched into my memory -- from the lowest low to the highest high -- if you get goose pimples, it's a good moment. I've been to them all. And I think that after 7 years Mystery Land has arrived at what it should be: a tribal gathering, a coming together of all different styles of House music and all that in a very relaxed atmosphere enabling the visitor to explore. The best part of organizing a festival or any event for that matter, is that the people who attend all have a kind of special energy. They have bought that ticket months ago. They're looking forward to it, they're buying a new outfit, they arrange to meet up The general feeling is: we've had the summer, now let's go wild for one last weekend visitor: put that camera down and join the party Visitors: most beautiful party ever seen. Super decors here, all lampshades, you can walk on the water... Visitors: we'll go on and on the whole night, we'll enjoy the music, Mystery Land is the bomb I've been up for 24 hours, I feel like *** I've just been given a present, this is from Ad en Robbie ... not supposed to feel like this -- give me a drink Very posh, but they have less sparkles today -- Oh, no sparkles! Okay let's go We're delivering cakes to our hosting partners. Those are the people that host an area with us at Mystery Land. Here behind us, are the Cupcakes, and they're going to cheer up the desks of our hosting partners. Hang up some posters. Spread the Hype. The Mystery Land newspaper has come out today and we're about to deliver it. We really try to surprise as many people as possible. That is a very important issue for Mystery Land. We've started off with a fun plan: it was a kind of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- machine type of thing. Well we soon found out -- this is impossible. Far too much set building. Which is fine, really, but far too labor intensive and costly so there wouldn't be anything left for the rest. So it was back to the drawing board. This has many sketches and designs before and after -- it is quite a process. So after many new sketches, and again back to the drawing board, and again coming to the same conclusion that it is too complex... we finally thought let's stop this and do something that is totally strange, that is so very alienating. Well, Mystery Land celebrates its 15th anniversary so.... A cake! First I make a general sketch of what the end result should look like. Then I take every separate sub part and enlarge it, give it more detail And that's where we are now. Programming is of course essential, but it is equally important for the event itself to be rock solid. People have come to expect the programming to be good. And because of the sheer numbers and variety, it is exciting to maintain the highest quality. Anyway -- during summer it is altogether quite tricky to be able to program freely because all artists are very much in demand. Artist may well be fully booked during the summer in the Netherlands alone, so we have artist flying back and forth from various countries, making it all quite challenging to fit in. I believe there's another festival in Spain on the same date, and we're already fighting amongst ourselves in Holland to see who can book who. It's a game that is played out every year again. Our theme? Well, we've of course seen the drawings of Main Stage, that's a birthday cake, so we've made the rest of our entertainment follow the same idea with candy, food, cupcakes... A very exciting theme, great fun. Here are the sketches, mini sketches really: a cupcake, a wedding cake, an ice cream cone, a chocolate gateaux and the chocolate bar and a doughnut. And here you can see it being made: This will be the chocolate bar, this will be the cone with those huge ice cream scoops on top. And in here we have the doughnut and cupcake, the finished product. Cupcake.... And a doughnut. (to staff) Fleur, can you try on the cupcake costume? See how it fits? Cupcake staff: When I get married, this will be my wedding dress We started out as a side act on a small boat in the water. A couple of props, costumes. And later we thought -- hang on, maybe it would be nicer if we can create our own setting, because that music doesn't really suit us. We want to use our own music. Then the sound people said we have too much noise pollution. The following year: we need a tent, then we won't hear the rest as much. And then: this tent is rather small. You know what? A bigger tent. And this is how it evolved, slowly. Now, this year, is the first time we have our own official stage, so to speak. Do we know what's in our bags? We know exactly what we are going to do. It must remain a little bit of a mystery though, mustn't it? It is interesting for people to have a taste of different atmospheres and styles, some being slightly more mysterious than others. Which kind of fits Mystery Land. To allow people to discover things that they aren't usually being drip fed by mainstream radio stations. Girl: Have you seen this? It's Jesus on a pancake. You've done it on purpose! It really looks like him. Have you baked this one? Len! It's going to be sunny. I feel it. What is it? Look, the weather is going to be just fine Saturday. Actually, what we've done last year, the fairytale forest, we'll do again this year but with a twist. For instance, we'll hang up ball gowns from the trees with a light shining from inside, we'll have a stand offering party-enhancing props where people can dress up. They can take the costumes free of charge. They can add full make up, wigs... Preparations are at a stage that we're sourcing stuff on Ebay and in charity shops and every couple of days we meet to check progress. So that's more or less the preparations involved at this moment but they start with the preliminary meeting in April and finally take 10 days on the actual terrain setting everything up. We've planned a lot of beautiful things that will be built, the set designs and dressing of the terrain. And today we're having a look to see what can be used where and what is needed to make this terrain beautiful. The first time when I arrived here before there was any sign of a party, I thought Whoa, how quiet it is and how bare it suddenly looks. We've been at it for 1.5 week now, only the weather is letting us down a bit. Luckily it's mainly showers but they're quite before. That happens every year now. Drink token booths, toilet units, bars, tents... never get there, there is not enough of everything, or it won't be ready in time. And then slowly you see everything taking shape. Yes, I think it rather cute. It'll look legendary in a bit. This is Holland: windmills, thousands of people and hard core Dance. Yes, we're getting married today. We're huge fans of Mystery Land. It will be his 11th time this year. We live close by and really wanted to take our wedding photos here. All those colours, woods, really very good. 35.10 Dennis Yes, I like it. It's very different... sickeningly sweet, it is. I'm eager to see how it'll look when it's all finished -- they're doing the lights now. It's a difficult shape, but it came out well. I think it's good. 5 weeks before the event you're sold out completely, and still on the Friday evening you're dealing with pallets of stuff coming in. On the other hand, that's what makes this fun really, like these simple canvasses, it doesn't take much but it's the finishing touch. Paul: With none of the previous editions of Mystery Land have we been able to build it as it was designed on paper. In general, once we've opened, after a couple of hours you'll just leave the visitors to it. There's nothing left to do. You've done what you can, with the whole team, and then those thousands of visitors enter and find their place in it, and that's that. And all you can hope for then is that everyone will realize what we've created, will appreciate it. One way or the other, we're always lucky with the weather. Seriously, I'm now wearing these glasses but I'll put on my dark sunglasses in a minute. The weather forecast was 16 degrees but it's 23 and a bright blue sky. How much more luck do you need as a festival? Every year again, Mystery Land is the bomb, weather wise. I've played a great set, super. Great weather, lovely being in the woods, good to be outdoor with everyone. The numbers here are up and down, it comes in waves, because this is a secret corner of Mystery Land. As this year's theme is "mystery" we need to stick to that and keep it mysterious. A lot happens here all the time, really super. .....She likes it too... We've got 100 kilos of theatre clothing here and we'll distribute it all over the terrain. We can also kidnap people on our cart and take them to our mini tent... We were hosting partner on Mystery Land for the first time in 2004 or 2005 I believe. Funny thing was, we were located on top of that pyramid hill and organizing wedding ceremonies in the capacity of Ex *** Star. Duncan and Lisca, not yet married then, did a sort of pre-marriage ceremony with us. What happened next was that the Christian Democrats in Haarlemmermeer wanted to forbid this because apparently it is not allowed to bless a marriage in any way related to ***. There was a lot of commotion. It was all over the newspapers that we were not allowed to carry on. But we did. So that was how we kind of got deflowered at Mystery Land and we've been repeating that every year. This year we have a very beautiful Island of Love, as I call it. I knew I had to play somewhere and there was only hardcore and a Tunnel of Terror... we held games running through the tunnel from one side to the other, the winner was whoever could stay in there longest. That was the challenge. We had one tent that was not dedicated to hardcore. I remember exiting that tent and people waiting for us, calling us homosexuals. Yes, that was... the next year I made sure to be back in there. For some years now we've regarded Mystery Land as a kind of dance fair. It's a bit like the FIFA hosting a party where all soccer clubs give a taste of what sets them apart -- we're also taking that opportunity to show the world what Q Dance is all about. So because we're there, we can show many what we do and what we stand for - people who otherwise wouldn't necessarily be interested in us. And that is the beauty of it. And like it, or don't like it.... Exactly. If Mystery Land is a great bowl of soup, we are the chili pepper. My creation at Mystery Land is a small spiritual area, a space where people can find themselves and turn inward -- away from all the hectic surroundings. At first I didn't think a dance festival and spirituality would go well together, because the audience would be mainly here to dance and go wild. But later I realized that it would be exactly right to combine the two. Even if it only benefits a few people. , it will be a very positive thing. The music, the chicks, it's really great here. Everyone going wild. Ah... the dance corner Today all I have to do is hang out, see what it's like, be a visitor... and tonight we'll do some serious partying. I pick a few names -- I know who to expect. And if I don't, then there is this.... The time table... and then you select This act I want to see, and then you'll know what to expect: This kind of music, That kind of audience, These people you'll run into ... and then? Then the festival begins. People often ask me: Isn't it all very empty and superficial what you do? But for me -- I've now started yoga and meditation and they teach us to disappear into the emptiness. That is the moment. For me this is meditation. This void, this day is our emptiness. We're all going in together. Nothing else matters. We built a big fence around it. So all of us will disappear into this great emptiness and once you're right in the middle of this void, you can completely lose yourself. And that is a beautiful moment. After the party -- the party is finished and then we come. We start cleaning. It is now Sunday 5pm and after 1 night and 1 day we have collected 4 full 40 cubic meter containers and still there's a heap of rubbish left. It is obvious that in recent years the international artists and the worldwide dance community have paid close attention to Netherlands and a festival like Mystery Land, because the Mystery Land production and everything surrounding it, is considered world class. They're at the top of their game. The rest of the world will try to catch up -- but that won't happen anytime soon.