Darren Styles at the Harbour Events and Convention Centre was everything we dreamed about in a hardstyle show. We drove up to the beautiful city of Vancouver on March 25 to witness the king of UK hardcore in the flesh, for a night of pure euphoria and the infectious kick drum sounds of the reverse bass. Don’t let the bass get you.
We were lucky enough to secure a spot on the rails, where we jumped up and down and fist pumped the entire night away. While we were dressed in our typical rave attire, jerseys, bucket hats, and kandi adorned, most of the crowd was dressed in a lot of black suited for nightlife, but amazing vibes were felt all around from everyone we interacted with.
The openers for Darren Styles on this Saturday night were Dangerouz, Adame Twins, and Sound Rush, who are both twin DJ acts. Dangerouz is a local DJ in Vancouver, who also opened the previous weekend for the Insomnia Festival in Abbotsford, B.C.
The Adame Twins are identical twin sisters from Vancouver who opened before Darren Styles and specialize in bass house and mid tempo bass. Sound Rush are identical twin brothers from the Netherlands who closed out the night from 1:30-3am. Sound Rush also followed Darren Styles up from Beyond SoCal the night before, and proved that they are up and coming stars in hardstyle.
Darren Styles threw down so hard. Darren made his way to the DJ booth with blonde dyed hair in the darkness so silently that we were not sure if it was him at first, but immediately after he started his set we knew the next hour and 15 minutes was going to be amazing. He played all of the songs we had been listening to nonstop for the last three months, including our favorites Party Don’t Stop, Switch, Wonder by TNT, Us Against The World, and Quiver.
His visuals were on point, and consisted of a lot of blaring red lights and smiley face patterns. We were so grateful for the opportunity to see this legend, especially since he does not travel down to Seattle or Portland very often, and that he managed to pack this Saturday trip to Vancouver in between performing at Beyond Wonderland SoCal and Ultra Miami in the same weekend!
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We had an amazing time in Vancouver, and the venue at Harbour Events and Convention Centre was great. We were impressed by the size, cleanliness, friendliness, and the only knock was the long security line, but it should be expected if you arrive late to shows with big name artists. And besides, it’s also a great opportunity to talk to others in line, especially when you’re from out of town. We are already looking ahead at shows to attend again, including R3hab coming up on May 6, and Vini Vici the following week on May 13. Check out their full list of events here.
We also realize that our next bucket list item is to attend a hardstyle festival, hopefully Basscon or maybe Defqon in the Netherlands. Either way, it’s festival season now, and we cannot wait to get back to the Gorge for Illenium in May, followed by Beyond Wonderland at the Gorge in June!
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