Thunderdome Never Dies

A fantastic documentary about what is and probably will ever be the greatest hardcore party in the world. With stories told by the founders, organisers, legendary dj's and, of course, hardcore fans. The docu is not just about the actual party, but more so about the mindset and sense of family that is Thunderdome. The only thing that I found slightly disappointing js that there's not one girl/woman in the whole documentary who gets to share her experience and opinion. Only men... Believe me, it's definitely not just guys who love hardcore music, so it would have been nice to hear one of 'us' tell their story. But in all in all it is a must-see for every who loves this music scene.

There are a few documentaries about the upcoming of house music (Pre EDM) in the Netherlands. It's quite amazing to see that so many Dutch dj's are currently playing the world's stage. This is Leading back to the first and only sub-culture founded in the Netherlands a decade ago: hardcore techno, or gabber as you wish.

The documentary "Thunderdome never dies" follows the story of the people behind the rise of a cult-status event: the Thunderdome raves. As a few young guys in 1992, only in their twenties starting organising parties, the scene grew and became more and more massive over time. Tens of thousands of ravers joined together in these eardrum pounding raves.

And it all stopped.

But being a subculture, Thunderdome lived on in the hearts and minds of its fans. Which (with the risk of writing a understatement) are in love with the brand, the scene and everything that comes with it. Even today people get the Thunderdome insignia tatoed to their bodies. No wonder the latest event hosting a massive 50.000 (!) bold headed ravers was sold out within a few hours.

So what is Thunderdome you say? It's the techno version of Punk: it's a cult, its endless dancing, and most of all it's not giving a **** about what everybody says.

And that's exactly what bonds all those gabbers together.