Dekmantel Festival

The story begins with a group of friends from The Hague who moved to Amsterdam. In 2007 Thomas Martojo and Casper Tielrooij launched the Dekmantel parties, with an eye on Detroit: the first, with San Proper, took place in a 200-capacity club, and the venues grew to 400, 600 and then 1,500 people for the third birthday. The label followed in 2009, with an EP and then an album by Juju & Jordash.

The first festival took place on 23 to 25 August 2013 in the Amsterdamse Bos, the large wooded park south of the city, with 5,000 tickets a day and Four Tet, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance and Laurent Garnier on the bill. The DJ-focused Selectors stage arrived in 2014; by 2015 capacity had reached 10,000 tickets, with an opening concert at the Muziekgebouw and nights at the Melkweg. The brand then went to Tisno, Croatia, with Dekmantel Selectors (2016), and to São Paulo (2017). The 2020 edition was postponed, and so was 2021, after outdoor events were banned; the festival returned on 3 to 7 August 2022.

Dekmantel does not build its editions around a theme: its stages carry the identity, each with its own community. Techno at UFO, bass at The Nest, eclectic sets at Selectors, concerts and listening at the Greenhouse, streaming at RADAR, headliners in the circular arena of The Loop. Sound is a subject in itself: Funktion-One, Krackfree at The Nest, Floating Points' Sunflower Sound System at the Greenhouse in 2025. The festival describes itself as independent, serves an all-vegetarian menu and asks its audience to put phones away on the dance floor.

In 2024 Dekmantel Ten celebrated the tenth edition over ten days, from Het HEM in Zaandam to the forest, with The Loop redesigned as a 360-degree circle. In 2026 the twelfth edition, from 29 July to 2 August, added At Dawn, mornings reserved for weekend ticket holders, and Into the City, at the Melkweg and Paradiso; the organisers reported more than 200 acts, seven stages in the forest and 18,000 visitors, and every weekend ticket was gone before the festival. The official site announces a return to the Amsterdamse Bos in 2027, with no dates published so far.