Rapper Nicki Minaj will perform in Romania for the first time, at the fourth edition of SAGA festival.

The Trinidadian-born artist has been named a headliner for the three-day event, set for 5–7 July at the Romanero airport in Bucharest.

The performance at SAGA is part of her largest tour to date, Nicki Minaj Presents: Pink Friday 2 World, which spans almost 40 concerts across North America and Europe.

“We are extremely excited to bring the #1 female hip hop artist in the world to SAGA Festival in Romania for the first time,” says Allan Hardenberg of ALDA, which promotes SAGA. “Nicki Minaj is an icon, and we are incredibly proud to offer our fans the opportunity to experience such an extraordinary and unforgettable show.”

“We are extremely excited to bring the #1 female hip hop artist in the world to SAGA Festival in Romania for the first time”

The 55,000-capacity festival will see more than 150 artists perform across six stages. Previously confirmed acts include Armin van Buuren, Raye, Loreen, Artbat, Dennis Lloyd, James Hype and Nico Moreno.

SAGA is organised by Amsterdam-based promoter ALDA, which has been 50% owned by leading dance promoter and Live Nation subsidiary Insomniac since October 2018.

ALDA is behind events including Rotterdam’s A State of Trance and A Day at the Park and the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival, Amsterdam Music Festival.

Los Angeles-based Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.

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Armin van Buuren has announced ambitious plans to expand his Dutch festival, A State of Trance (ASOT).

The Dutch DJ revealed that the festival will leave its long-standing home in Utrecht and take up residency at Rotterdam Ahoy in 2024. This is partly due to the demolition of the largest stage in the event’s former home, Jaarbeurs.

Next year, the ALDA-promoted festival will see more than 70 artists performing across five stages and two days at the arena.

In addition to the usual night-time programme, various fringe activities will be organised in Rotterdam during the weekend, including demo sessions, masterclasses, panels, pre-parties and Q&As with artists. The temporary A State of Trance Hotel will be the hotspot of the weekend.

The move was announced on van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show: “Utrecht has been a great home base for my A State of Trance events in the Netherlands for many years. We have all been able to make a lot of beautiful memories there; in 1993 I went to the Jaarbeurs for my very first rave and I also held Armin Only shows there.

“We often hear from fans that they would like an even broader ASOT experience, so we will really focus on that next year”

“But the large iconic space where our main stage used to be is unfortunately being demolished, so we had no choice but to look for a new home. We see a lot of possibilities at this new location and I can’t wait to continue building the future of A State of Trance in Rotterdam!”

Allan Hardenberg, CEO and co-founder of ALDA, adds: “The good cooperation with the city of Rotterdam is a great opportunity to further expand the A State of Trance brand and to enhance the experience for the visitor to an even higher level. We often hear from fans that they would like an even broader A State of Trance experience, so we will really focus on that next year with the addition of the day program and the A State of Trance Hotel.”

In other news, a new festival celebrating A State of Trance’s 20th anniversary is coming to London’s Dockyards this summer.

Van Buuren, ARGY, Ben Gold, Cosmic Gate, Gareth Emery, MORTEN, Pretty Pink, Solarstone and Vini Vici are some of the names set to play the 2 July event, which will feature three stages.

Organisers are expecting an audience of 20,000, making ASOT London the largest trance event in the city’s history.

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Alda, the Amsterdam-based company behind leading EDM events including AMF, New Horizons and more, is expanding to Croatia.

The Dutch promoter, which is 50% owned by Live Nation-backed Insomniac, today announced it has opened an office in the capital, Zagreb.

In addition, Alda and Insomniac have also planned a new seven-day festival in the Croatian city of Pula, on the Adriatic coast.

The event, titled Secret Project Presents Pula Music Week, will take place in and around one of Europe’s oldest amphitheatres between 30 June to 6 July.

Peggy Gou, Solomon, Disclosure, Tale Of Us, Boris Brejcha, Charlotte de Witte and Black Coffee will each host their own evening. Support acts will be announced at a later date.

“Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future”

Project Presents Pula Music Week is the second new festival Alda and Insomniac have launched together, after Saga festival in Bucharest, Romania.

Allan Hardenberg, director and co-founder of ALDA, says: “In the two years that the festival world has been on hiatus, we have of course not been idle. We’ve made plans for when it could all be done again… and that’s now! Earlier this month we officially opened our office in Zagreb, Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future.

“There are so many options here, especially for destination festivals. With the Pula Music Week, music lovers can enjoy not just one evening, but a week of the very best DJs in a unique location, where they are provided with everything they need.”

Alda is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.

Insomniac, meanwhile, has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.

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A handful of benefit concerts have each raised upwards of six figures for humanitarian and financial relief during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dutch promoter ALDA and renowned Dutch radio show ASOT100 (A State of Trance) raised a total of €152,350 from their Dance for Ukraine fundraiser in Poland.

The event took place on Saturday (12 March) at the Tauron Arena (cap. 22,000) in Kraków and featured performances from ASTOT producers Armin van Buuren and Ruben de Ronde among others.

The proceeds from Dance for Ukraine go to the Polish Red Cross to aid their efforts in helping the Ukrainian people in need.

Elsewhere, in Belgium, more than fourteen electronic music festivals and nightlife collectives rolled up their sleeves for a unique open-air festival to raise funds for Ukraine.

Led by festivals Hangar and Paradise City, the United for Ukraine benefit at Atomium in Brussels garnered €100,000 for Underground4Ukraine.

More than 4,000 attendees watched performances from Charlotte de Witte, Lefto, AliA, DC Salas and Ukrainian singer Ana Fantana who sang the national anthem.

“You proved that music has the power to make a difference,” wrote Paradise City on Facebook the day after the event.

Across the pond, a fundraiser at New York City’s City Winery, hosted by Ukrainian-born Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello, raised US$130,000 (€118,500).

Patti Smith, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and Suzanne Vega were among the artists that performed at the benefit.

 

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Proceeds from the concert were donated to Come Back Alive, a foundation that provides support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and Care.org.

Among the funds raised, there was a $50,000 donation by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon to Doctors Without Borders.

“Fundraising is crucial,” Hutz told Rolling Stone. “People are being super generous and making astronomical donations. Our task is to keep beating the drum and tell the story authentically.”

More benefit concerts for Ukraine are being announced every day, with Arcade Fire’s fundraiser in New Orleans, Louisana, being the latest.

The Canadian band will take to the stage at the city’s Toulouse Theatre venue tonight (14 March) and all proceeds will benefit the Plus 1 Ukraine relief fund.

Elsewhere, Polish promoter Follow the Step has announced a televised charity concert, Together with Ukraine, featuring some of the biggest Polish and Ukrainian stars.

Vito Bambino, Zalewski, Igo and Daria Zawiałow are among the artists that will perform at Atlas Arena (cap. 13,806) on 20 March for Together with Ukraine.

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Leading dance music promoters Insomniac and Alda have announced a new location for their Romanian festival, Saga.

Saga’s inaugural edition took place across three days in September at Bucharest’s Romaero SA airfield with acts including Don Diablo, Carl Cox and Tiësto.

The electronic dance event will return to the Romanian capital in June 2022, this time taking place at Bucharest’s National Arena (cap. 55,000) and the surrounding park area.

Afrojack, Marshmello and Timmy Trumpet are set to headline the event, with more artists to be announced on 2 December.

In celebration of Saga’s new home, Alda has planned a special event at the National Arena on 1 December, Romania’s National Day.

Afrojack, Marshmello and Timmy Trumpet are set to headline the event, with more artists to be announced on 2 December

According to the promoter, there will be a “dramatic” fireworks display around the stadium during an exclusive on-location DJ performance supported by Du Mad and Kov.

The event will be broadcast live and, during this time (19:00 and 00:00 EET), those who have registered for ticket information on the Saga Festival website will be able to purchase tickets for next year’s edition at a special price. General ticket sales will then commence on 2 December.

Alda and Insomniac, based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, respectively, have been partners since October 2018, when majority Live Nation-owned Insomniac acquired a 50% stake in Alda.

Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.

Alda, meanwhile, is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.

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Leading dance music promoters Insomniac and Alda welcomed 45,000 guests to the inaugural edition of Saga, Romania’s first large-scale music festival since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The electronic dance event took place between 10–12 September in the Romanian capital of Bucharest and drew both domestic and international guests.

The three-day event featured some of the biggest names in electronic music including Don Diablo, Carl Cox, Tiësto, Topic, Allan Walker, Fisher and Sigala, who performed across four stages.

Alda and Insomniac, based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, respectively, have been partners since October 2018, when majority Live Nation-owned Insomniac acquired a 50% stake in Alda.

“We found a place we can call home… Saga has Bucharest and Bucharest has Saga”

Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.

Alda, meanwhile, is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival – which was cancelled yesterday.

Following the event, Alda said: “We found a place we can call home… Saga has Bucharest and Bucharest has Saga. During the past three days, we have all seen the beginning of something that goes beyond our imagination. We’ve shared our energy and vibrated together for the first time, all in the name of electronic music.”

Saga was set to debut in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. The festival will return in 2022 at the earlier date of 3–5 June.

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The Netherlands’ A State of Trance (ASOT) has sold all 55,000 tickets for this September’s festival, which takes place at the Jaarbeurs convention centre in Utrecht on 3–4 September.

The ASOT1000 Celebration Weekend, which marks 1,000 episodes and 20 years of Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show, is the most-anticipated A State of Trance to date, selling out in under four hours, according to promoter Alda.

Headlined by van Buuren, the first night of ASOT1000 will be a “nostalgic journey through two decades of trance”, with the Saturday show a more standard ASOT experience, welcoming a “star-studded line-up packed with new young talent, as well as iconic trance artists”. The nine-hour event will take place across five areas of the 100,000m² Jaarbeurs.

The festival follows ASOT 950, which took place last February, also at the Jaarbeurs, with 40,000 fans in attendance and millions more watching online.

Further ASOT1000 events will take place in Poland and Russia the following month, before heading to more countries on A State of Trance world tour.

“This incredible achievement signifies that music has always been a unifying force”

Allan Hardenberg, CEO of leading dance music promoter Alda, says: “This milestone celebration is a very special one for Alda, as we have been a part of this extraordinary journey for 14 years in organising ASOT events worldwide. We are glad to celebrate this landmark occasion with Armin and fans from all over the world.

“This incredible achievement signifies that music has always been a unifying force. See you on the dancefloor this September.”

Tickets for ASOT1000 Celebration Weekend started at €110 for a weekend ticket, or €65 for a single-day pass.

Regarding coronavirus, Alda says it will take “measures that are necessary at that moment” to protect fans and comply with all Dutch government regulations. Another dance music festival, new event Frontier, says it will also go ahead in a ‘corona-proof’ format, regardless of restrictions, this summer.

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Following the success of its first Rave Culture show, which welcomed 1,400 fans to Cologne’s Lanxess Arena in July, Dutch electronic promoter Alda is planning an “even more spectacular show” in Thailand this December.

The first Thai music festival since early 2020, Rave Culture part two will be held in Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya, on the Gulf of Thailand, on 12 December. A co-pro with Bangkok’s 808 Festival and Amsterdam-based creative agency 20 Agency, Rave Culture welcomes a “top-tier” line-up, says Alda, as well as high-end production featuring lasers, LEDs, “state-of-the-art” lighting and other special effects.

Performers will include trance star Andrew Rayel, hardstyle duo Sub Zero Project, psy-trance act Vini Vici and future-rave pioneer Morten, as well as Rave Culture founders W&W. W&W played at the inaugural Rave Culture festival, as well as an Alda-organised virtual-reality live stream which attracted more than a million viewers in May.

Pattaya is known as the nightlife capital of Thailand, while the 500-acre Nong Nooch gardens will provide a “beautiful setting” for the event, adds an Alda statement.

Tickets for Rave Culture, which takes place as part of day two of 808 Festival, start at ฿2,950 (€81) for general admission and are on sale now.

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Dutch DJ duo W&W played what was billed as the world’s first extended-reality (XR) live stream over the weekend, performing amid virtual pyrotechnics in a custom-built stadium to more than a million fans on Facebook and Twitch.

The pair appeared as themselves inside a 3D virtual world, playing a new set to 900,000 viewers on Facebook and over 150,000 on Twitch, while green-screen special effects, including lighting, confetti, lasers and fireworks, illuminated the computer-generated environment around them.

Commenting on the 23 May show, Allan Hardenberg, CEO of organiser Alda, says: “It was incredible to bring to life this revolutionary experience in dance music.

“The partnership with W&W meant that we could bring the best in music, and we succeeded in our goal to bring our fans the best music experience, no matter where they are in the world. We’re looking forward to bringing more groundbreaking music experiences to our fans.”

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In what promoter Alda Events is calling the dance music world’s first-ever extended-reality (XR) live stream, Dutch DJ duo W&W have announced a show that will take place inside a specially created 3D virtual world.

For the 23 May event, the pair – who have been among DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs since 2010, and are renowned for their live shows – will play a set in a custom-made virtual stadium overlaid with futuristic, videogame-like ‘XR’ effects, pointing the way towards “a potential future route for the events industry during the global lockdown,” says Alda.

In addition to Alda – the part-Insomniac-owned, Amsterdam-based EDM promoter – the show’s partners include Chinese sports brand Li-Ning (which lends its name to the virtual ‘Li-Ning Arena’), DJ Mag, livestreaming platform Twitch and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

The concert will see W&W “implement green screens to enhance the illusion of their creative 3D reality”, surrounding themselves with “a series of mind-blowing special effects”

According to the show announcement, the concert will see W&W “implement green screens to enhance the illusion of their creative 3D reality”, surrounding themselves with “a series of mind-blowing special effects” and “creating a space that welcomes everyone”.

The W&W shows follows Travis Scott’s pre-recorded show in the videogame Fortnite, which was seen by an estimated 12 million people and won praise for its spectacular visual effects, as well as the boom in livestreamed shows of all kinds during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event will be streamed live on Facebook and Twitch on Saturday 23 May at 5pm CEST.

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