Celebrating the 7th Symphony at 7th Sunday Festival

Last weekend marked another epic edition of 7th Sunday Festival – Holland’s annual celebration, which takes place on the 7th Sunday after Easter. Taking place in the Dutch countryside just outside Eindhoven, the sold-out event welcomed more than 100 artists from a wide spectrum of genres across 13 epic stages. Featuring everyone’s Dutch festival favourites, from carnival rides to hammock villages, an international food court and an epic endshow, 7th Sunday had it all! 

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Getting to 7th Sunday Festival

Located in the outliers of Eindhoven in Veghel, the festival was about 20 minutes away from the city. I took advantage of the festival’s shuttle service from Eindhoven and pre-booked a roundtrip shuttle ticket for 10 euros. Tickets were also available on the day for 12.50 euros. The thing with Dutch festival shuttles is that they pack them completely to the rim so if you’re not one of the first ones on the bus, you’ll likely be standing the entire time. The journey was smooth but the majority of the bus got off early once we hit the festival traffic and walked the remaining 3km to the festival entrance. The walk wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds and all the exotic farm animals we saw along the way made it that much more entertaining. 

The Festival Grounds

The festival grounds closely resembled many other Dutch festivals I have been to, like WiSH Outdoor, Karnaval Festival or Dream Village. The festival entrance was located at the back of the grounds, so you had to walk through the festival and past most of the stages to get to the main stage. As soon as you enter, you walk straight past the lockers and the token exchange machines before reaching the rest of the festival. The majority of the festival has boardwalks leading you from stage to stage, with plenty of hammock villages and chill out areas, as well as a large international food court and other seated eating areas. The stages range from indoor tent stages to outdoor megastructures, stages on wheels and more. Scattered in between the stages were a number of carnival rides, sponsored activities and vendors.

Tokens

Most, if not all Dutch festivals, use tokens as a form of currency throughout the festival. Tokens start at 10 euros for 3 and are sold in values of 10 euros. Drinks start at 1 token for soft drinks, 2 tokens for water and 3 or more tokens for alcohol. Food is also around 2-5 tokens per meal.

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The Music

7th Sunday Festival featured 13 stages showcasing a wide range of genres. The main stage focused on EDM and house, which of course, still featured a fair share of hardstyle (it is Holland after all)! The second largest stage was the ‘Hard Nature’ stage, an indoor tent stage dedicated to the harder styles. Next up was the SLAM! stage, which showcased a range of urban eclectic and hip-hop music. The remaining smaller stages could be found throughout the festival grounds, dedicated exclusively to techno, house classics, big room, live music, reggae, disco and more. I spent most of my day at the three main stages, catching some of my favourite artists. 

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Standout Sets

Having seen so many sets throughout the day, it’s almost impossible to pick a favourite but there were definitely some artists that stood out. The first set I saw was Da Tweekaz; my favourite DJ’s, who played quite early on during the day. I see these guys almost every single weekend (I actually saw them the day before at World Club Dome), and am yet to be disappointed. 

The next standout was Ran-D. I originally planned to take this time to go eat and explore the grounds, but somehow ended up sitting right outside the hardstyle stage with a box of pasta when the lasers drew me in. This was the first of many sets on the Hard Nature stage where the full-scale production featuring pyro, indoor fireworks and of course, jaw-dropping lasers, were brought out. So naturally I went inside to capture the madness and I ended up enjoying every minute of it. 

My final stand out was LNY TNZ, who performed on the SLAM! stage. I recently saw LNY TNZ perform their final show as a duo at WiSH Outdoor Mexico a couple of weeks ago and this was my first time seeing LNY TNZ as a solo act. Together with MC Jeff, LNY TNZ put on yet another incredible performance and definitely delivered their ‘FVCK GENRES’ concept loudly and proudly. 

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7th Sunday Endshow

The moment I was looking forward to all day was the special 20-minute endshow. I’ve seen and photographed my fair share of end shows but I had no idea what was in store for this one. The main stage was significantly wider than any other main stage I have seen in Holland so I was anticipating a crazy endshow using the entire length of the stage. The specially curated endshow featured non stop lasers and fireworks, perfectly timed to the beats of Pegboard Nerds, Martin Garrix, Wildstylez and more. This definitely ranks up there as one of the best festival end shows I’ve ever seen! 

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Final Thoughts

After attending my first 7th Sunday Festival, I can confidently say that I will definitely be back! Although the festival definitely doesn’t come close to some of the more prominent Dutch Festivals such as Defqon.1 or Decibel Outdoor, it ticks all the boxes of a perfectly organised Dutch festival. The combination of a perfect diverse lineup with everyone’s festival food favourites, rides and good vibes, this was definitely the perfect way to spend my Sunday! 

Photo credit: Katarina Cvetko