Audiovisual spectacle AMAZE is a new way of going out

AMAZE Amsterdam is exactly what the name says. Although nightlife reporter Mick Boskamp thought he had seen it all, he encountered one surprise after another during the experience.

It’s seven o’clock in the evening when I walk into AMAZE Amsterdam, an immersive and multi-sensory experience of 3,000 m2 filled with state-of-the-art technology. The one-hour audio-visual trip does not involve a rollercoaster car, as in most amusement parks, instead you walk through seven experiential worlds. A robot with a female voice tells me the do’s and don’ts and makes it clear that I’m going to experience a lot. She wishes me good luck and wisdom and tells me to follow the orange lights. I barely get time to take a breath, because I am immediately drawn into the attraction…

After about an hour I’m back in the bar/reception area of ​​the attraction, where Irfan van Ewijk, managing director of AMAZE, is waiting for me with a big smile. He asks how I liked it. All I can say is what hippies exclaimed in the sixties when they had taken LSD: ‘Wow!’

Irfan tells me that we are in a magical place here on Elementenstraat, where AMAZE Amsterdam is located. Here lies the cradle of the urban hardcore scene. A building that was squatted in the early 1990s, and which saw the infamous Multigroove raves, now houses dance organizations ID&T, Q-dance and Awakenings, greats in today’s hardcore, hardstyle and techno scene.

“Many of the first big names in dance learned their trade here on this street. I handed out thousands of flyers here when we first started organizing parties. Here we watched how Multigroove owner Ilja Reiman threw parties. In the decades that followed, we went from small to large to mega with ID&T. With AMAZE we are back where it all started.”

“AMAZE is a 3,000-square-metre sensory experience, filled with state-of-the-art audio-visual technology. A new way of going out.”

“AMAZE is the new initiative of ID&T, the world’s largest dance organization, known for Sensation, Thunderdome, Mysteryland, Amsterdam Open Air and Milkshake. AMAZE is a long-cherished dream come true. Here, the technology is fully at the service of the audio-visual experience that we want to give the visitor. By now we have been tried and tested enough to be able to share some life lessons. Like the neon letters you see when you enter: ‘The only way out is in’. In other words, to escape the day-to-day issues, you have to go within yourself and find peace.”

I’m in the mirror room designed by Eboman (Jeroen Hofs). It’s dark there and I’m afraid to bump into something. I’m scared of myself, life-sized on mirrors. I laugh, look serious, seem to cry and then my images shatter into thousands of pieces of coloured glass. The science fiction movie I ended up in has yet to be shot. That much is certain.

“People think that we as ID&T have faced bigger challenges by bringing huge events such as Sensation to Russia or Chile, but this is a completely different ball game. This is about personal attention. And we are happy to give that!”

When I drive home, I think back to the time when I was ten years old when I went to a thrilling movie, had a lot of energy and re-enacted the fight scenes with my brother. I have the same feeling after AMAZE. I’m really looking forward to going out in the next few days.