⸻ From Liquid Dreams to a Broader Spectrum: How Liquicity Festival Shifted After 2022

  



  ⸻  A factors for renaming of the festival; end for the liquicity



 

   Liquicity Festival, once the undisputed haven for lovers of liquid drum & bass, has undergone a notable transformation since its 2022 edition. What began as a soulful gathering for melodic and emotional DnB purists has increasingly leaned into a broader, more eclectic representation of the genre. 

While evolution is natural for any longstanding festival, many within the Liquicity community have observed a clear shift away from the festival’s liquid roots — and not all are thrilled about it. 


The 2022 Threshold: A Subtle but Defining Shift 



In 2022, the lineup still proudly featured the usual suspects of the liquid scene — Hybrid Minds, Etherwood, LSB, Technimatic — but cracks in the genre’s purity were starting to show. For the first time, more artists associated with dancefloor, neurofunk, or experimental DnB appeared on the roster. At first, this inclusion felt like a refreshing mix. But for those deeply tied to the melancholic and introspective nature of liquid, it hinted at a future where the festival might compromise its identity. 


2023 and Beyond: Liquid Loses Its Center 



By 2023, the transformation was undeniable. Headliners included acts like Pendulum, Sub Focus, Dimension, and AMC — icons of the high-energy, festival-friendly side of drum & bass. While they delivered stellar performances, their inclusion represented a clear pivot: Liquicity was no longer just about liquid. The sets grew louder, more aggressive, and often tailored to mass appeal rather than emotional depth. 

Initially, the Nebula stage itself was a haven for liquid drum & bass enthusiasts, offering sets that emphasized melodic and atmospheric sounds. However, by 2023, the stage had transformed into a platform for diverse music. For example, Thrasher itself from PRSPCT, bringing hardcore energy to the stage. 

The Nebula stage — once a reliable space for ambient, atmospheric, and liquid-adjacent sounds — became a playground for genre experimentation. Neurofunk, hardcore, and cross-genre DJ sets disrupted the traditionally introspective flow of the stage. And one of the main liquid stage, the Lunar stage, is also fading. Liquicity Festival 2025 is hosting Black Sun Empire, for example — even they’re scheduled for the end, edge of the festival weekend, which is called Liquicity. 

The shift in the musical changes has elicited mixed responses from the Liquicity community. Particularly long-time fans of liquid drum & bass, felt that the festival was moving away from its roots. The inclusion of heavier and more experimental sets led some to feel that the unique liquid atmosphere that once defined Liquicity was being diluted.

The recent changes at Liquicity Festival appear nonsensical from a cultural perspective—it’s as if the very foundation that once lifted the festival is now being eroded to align with mainstream drum & bass ideology. This is especially ironic, considering that liquid drum & bass originally emerged as a conscious attempt to distance itself from the aggression, toxicity itself of the mainstream DnB scene. That Liquicity’s recent direction feels like a betrayal of the very spirit it was built on. One might feel that these changes are not just shifts in musical direction, but attempts to dismantle the liquid drum & bass community within the festival itself.

In the streaming of these all facts, there are indicators shoving among other things, what is named in this piece, changes making connection between Central Europe mainstream drum and bass policy. And the indicators exist although the policy of Central Europe main drum and bass scene and festivals is problematic and seems to make not good for an own existence and for name of drum and bass itself.

For example, Milovice was rejected by the local citizen community, and the Let It Roll event has been moved to Lake Most (Most belong to the most dangerous areas in Czechia, infamous for its brutalist and prefab panel housing blocks (paneláky), which many outsiders associate with post-communist decay, high unemployment, a struggling local economy, drug issues [belong to the most worst area in Czech meth using], social exclusion, and some marginalized communities dealing with poverty and exclusion—economic reason is probably the reason why Most hosting Let It Roll. Czech [free tekno] ravers, or activists often find inspiration in its post-apocalyptic vibe.). However, the Lake Most location is definitely smaller than Milovice—and that’s going to affect everything, including visitor capacity, big stages and sound quality (and over all this, the price of tickets is rising). Small towns like Most often aren’t equipped to handle over 15k+ ravers—especially with (neurofunk, crossbreed) bass shaking windows at 4–6 AM. 

At the same time, Prague’s Let It Roll mecca, Storm Club, was also rejected. In a way, Let It Roll would be an impossible event in the Netherlands due to national policy, and the ravers themselves would pose a challenge to the country’s sustainability policies and its residents’ quality of life. Even liquid community spoke out during Liquicity Festival 2023.

Perhaps because liquid DnB is often called intelligent drum and bass, visitors of international liquid DnB events often look like that, and they can be intellectually challenging for those who don’t feel the sweet meanings of liquid DnB. 174 BPM is the same number for production, but in many cases, different music takes different structural forms of listeners itself who don’t belong to the liquid DnB community.

Maybe now is the time for the liquid drum & bass community to reflect on creating events rooted in their own identity. It seems that many liquid people are gradually distancing themselves from what Liquicity Festival has become — a space that no longer fully represents the sense it once stood for

The festival seems to be losing touch with the meaning behind its own name, otherwise also the unique atmosphere of the Netherlands landscape itself, and the essences of liquid drum & bass. What was once a sanctuary for emotion, introspection, and connection now feels increasingly disconnected from the very culture it was born to represent. In an all the ways, this policy seems to be as unsustainable.