Brace yourself for September the 3rd, 2016. That day is Laundry Day. Antwerp's most celebrated dance festival will kick off its 18th edition. A slightly different Laundry Day than the one you're used to, but still an edition that will feel very familiar. Confused?
Eighteen years ago Luc Carpentier threw a party in the infamous Kammenstraat, Antwerp's more edgy fashion street. Laundry Day booked deejays that took the audience to unknown territory. Its stages were launching platforms for new talent. And it celebrated fashion.
The concept blossomed, exploded and moved to Het Eilandje. Again, Laundry Day became too big for its location and the party-gone-festival moved to the South of Antwerp. A few years later Laundry Day found its current festival site at Linkeroever, the leftbank of the river Scheldt.
The event made each of these locations blossom. The Kammenstraat, Het Eilandje and Het Zuid are now some of Antwerp's most trendy spots and districts.
September the 3rd, Laundry Day will go back to its roots. After years and years of working with a theme - the Orient, the circus, Soviet Russia - the 2016 edition will be themeless. A choice which will bring joy to the people who were there, at the very first Laundry Day in 1998. Because Laundry Day has its very own profile. 2016 will be about the love for music and discovering new talent. And even fashion will, once again, get more attention.
Laundry Day 2016 will be an excursion into names and sounds that even Shazam will have to look up.
Luc Carpentier has been organizing events and deejaying for over 30 years. Together with Hans 'Murdock' Machiels (Studio Brussel, Rampage) he presents a line-up that combines homegrown veterans with new talent, cult with kitsch, usual with unusual suspects.
Expect these artist at Laundry Day 2016: Bringhim, Cameplphat, Clapton, Digital Punk, Dimaro, Dimension, Discobaar A Moeder (straight outta Antwerp), Double Pleasure, Eptic, Fox Stevenson, Klingande, Lex Luger, Maduk, Marco Bailey, Meteor Musik, NoMoBS (Antwerp represent!), Smos & Baby B, Sven Van Hees, Wild Motherfuckers and Yung Internet.
These - and other, soon to be announced - names won't flock together in the middle at a main stage. This year, Laundry Day steps off the beaten path: every stage can be a main stage. The festival is a cross-over of genres, bold and boundless.
We're very curious about how these changes will bring back the atmosphere of the early days to the festival. So don't worry: we'll keep you updated!
For more information and tickets (available on the 30th of April) check .
Text by This Is Antwerp
Pics by Laundry Day & Playout!