On December 2nd, we hosted our 10th anniversary celebration in our headquarters located in the old Handelsblad (newspaper) building in the heart of Amsterdam. The jazzy and swingy duo The Mule Stompers and the The Gold collective band, winners of this year's competition made everyone dance during this evening. In addition, the winner of DJ of the Year 2021 Mini Maal performed a live set as well. We all celebrated several milestones such as the expansion to 9 countries, reaching more than 33 000 unique booking requests and counting more than 11 000 artists. The latter is highly visible to those who see the entire lineup pass by: hillbilly meets swing, pop and rock covers and then minimal techno.
The Mule Stompers: Duo of the Year
The Hilbilly duo made sure everyone got on their feet to dance a little with their swinging music. The two-voiced duo used instruments like a banjo and harmonica, which made the performance even more authentic and brought us back to the 30s in the United States. Even some bypassers outside got curious an joined the crowd to admire this playful duo. With their contagious smile and variety of guitars they know how to set a good mood. Usually and each year the titles were determined by a professional jury preceded by a public vote, this time the Gigstarter team chose themselves the winners in order to highlight other genres and qualities.
The Mule Stompers live during our event
Gold collective: Artist of the Year
The acoustic trio, combining a double bass, a cajón and the beautiful voice of Pip, entered the building and were ready to play in a few seconds. The trio played songs from Dolly Parton to Johnny Cash and the audience gradually fell in love with Pip's voice. Last year, Julie Huard was awarded Artist of the Year, an elegant chanson singer who is nowadays considered as a Dutch rising star. Who knows what this Title will bring to Gold Collective?
Gold Collective rocking the Gigstarter stage
Esta Polyesta: DJ of The Year
The award of DJ of the Year 2022 goes to Esta Polyesta, a DJ who allies world music, balkan music mixed with EDM. The female DJ is also playing under the name of Madame Moustache as she can express her love for electroswing. As the winning DJ of this year is on tour in India, the last year's DJ awarded, Mini Maal, was asked to come and perform. But we will make sure feature her on stage next year!
Esta Polyesta // THE OTHER SIDE Radio // Rhythm Session 033DJ Mini Maal DJ of the Year 2021
Last year, the Belgian DJ won our annual competition, however since we organised the event online, we couldn't give the artist the opportunity to perform on an actual stage. This year, Mini Maal travelled all the way from Belgium to take over the stage with his impressive gear. After being warmed up by the duo and artist of the year, the crowd was ready to dance following the techno basses.
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