More than 250 acts have been confirmed for the Amsterdam Dance Event from October 13 to October 17, reports the Parool.

Although there were fears for the event this year, since corona restrictions mean that night-hour events cannot go ahead, the festival has managed to move the times of the majority of planned acts.

So far, 250 events have been fixed at 90 locations, with the agreement of Amsterdam municipal council, club owners and festival organisers. It is expected that more will be added, taking the total nearer the 350 originally planned.

Instead of carrying on through the night, some artists will start as early as 1pm, “peak early” and end at midnight.

Last year the festival only took place online and organisers have already cancelled the largest planned event of this year, the Amsterdam Music Festival for 35,000 people in the Johan Cruyff Arena.

‘We are really pleased that, despite the restrictions, the ADE can help support the sector in this way after a difficult period, and that together we can show what a powerful industry we are,’ co-directors Jan-Willem van de Ven and Meindert Kennis reportedly said.

Court loss

The ADE apparently made a fortunate decision about its timings. On Friday, twenty representatives of the Dutch events industry lost a case against the government to try to challenge the midnight closing time, which came into effect a week ago.

The court said that a judge could only take action if the government was not able to choose a policy properly. ‘This is not the case here,’ said the judgement.

Now that the 1.5m distancing rule has been dropped, restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs can open, but only for 75% of the usual numbers and with valid corona passes for those indoors. Doors must shut at midnight and so many nightlife venues remain closed.