By Sunday, ADE had already taken its share of sleep. We headed to SugarFactory for Awakenings Sunday Seshing, with DJ Gigola b2b Pegassi on our agenda and enough curiosity left for one more dance floor.
The former sugar refinery in Halfweg makes an immediate impression. Built in 1863, it still wears its industrial past: steel pillars, old kettles and huge halls left raw. Outside, the twin silos glowed yellow. Inside, Awakenings had fitted the space with the sound and production for its eight-event ADE takeover.
Almost a kilometre of LED strips traced the building across two levels. Moving trusses and a tilting screen behind the booth shifted the room’s shape, while the central staircase connected different perspectives on the dance floor. You could move upstairs, find a spot on the tiered deck behind the DJ, or stay close to the action below. The scale was impressive, but the room still invited you to explore.
For us, DJ Gigola b2b Pegassi was the draw. A back-to-back puts the exchange between two DJs at the centre of the experience: the choices, the handovers, the space each leaves for the other. It gave our Sunday visit its focus amid SugarFactory’s vast surroundings.
Awakenings’ returning no-phone, no-video policy also felt right in this setting. There were no stickers covering cameras this year; visitors were trusted to keep their phones away themselves. For a magazine visiting to experience the party, it was a welcome invitation to spend less time documenting and more time paying attention.
Away from the main floor, the hidden speakeasy offered a smaller setting, cocktails and local selectors. Open only during a limited window, it added a little discovery to the building another reason to wander before finding your way back to the music.
The thoughtful details continued at the exit. Returning Goodbye Hosts checked in with people leaving alone, offered help with getting home and provided a place to charge a phone. Alongside the fully vegetarian food offering, these touches gave the production a more human scale.
SugarFactory had the architecture. Awakenings supplied the sound, light and room to move. DJ Gigola b2b Pegassi gave us our reason to be there.
