The Third Room x Henrichshütte 2023 | Review
Another huge rave in an amazing industrial location featuring some of the biggest names in the Techno scene. But how does it compare against the Stone Techno Festival?
Location:
The Third Room is famous for organizing events in former industrial landmarks in western Germany and this one is no different. The Henrichshütte in Hattingen is one of the largest open-air museums in the world and deals with the topic industrial history of iron and steel. Perfect for a raw techno rave!
The oldest blast furnace in the area can be found at the Henrichshütte in Hattingen. It is 55 metres high and was built 80 years ago. In its heyday this huge plant near the River Ruhr employed 10,000 people. You will be fascinated by the relics of the smelting era, gaze in awe at the huge gas engines, savour the panoramic view from the blast furnace, before paying a visit to our show foundry at the Bessemer steelworks, where molten metal is once again flowing today. [1]
Throughout all the photos in this review, you can see that this location is just scenic. No matter where you looked you saw rusty old steel, dark corners, discarded trains, and more artifacts from an old era. It is absolutely incredible to experience a party in such a historic place.
The closest bigger cities are Bochum, Dortmund, and Wuppertal. And the beauty is honestly a bit diminished once you realize what a pain in the ass it is to get there by public transport. Especially at night when most of the guests are leaving at once. The organizers already tried to minimize this effect by providing shuttles to Bochum (~25 minutes) but this is still far from ideal. You need to account that at night public transportation runs very irregularly and cabs can get really expensive and rare (due to the high demand). So unless you had a designated SOBER driver on hand or lots of cash to pre-order a cab, arrival and departure to the party were somewhat of a challenge.
Due to being pretty secluded, there was also basically no option for an after-party except for maybe Tresor.West in Dortmund which would have taken you an hour to get there. A bit disappointing that there was nothing provided by the organizers.
I met lots of people from Cologne and Düsseldorf. And I think I speak for all of us, in that we would greatly appreciate it if The Third Room could team up with a bus provider like Bassliner to organize transportation from some bigger cities in the future.
A stunning location that is absolutely worth a visit no matter if there is a rave ongoing or not. Unfortunately, it comes with some organizational difficulties (reachability) which requires thorough planning as a guest. Therefore 8/10.
For most people, subjective impression matters more than an exact breakdown. My favorite stage was the Iron stage. The sound was clear, punchy, and since it was a bit elongated it also had some speakers set up as a delay. My second favorite was the Coke stage. Once again it sounded well-tuned and full. But the sound fell off towards the back and the sides which was especially annoying when the stage was packed (like in the end with DJ Heartstring). I imagine a similar issue with the Steel stage, but I didn’t spend much time on it. But maybe the Kara system at this stage provided a better throw to the back and minimized the issue.
The worst stage in terms of sound was clearly Furnace. Huge ceilings, no sound absorption, and a weird decision to place the K2 system in there. The room alone makes it difficult to achieve proper sound, but then putting in a system that is best for long throws in a relatively short room… Honestly, that room with some acoustic blankets on the side and a Funktion One | Void | Turbosound 4-point dance stack would be insane! But how it was done this time resulted that when I walked in, it just felt subpar to the other stages. The noticeable echo and the lack of bass and clarity were just unpleasant.
Maybe it was because the stages were set up a bit differently, maybe it was because this time I spent most of the time at the stage that sounded the best… But overall I had the feeling that the sound slightly improved compared to Stone Techno. But (at least for some stages) in my opinion, it would make sense to try out some different constellations, maybe add some side-fills/delays, or step away from L-Acoustics if their speakers don’t properly fit the situation: 8/10
Lights and atmosphere:
There is little I can add here compared to the Stone Techno review. Mostly classical technology was used like strobes, moving heads, smoke machines, and LED washers. Some of the same LED screens and visuals used back then have also been present again. My opinion still stands and I don’t think there is a need to overshadow the industrial location with some fancy tech.
On some stages there again was the possibility to go behind the DJ if that’s something you’re into. I am not, but it gives a nice feeling, that the artist stands in the crowd and isn’t elevated or separated too much — a great thing in my opinion.
In the future, a possible improvement would be to “hide” the stages even more. A lot of trusses were used and they were fully exposed. Instead of some fancy LED technology, I would love to see something creative with those. Hire some artists who create paper mache or 3-D printed sculptures for those. Hang some printed banners on them with a unique design, that resembles rust or dirt or something fitting to the location. Hang the fog machines on the trusses and create the feeling that you are in an industry plant and this is the steam from metal cooling down. Something along those lines.
Announcement: For the next party I expect more! But this time I’ll let it slide and give a rating that is heavily biased toward the unique location: 9/10
Organization:
I don’t want to spend any unnecessary words in this section.
The organization was flawless!
Quick entry and security check (pretty strict). Enough toilets, which I always experienced as clean. Never waited longer than 5 minutes at a bar. First aid and psy-care tent with enough awareness personnel walking around. And FINALLY … The Third Room heard my prayers and got rid of those goddamn drinking cards. You could pay at the bar with a credit/debit card or PayPal which was just sooooo much easier. Thank god! Even the barkeepers told me that they are happy to have this system in place now because it makes calculating the price easier. So my biggest critique was finally taken care of.
The other point I raised — not enough lighting between the stages — was also not present this time. It was easy to navigate between the stages even after sunset. It was nice to see that the info boards from the outdoor museum were still kept during the rave and you could read up on the history of the place.
Also, when it shortly rained multiple parasols were placed and you could easily find a dry spot to sit down and relax. Overall due to the layout, there have been more than enough spots where you could sit down, be it in chairs, on the old rails, or wherever your heart took you.
Straight 10/10!
Music:
This time I was more focused on the music and really appreciated the artists that were booked. Each stage had a purpose and it was amazing to have musical variability. I would describe the split in the following way:
- Steel: Hard Techno & Acid
- Coke: Eurodance, Trance, Hard House
- Furnace: Hardgroove
- Iron: Genre crossover — breaks, trance, pop, techno, G-House
I’ll start my selection of personal favorites with Maruwa. She opened the Coke floor with a great high-energy set that totally set my mood for the day and got all the people on there bouncing. Especially the last hour everyone around me had a big smile on and was just vibing. Given that it was the very beginning and there were really not a lot of people there, it was impressive to see her bring out that kind of energy! There were lots of well-known tracks in her set, so I can’t say that it was groundbreaking. But it instantly gave me a feeling of something familiar and I am sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way and whom it allowed to jump-start the party.
Now to my absolute highlight: Nene H. Wow! Just wow! A very tough slot given that in parallel Artists like Dax J, VTSS and future.666 played. But the vibe on her floor was just insane! I forced my friend to go and check out Dax J, because I was really excited for him. But after 10 minutes we just switched back. I already pointed out in my Celebration of Life review, that I find Nene’s sets always very high quality and consistent. This time was no different. Incredibly diverse, with multiple tempo and genre changes. From breaks to hip-hop and back to high-energy techno. Elegantly mixed this resulted in 100% ghetto vibes!
Additionally, the crowd that she attracted was really pleasant. It seemed quite queer with lots of colorful outfits and hairstyles. The behavior was very respectful and everyone just looked forward to having a good time. Lots of smiles, eye contact, compliments, and a sense of unity just caused by the well-selected music everyone seemed to enjoy during those few hours. In my opinion, THE act to book again!
After her Mama Snake played and I stayed for a while, since she started out well and kept the energy high. But ultimately I needed a break and can’t comment further on her performance. After that break and some socializing, there wasn’t much time left for me as we needed to leave a bit early at around 21:30.
I’ve stayed a bit with DJ Heartstring, and ultimately they delivered what you expected from them. This is a thing I find a bit problematic to be honest, because they are in this new-school trance bubble (that's what I call it) and the variety just hasn’t caught up yet. So to please the expectations of the crowd “the same sound” gets played. I personally prefer to discover something new and get surprised (like with Nene H). In addition, the floor was incredibly full with little space to dance. In the end, I realized that Maruwa already satisfied my desire for that kind of sound, and even though I was originally very looking forward to DJ Heartstring, I left early.
There are some additional notes on music in the “My state of mind” section, but overall the booking was amazing and provided good diversity. As always no rating in this category.
Pricing:
Honestly, I can’t comment too much on price this time. I went spontaneously and a friend of mine took me in with his guest list spot. At this point once again a huge thanks to Max without whom this review wouldn’t have been possible! But therefore I didn’t observe the pricing over time or even ticketswap prices. The final prices have been those:
Therefore nearly identical to the Stone Techno Festival, except that student tickets were 5€ more expensive. In my opinion, this is on the higher side. But arguably the booking was probably more expensive. Klangkuenstler alone is charging a pretty penny considering that he is currently one of the most hyped artists. Then again Hattingen is also more difficult to reach than Essen and for most people probably added onto the cost of transportation be it gas, train tickets, or taxi. For me, the final price marks a limit of what I would be willing to pay for a 12-hour party. But since I don’t know the previous phases or the prices of blind tickets it might have been a bit better. Nonetheless, I would prefer a final price of 5–10€ less or an additional after-party that is included in the ticket. Also, if that would mean booking less hyped artists. Additionally, the lockers have been a bit too pricey with 8€ (small) and 12€ (large).
Prices for drinks and food have been the same compared to Stone Techno. I felt that the food was extremely fairly priced. Drinks on the other hand I probably was a bit too generous in my last review. Looking back at it I realized that soft drinks (coke, lemonade) were only 0,2 liters and shots with 3,5€ pretty pricey as well. It was not to the point where you would feel ripped off, but I would have preferred it if some things were different. Instead of charging 3,5€ for a Berliner Luft (less alcohol but still the same price as tequila), it would have been nice to have that one as a “budget shot” for let's say ~2€. Serve the soft drinks in 0,33l bottles and make the long drinks/cocktails 0,4l. That would have been a 10/10.
This pricing overall is still similar to other events in the area and was fine in general: 8/10
Conclusion:
The Third Room parties are a pleasure to attend and this one was no exception. Fundamentally everything worked seamlessly and deserves a high rating. I gave some suggestions in this review and would love to see the organizers evolve to keep up the high quality. Now onto my final conclusion:
The comparison to the Stone Techno Festival is obvious and based on that I compose my final rating. The slightly better sound and variety of music together with the changes in payment at the bars, resulted in a slightly better experience for me personally. But then again I also wasn’t confronted with the issue of transportation, which is more prominent in Hattingen compared to Essen. Positives and negatives kind of cancel each other out in this case and the rating stays the same: 9.25/10
My state of mind:
I am gonna be frank. The weekdays before the party were tough. I don't want to go into details, but there was a lot of personal stress that was put on me and I originally didn’t plan to go out. When a friend reached out to me to propose free entrance and him driving (hence no transportation issue) it was just too good to decline. But even on Friday, one day prior, I wasn’t sure if I could handle going out and being social again.
Overall I am extremely happy that I did it. We mostly stayed sober and just enjoyed the music, the dancing, and meeting some familiar faces. The parties always have a fixed set of regulars that know each other and it was nice to see them again and experience different groups merging. Even the new people I met were really friendly and I am really happy that I jumped the chance and went out despite all the negativity in the previous days.
One thing I also greatly attribute to all the positive encounters I had was the separation of the stages. Or better to say the genre. I have nothing against hard techno and even though it is not my most favorite sub-genre I sometimes still like to tune in. However, I feel like it has gotten the most attention social media-wise recently, especially from more mainstream sources. This results that the people who are drawn to this style usually have little knowledge about the scene and for me, it can become difficult to be around them. I often described this in the Unreal reviews and this is one of the main reasons I don’t go there anymore.
Please don’t take this as gatekeeping. I am always happy to welcome new people to this exciting scene. But when they bring a sort of entitlement to the table, because they think a rave should be like they “learned” on TikTok/Instagram, I am out.
I digress… What I want to say is, that for my feeling those types of people have been mostly drawn by the Steel Stage and (as hard as it sounds) kept the other stages more diverse. On the other hand those big bookings probably also increase the price of the festival. So instead of getting bigger and more famous all the time, it would be cool to see a pool of local artists forming. This would for sure help them grow and bring the costs down.
