A 26-Year-Old Man Died After Attending Defqon.1 2024

The unnamed man fell ill while attending the 2024 edition of Defqon.1 early Saturday morning.

Most surely enjoyed themselves at the 2024 edition of Dutch hardstyle festival Defqon.1, but one attendee wasn’t so lucky. The 26-year-old man became unwell at the four-day event in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands and passed away early Saturday morning.

According to Eindhovens Dagblad, local authorities received a call about the man around 2am Saturday morning. He was unresponsive when they arrived on site, and they resuscitated him before transporting him to a nearby hospital. He died there, and an investigation into the cause of death was conducted.

The man, who has not been named, died of unnatural causes, according to the police. They have said that they will not make any additional statements about the cause of death for privacy reasons.

“Our thoughts are with the family,” said the organizers of Defqon.1 in a statement to Eindhovens Dagblad. “This is terrible, of course.”

Recognized as the biggest hardstyle festival in the world, Defqon.1 has taken place annually since 2003 thanks to Dutch promoter Q-Dance. Starting in 2009, it expanded to include a yearly event in Sydney.

The Sydney editions of Defqon.1 saw a death in 2013 and another in 2015. Then, in 2018, two attendees passed away with hundreds more being hospitalized, prompting New South Wales lawmakers to forbid the event from taking place in 2019 and beyond. All of the deaths were connected to illicit drug use.

Fatalities are sadly common at music festivals. In 2024 alone, attendees have passed away at Texas Eclipse Festival, Lightning in a Bottle, and Electric Forest. As toxicology reports can take months to come back, no cause of death been identified for the individuals at the former or latter festivals — but the LiB attendee reportedly died of drowning.

We here at EDM Identity express our sincere condolences for the family and friends of the deceased during what can only be a difficult time.