Fire is Gold makes Antwerp the capital of hip-hop (Antwerp)

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Antwerp –

The atmosphere is good at the Middenvijver on the Left Bank. Hip-hop festival Fire is Gold will take place there again today. Headliner is Damso, the most streamed Belgian artist of the moment. But all day long, a line-up with resounding names such as Frenna, Miss Angel and Broederliefde draws festival-goers from far outside Antwerp to the left bank of the Scheldt to dance under a welcome summer sun.

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Fire is Gold is the country’s largest urban and R&B festival and the first major event for the over-16s without the hassle of masks or social distancing. The very first edition of Fire is Gold took place in Vilvoorde, after which the party moved to Antwerp. The last edition in 2019 attracted more than 10,000 visitors. This edition promises to do better.

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“We couldn’t have wished for a better day”, says organizer Wim Van der Borght, who watches the audience from behind the scenes on the main stage while Bizzey pulls out the big party guns with his hit ‘Slow’. Van der Borght expects to clock in at 12,000 festival-goers, 20% of whom are from the Netherlands, because the festival season there is still on the back burner. “This is the festival of the new generation”, the organizer insists. “Fire is Gold attracts a very young and very diverse audience.” And that audience pulled out its most striking and fashionable festival outfit to enjoy what it had been missing for so long until midnight. “We have been looking forward to this very much”, we are called from all sides.