Ghost Stories close their chapter on a high note with their final release & performance

The trio formed by D-Block, S-te-Fan, and Evelyn Bakker played their last show at D-Block & S-te-Fan’s 20 years celebration just a few days after they released ‘Felt The Ghost’, their last track as Ghost Stories.

It’s challenging to write articles like this one, but it’s finally true: we have witnessed the end of Ghost Stories. The live act by D-Block & S-te-Fan and D-Block’s sister Evelyn Bakker started 8 years ago, back in 2017, with the release of the gold record ‘Angels & Demons’. Since then, the trio has told us a lot of ‘ghost stories’ in very different ways: from the timeless collab with Sub Zero Project ‘Darkest Hour (The Clock)’ to ‘Primal Energy (Haunted Grounds)’ or ‘Embrace The Dark’, key tracks in the past years of Defqon.1.

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Apart from their releases, there are a lot of iconic moments attached to this formation: their closing at Defqon.1 2022 is definitely one of them, but also their performance at countless events and festivals all over the world, including Knockout Outdoor earlier this year and, of course, their ultimate show at D-Block & S-te-Fan’s special event a pair of weeks ago. There, they played each and every track they have ever produced: from the very first to the very last.

“We definitely want to thank everyone for giving their all at ‘From History To Infinity’!”

For a lot of people, D-Block & S-te-Fan: ‘From History To Infinity’ was the party of the year. You could feel the energy in every drop, you could hear every melody being screamed by +15,000 throats. “The event was very special!” they tell us. “We had never done something by ourselves of this magnitude, and to see the atmosphere and the love for hardstyle in every fan’s eyes was a thing of magic. Also working together with REBiRTH Events made it easy for us to focus on the show and the final chapter of Ghost Stories”.

What were the most special moments of their event for D-Block & S-te-Fan? “The usual suspects were insane!”, they admit. “We could tell in advance that ‘Music Made Addict’, ‘Darkest Hour (The Clock)’ and ‘Shiverz’ would go off, but this was next level! The biggest achievement was to hear the whole week after that this event was the event of the year for almost everyone: from artists, to fans, to the organization”, they said.

“We have been working with a lot of passion and fun on this project, but for now, we feel the stories have been told. “

Going back to the very last Ghost Stories performance, this was one of the biggest highlights of the year in the hardstyle scene. It was truly exciting to see Evelyn in the spotlight for one last time, giving voice to the ghosts’ manifestos. “To host your own event felt like the perfect setting to finish the Ghost Stories saga”, D-Block & S-te-Fan claim. “To see us end a show like this, with literally thousands of people wearing Ghost Stories’ merch, singing to every song and staying until the end of the festival… speechless”.

Even though her main focus within D-Block & S-te-Fan’s discography has always been Ghost Stories, Evelyn Bakker has also been a part of several DBSTF’s side releases. Will we get to hear her voice from now on? “Of course!”, they answered. “We will never stop working with Evelyn. It’s amazing to see the love she got from the fans after the last show. She is so talented, and we had an amazing ride with Ghost Stories, so she deserved all of that!”

About ‘Felt The Ghost’: “Why not make a hardcore song to close the Ghost Stories chapter?”

After their premiere at this year’s Defqon.1, we got to see two more releases from Ghost Stories before they closed the chapter: ‘Ready Or Not’ and ‘Felt The Ghost’. The latter was released only a few days before D-Block & S-te-Fan’s event, and it’s somehow different from all the previous Ghost Stories tracks, as it’s a hardcore song. What was their inspiration to create this track and make it the final Ghost Stories one?

“We were working on The Spotlight when we received this topline”, they said. “The last couple of Ghost Stories shows were closed with ‘Symphony Of Life’ and this topline was written at a higher BPM, which gave us the idea: why not make a hardcore song to close the Ghost Stories chapter?” The result was perfect! You can feel it’s a Ghost Stories themed track because of its lyrics and the amazing performance by Evelyn, but at a higher tempo, perfect for closings. “We rewrote the lyrics to make them fit the project and the haunted grounds of Defqon.1, and instantly everyone loved it!”

“Warm memories for life!”

A formation as iconic as Ghost Stories has created countless unforgettable moments for thousands of fans. We definitely have our favourites, but how about them? “There were many, from creating an act like this, not from a marketing point, but created from music… It was very special. Doing the special live act for the first time was very challenging, but also really rewarding and a new way of working for us too. We learned a lot from that. But the coolest thing was working on the show with talented people in different divisions to make the show, content, merch, audio, and visually as good as we could get it”.

Now, it’s time to pay the last tribute to Ghost Stories by streaming their very last single, ‘Felt The Ghost’. It’s available on all platforms and on the Hardstyle.com store.