There are work trips, and then there are work trips where you end up walking a red carpet at the XMA Awards, hanging out with some of the biggest names in the adult industry, meeting fans, catching up with your best mate, drinking in Amsterdam and eventually finding yourself in a private karaoke room absolutely screaming Green Day and System of a Down at the top of your lungs. My first X3 Amsterdam definitely fell into the second category.
I headed over to Amsterdam with Babestation, wearing two hats for the weekend. I was there as a content creator, but also as Babestation’s resident writer, which meant I got to experience X3 from both sides of the fence. I was there to meet people, soak up the atmosphere and see what the event was all about, but I was also there to cover it from the inside, and honestly? I had a bloody brilliant time.
So, what actually is X3 Amsterdam?
If you’ve never been to an event like X3 before, it’s basically where fans, performers, creators, brands and people working behind the scenes in the industry all come together under one roof.
The inaugural X3 Amsterdam brought fans from across Europe and beyond to the Passenger Terminal building, giving them the chance to meet some of their favourite adult stars in person. But it’s not just about fans meeting performers.
For creators, it’s a chance to network, catch up with people you normally only see online, meet brands, make new connections and generally spend a couple of days surrounded by people who actually understand the industry you’re working in. And there were some seriously big names and brands there.
Brazzers had a presence at X3, with Girthmaster, Danny D and Kieran Lee all there meeting fans. Big names such as Vixen and Tushy were also part of the event, alongside a whole mix of performers, creators and adult brands. For me, though, one of the best things about it was seeing just how much of the industry was represented in one place.
Babestation brought the babes
Obviously, I wasn’t going to Amsterdam without Babestation making its presence known. Babestation’s Loula Lou and Zoe Grey both had stands at X3, giving fans the chance to meet them, have a chat and actually spend some time with the people they normally watch online or on screen.
That’s one of the things I really like about events like this. Online, everything can feel very removed. You see someone’s posts, watch their shows or chat to them through a screen, but there’s something completely different about actually standing in front of someone and having a proper conversation, and there was plenty of that going on throughout X3.
I also got to meet Zoe properly, as well as catching up with plenty of other familiar faces. Then there was my gorgeous bestie, Zeena Valvona. Obviously, getting to spend the weekend with Zeena was a massive bonus. We spend plenty of time talking anyway, but put us together in Amsterdam with an entire adult industry event happening around us and, well… you can probably imagine.
There were also loads of other performers and creators I got to meet throughout the weekend, which is one of the things I was most looking forward to.
From content creator to red carpet
Then came the XMA Awards. If X3 was the relaxed, social, meet-the-fans side of the weekend, the XMA Awards brought the full awards-night glamour, and yes, I walked the red carpet. But the really exciting part for me was that Babestation was nominated for Cam Site of the Year. That is a pretty big deal.
Babestation has been around long enough to have watched the entire industry evolve, from the days of satellite TV and premium-rate phone lines to live cams, livestreaming, social media and the huge online creator economy we have now. So seeing Babestation sitting alongside some of the biggest names in the modern cam industry at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam was a brilliant moment. And getting to be there representing the brand, both as a creator and as the person writing about what goes on behind the scenes, made it even more special.
There was something slightly surreal about getting dressed up, walking the red carpet and then remembering that, technically, I was there working. Not a bad office for the weekend.
X3 isn’t just about the big names
One thing that really stood out to me about X3 was the mix of people. Obviously, you had the huge established names and brands. You had people travelling from all over to meet performers they already knew and loved. But you also had creators networking, people making new connections and performers meeting each other for the first time. That’s important because the industry has changed massively.
A lot of adult entertainment now happens online and behind a screen, and that can sometimes make the industry feel quite fragmented. Events like X3 bring everyone back into the same physical space. You can walk around, bump into someone you’ve been following for years, finally meet someone you’ve only ever spoken to online, have a conversation with a brand or just end up chatting to another performer over a drink. You never quite know who you’re going to bump into.
For someone like me, who has been around this industry in different forms over the years, it’s fascinating seeing how much it has changed while some things remain exactly the same. People still want to meet people.
And then came karaoke…
After all the excitement of X3 and the XMA Awards, a bunch of us headed out for karaoke. Because obviously.
We ended up in a private room with a group of performers and, at some point, I decided that Green Day’s Holiday was the song for me. Was I good? Absolutely. Was there any disagreement from the people in the room? There bloody shouldn’t have been. I completely slayed it. Whether everyone else would agree is obviously irrelevant.
Let’s just say that if X3 ever decides to add a karaoke award next year, I’ve already got my entry sorted.
My first X3, but definitely not my last
This was my first time at X3 Amsterdam And the AMA Awards and I genuinely didn’t know exactly what to expect before I went.
What I found was a really fun mix of fans, performers, creators and brands, all coming together in one place. There was plenty of glamour, obviously, but there was also a really social side to it that I enjoyed just as much.
I got to work with Babestation, represent the brand at the XMAs, walk the red carpet, meet fans, catch up with friends, meet new people and spend a weekend in Amsterdam surrounded by an industry that has been a huge part of my life in one way or another for years. And if this was the first X3 Amsterdam, I can only see it getting bigger.
More performers, more brands, more fans and, presumably, even more people discovering that putting a bunch of adult performers in a private karaoke room is a potentially dangerous idea. As for me, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on what X3 looks like next year. Although I might need to start warming up my vocal cords now.
