Nightlife reports: a tour of Amsterdam's bar and clubs

With its flower boxes, cycle lanes and fairy light-strewn canals, Amsterdam provides a blissfully pleasant backdrop for a big night out. But behind the quaintness is a progressive nightlife scene, which culminates each October in one of the worlds biggest electronic music showcases, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).

Ahead of next weeks five-day festival and conference which draws more than 2,000 international electronic artists, who can be found performing in any corner of the city that can fit a sound system I dropped by for a snapshot of the after-dark experience. I recruited local DJ and producer Marco Sterk, better known as Young Marco, to take me on a tour of his favourite spots that tell the story of how, over the past two decades, Amsterdam has grown into one of Europes most important dance music destinations.

We meet in the city centre, in an alley outside Red Light Radio a former brothel thats now an important hub for local DJs before cycling over to another historic base for the citys electronic scene; Rush Hour Records. If you dont know what to do for the night, this is the place to find out whats going on, says Marco, handing me a slickly designed flyer for the last party he played at. For the last fifteen years its been the most important thing for underground dance music. Its been a platform for people to come up through, like local heroes San Proper and Tom Trago, and even myself.

As it reaches 7pm we nip over to Caf Belgique for our first drink. Vintage beer signs fill the walls of the tiny pub, and a giant pair of red lips hangs from the ceiling in the corner. I think the tourists are scared to walk in, it looks too local, says Marco. The pub may be one of the smallest in the city, but that hasnt stopped it squeezing a set of decks in, providing a tiny yet atmospheric stage for undergound DJs. I ask Marco what makes his citys nightlife special. Its an extremely concentrated city, he says. Then he adds what, for me at least, will always be the clincher: And you can always be home in five minutes on your bike.

We take a detour, via the IJ ferry, over to the ever cooler Amsterdam Noord to drop in on Tolhuistuin, a chic venue with an outdoor stage enclosed by trees and twinkling lights that is one of the citys newest cultural spots. By 2016 the Noord district will host an even bigger, more commercial venue: the Adam tower, once a Royal Dutch Shell office block, which is being renovated into a complex for creatives, that will include basement club, bar, restaurant and viewing platform.

Back in the main city, we head south to the Leidseplein area for a drink at one of the citys long-running bars, Cafe Lux, which Marco tells me is the only non-seedy late night bar in the city. Lux and Weber (a neighbouring sister bar run by the same people) have been favourite drinking spots for the citys creative types or indeed anyone who doesnt need to get up early during the week for almost 30 years. A relaxed door policy (anyone is welcome as long as they behave, the manager tells me) means both are crammed full most nights. Its also the perfect bouncing-off point for two of Amsterdams biggest venues: the elegant Paradiso concert hall and Melkweg housed in a former dairy. And not too far away, mid-way up the Overtoom, is former squat OT301 an arts venue with a cube-like interior that hosts regular club nights.

Next up is another old favourite, De Nieuwe Anita. Dressed up like a vintage living room, with stylish retro furniture, patterned wallpaper and a jam jar of single cigarettes for sale on the bar, its an easy-going venue popular with the art school crowd. Its like a party in someones house, says Marco, as we walk down the staircase into the basement club, where DJ Alex Figueira is playing a selection from his funk and afro-beat collection. You can have any kind of night here.

Ready to hit a club, we cycle to Studio 80 on Rembrandtplein. Hidden but for a dark doorway and the queue outside, its a small, old-school venue like a black box, says Marco. The club has been around for a few years, but has a new, young, programmer who keeps the line-ups fresh and uncompromised. Inside, young clubbers dance to thumping house music from its bespoke sound system, surrounded by flashing strip lights.

Our final stop is at one of Amsterdams most important underground dance music venues, Trouw. Filling a former newspaper printworks in the east of the city, the minimalist concrete rectangle is packed with a crowd who have come to see local Joris Voorn DJ tech-house all night long (literally), with label partner Edwin Oosterwal holding up the basement room. The blinds on the long windows are down and Voorn is hard at work behind the decks, almost lost in the sea of people dancing on the stage behind him.

Trouw and ADE have made the biggest contribution to getting Amsterdam to take itself seriously as a clubbing city, says Marco. Trouw created a crowd, educated a crowd.

Read this article:
Nightlife reports: a tour of Amsterdam's bar and clubs