Tag: Rotterdam

  • Gabber is dead

    In October 2010 I posted about Mid-Town’s Rotterdam shop closing on my personal blog. Last week however, the curtain dropped permanently for what was left of Mid-Town (the labels and webshop). They went bankrupt.

    What’s kind of interesting to see from the official papers, is that with Mid-Town some infamous labels also cease to exist: Rotterdam Records, DJ Paul Elstak’s Forze Records and Terror Trax Records.

    It’s sad to say but it’s the last in a long string of ‘gabber landmarks’ that have disappeared: the demise of the FFWD dance parade (also in 2010, while not strictly hardcore, usually had a large hardcore following), the radio program Turbulentie on the also bankrupt radio station Stads Radio Rotterdam over a decade ago and the infamous Parkzicht club. Like it or not these things were part of Rotterdam’s cultural heritage and something that gave Rotterdam a voice in the rest of the world.

    While a common slogan among gabbers is “hardcore will never die“, it can be concluded that gabber is dead. In Rotterdam at least. Or that it’s least a spirit without a body.

  • Rotterdam: fight back

    Yet another Rotterdam venue is closing its doors. After medium sized venue Watt being dropped by the city council, the smaller ones are starting to fold. Waterfront was destroyed in the merger with Watt. Heidiger is gone. The FFWD dance parade was no longer welcome. Dizzy was closed, but luckily re-opening soon. But for how long? Rotown and Baroeg are the last small venues to hear live music.

    I saw this coming and this is why I decided to chose home-gigs as an alternative. But many Rotterdam musicians do not have that option.

    Maybe it’s time for the old model of illegal gigs in unlicensed locations to be put into use. Last put to use in a period where Rotterdam became synonymous with a genre of music: gabber. At least then all the voters who are responsible for the devastating culture policy of the city of Rotterdam, will have something to really complain about. Make some noise for Rotterdam.

    Bands and musicians of Rotterdam, I await your illegal rave flyers.

  • Even the Zombie Dance Parade is dead

    Even the Dance Parade 360 has been killed off now. A press release was issued stating that the due to disappointing pre-sales the event was cancelled. In other press releases it was made clear that the event will no longer be held in Rotterdam. Though it’s not clear whether they mean “ever at all”, it also implies they’re thinking of organising it elsewhere. The question is: who will have them? Then again, the North Sea Jazz festival was once persuaded to leave The Hague and come to Rotterdam, so who knows.

    Still, my previous statement still stands: there’s no use keeping it on life support. The Dance Parade is dead.

  • the Zombie Dance Parade

    In my personal blog I already noted the demise of the FFWD Dance Parade in Rotterdam. The annual clone of the Love Parade in Berlin was Rotterdam’s annual party in the city centre, until the city government decided it was a security risk and could no longer take place in this form.

    The organisers now whipped together The Dance Parade 360, what seems to be on paper a pathetic display. Instead of trucks driving through the city centre, the Zuiderpark in the South of the city will be fenced off, tickets will be sold (only pre-sale) and the trucks will basically drive around in circles in the park with ‘crowds’ behind them, from what I can tell from the website.

    Most noteworthy to mention is that the most popular truck, the B2S, will not be present, nor will any form of harcore dance music. I can see why, since they don’t want any hooligan incidents, but effectively with the already poor location and strategy, it will make the FFWD just another small dance festival, hardly worth mentioning. It would be best for the organisation to call it quits for 2011, because this will be a pathetic charade. There’s no use keeping it on life support.