NEWS
EVENTS
Studying Abroad? A Year of Festivals in the Netherlands
Tuesday 4th June 2013 | Suzanne
August & September: Why not start off your year with Lowlands? For 150 pounds you can enjoy a 3 day (alternative) music festival in August with over 200 shows including performances from artists such as Tame Impala, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Editors, Major Lazor and Tom Odell. If you are a classical fan, Amsterdam’s Grachten (Canal) Festival is the place to be! You can also experience the canals in a completely different way during the colourful Gay Pride Festival. For those that just want a day of fantastic DJs Lovelands is highly recommended. The appropriately named Dance Valley is an absolute must! With its diverse variety of styles festival offers something for everyone, and if you need to take a break you can go to the chill out area, a beach!
October & November: If you want more than a day of DJs check out the Amsterdam Dance Event in Amsterdam. During the five days you can attend workshops, conferences, and interviews during the day. At night have can choose between 75 clubs with over 1700 international artists playing covering the entire spectrum of sub electronic genres. If you rather not choose between 75 clubs the Grotesque Indoor Festival, in Rotterdam has four rooms each playing a different electronic music style. For metal fans, Waves of Metal is another indoor festival, which only lasts a day taking place in mid-October. Alternatively, you may choose to go to Distortion in Eindhoven. The first edition of Distortion, took place in 2012, this metal music festival was an instant success and second edition should be just as brilliant! If you love to celebrate Halloween, the Amsterdam Halloween Festival, is a must! While amazing alternatives are available (Paradiso) this one takes place in a former gas factory giving it an atmosphere that cannot be replicated.
A relatively new festival, Buma Rotterdam Beats (BRB) is a 3 day hip hop, RnB festival which truly deserves a look. If you are looking for a more large scale festival in Rotterdam, Night of the Proms is the obvious choice. Located in Ahoy, the festival draws popular artists from the rock and pop world, and this year will feature Amy Macdonald and Hiromi. For a longer festival try Le Guess Who? This five day festival that has in the past solely focused on new Canadian talent. However, recently bands from other countries have been invited, tickets (for five days) cost around 60 euro. Artists in this year’s line-up include Deerhunter and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
December to March: Eindhoven has another metal festival on offer this month, the Eindhoven Metal Meeting. This three day festival consists of two stages, and has booked bands such as Therion, and Napalm Death. A pop punk festival, Grauzone, is being held for the second time in de Melkweg, Amsterdam in 2014. It claims to connect the new wave classics from the 80s and the current artists influencing the genre. For a true European music experience, the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival, in Groningen is the place to be. Showingcasing pop music from bands from all over Europe, this festival entails two smaller festivals: a conference and presentation of several music awards. For a truly Dutch Experience, the Vrienden van Amstel Live, where the famous Dutch artists are expected to play. If you are looking to experience some Indian culture, go to the Dhrupad Festival early February. Here you can see a variety of performances on traditional instruments and attend workshops. Around the same time, the Monsters of Mariaheide Festival takes place. This rock festival is headlining bands such as Automatic Sam, and Goom in 2014.
April & May: The ascension of the King last April brought an end to the beloved Queensday celebrations. However, Kingsday is expected to be just as amazing. While it really does not matter where you celebrate this fantastic holiday, it is recommended you go further North in Netherlands as they have closer ties to the royal family. There are lots of free concerts, particularly in Amsterdam and make sure you wear orange! Around Easter, a three day festival, Paaspop, takes place. This festival has around 10 stages such which all play different genres of music and plays can be seen. Artists performing in the past included The Bloody Beetroots, and Danko Jones. A much smaller festival takes place end of May, the Rascal Fest, featuring bands such as Cheek Dimples and PepperJack.
June & July: This is the time to go to festivals in the Netherlands! The Best Kept Secret Festival is true to its name. See artists such as the Artic Monkeys, Alt-J, Sigor Rós, Fuck Buttons, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis during this 3 day festival for under 100 euros! Or go to the longest running annual festival in the world, Pinkpop! This three day festival has three main stages where you can see artists such as the Stereophonics, Passenger, Ben Howard, Green Day and Bastille. The Naked Song Festival is a very unique festival that forces all artists, Dutch as well as international, to play solo. The Indian Summer Festival is an intimate festival where you can experience a mix of pop, rock and dance music. Alternatively, the Welcome to the Future Festival in July is great dance festival near Amsterdam. If you want some go to some rock festivals check out VestRock, a sustainable rock festival on an island - FortaRock - in Nijmengen where artists such as Rammstein and Volbeat can be seen, or RosRock, a underground rock festival near Den Bosch.
Early July, you can go to the PITCH Festival in Amsterdam where you can see artists such as James Blake, Trentemøller, and Django Django. The world’s largest electronic trance festival, Electronic Family, takes place in late July. This festival prides itself in coming up with a familiar yet predictable line up consisting of stars as well as up and coming artists. Originally a spinoff of the Belgian 10 day festival, the 5 Days Off Festival in Amsterdam provides a unique mixture of electronic music from young artists from Europe and the US. The world famous Sensation (white and black) festival take place in July. This year artists such as Nicky Romero, Mr. White, and Nic Fanciulli are expected to play.
