Amsterdam is replete with musical venues whatever sort of music you want to see. This page will show and briefly depict some of the prominent places for music throughout the city: beginning with the field of popular music, in the broad sense of that term; moving on to classical music; and concluding with jazz. I have been to most but not all of these venues; and will update this page as I discover more.
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Popular Music
Ziggo Dome
The Ziggo Dome, opened last year, is a 17,000-capacity indoor arena that plays host to some of the biggest names in popular music.
Exemplifying acts: Radiohead, Lionel Richie, Beyoncé, Rihanna
Directions: De Passage 100, 1101 AZ, Amsterdam. The Ziggo Dome is near the Amsterdam Arena, and therefore close by the Bijlmer ArenA metro station.
Heineken Music Hall
With a capacity of 5,500, the Heineken Music Hall is a venue for major musical acts (and occasional shows and comedians) who either aren’t quite firmly entrenched in the mainstream, or else desire a slightly more intimate arena in which to perform.
Exemplifying acts: Sigur Rós, Kanye West, The xx, Lana Del Rey
Directions: ArenA Boulevard 59, 1101 DS, Amsterdam Zuidoost. Again, this one is right outside the Bijlmer ArenA metro station.
http://www.heineken-music-hall.nl/
Melkweg
The Melkweg – the Milky Way – is a cultural centre which shows films, and hosts theatre performances, art exhibitions and weekly club nights. Live music is performed on most evenings by established independent artists across a range of genres; and the Melkweg appears, in my experience, to edge Paradiso when it comes to the quality and consistency of their acts. This is my favourite place to see live popular music in Amsterdam. Its main room, The Max, holds about 1,500 people.
Exemplifying acts: Ariel Pink, Jessie Ware, Animal Collective, ASAP Rocky
Directions: Lijnbaansgracht 234a, 1017 PH, Amsterdam. Just off the Leidseplein.
Paradiso
There is perhaps a little more of an emphasis at Paradiso on electronic and techno music, but broadly the venue parallels the focus on independent musicians; and in a former Church building. Paradiso’s programme is extensive, often with several performances a night across their Great Hall (hosing 1,500), Small Hall and Club.
Exemplifying acts: Holy Other, Beach House, Yo La Tengo, The Knife
Directions: Weteringschans 6-8, 1017 SG, Amsterdam. Just off the other side of the Leidseplein.
Sugar Factory
Sugar Factory is an endeavour which describes itself as a ‘Night Theatre’, whose manifesto cites André Breton and the Surrealists, and whose venue hosts experimental music, theatre and art, with a dance floor which can bear about 550.
Exemplifying acts: Lunice, Bring Me The Horizon
Directions: Lijnbaansgracht 238, 1017 PH, Amsterdam. Just across the street from the Melkweg
Trouw
Trouw, which describes itself as a ‘temporary venue’, combines a restaurant with a dance club and record label with inclinations towards electronic music. Trouw normally hosts two or three shows a week, usually across weekends.
Exemplifying acts: Purity Ring, Hercules and Love Affair, Disclosure
Directions: Wibautstraat 131, 1091 GL, Amsterdam. Trouw is situated in the east of the city, just across the Amstel from the De Pijp area and Sarphatipark.
http://www.trouwamsterdam.nl/en/
De Nieuwe Anita
De Nieuwe Anita is a small but diverse venue, with a stage and balcony and a bar at the front of the building, which shows films and hosts live music. Subbacultcha! – a wide ranging, independent, multidisciplinary cultural venture based in Amsterdam, with events across the Netherlands – hosts many of its live music performances here.
Exemplifying acts: Blood Diamonds, Doldrums
Directions: Frederik Hendrikstraat 115, 1052 HN, Amsterdam. Just beyond the canal belt and the Jordaan, to the west of the centre.
OT301
Formed in 1999 when a group of artists began squatting in the building, OT301 – after the building’s address on Overtoom – is a non-profit organisation which, alongside live music performances, hosts art exhibitions and residencies, shows films and contemporary dance, and arranges cultural meetings and workshops. The live music programme is especially rich, featuring regularly all sorts of experimental music from across the world; occasionally in conjunction with Subbacultcha!.
Exemplifying acts: KK Null, Bergljot, Widowspeak
Directions: Overtoom 301, 1054 HW, Amsterdam. Overtoom is a major street running just west of the Vondelpark; OT301 is halfway along the street.
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Classical
Het Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is one of the most renowned concert halls in Europe, noted particularly for the quality of its acoustics. It is home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, currently led by Mariss Jansons; and puts on an extensive programme of classical music (with occasional forays into jazz and early electronic compositions), with several performances a day on weekends, and a free lunchtime concert each Wednesday. The Great Hall seats 2037; the Small Hall 478.
Directions: Concertgebouwplein 10, 1071 LN, Amsterdam. It sits in its own little square, on Van Baerlestraat, just across from the Museumplein and the Stedelijk Museum.
Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ
The Muziekgebouw is Amsterdam’s venue for contemporary classical music. In a building designed by Danish architectural firm 3XN, which looks across the IJ waterfront, the Muziekgebouw’s versatile Great Hall sits 725, and its Small Hall, with Fokker organ, 120. Its a wonderful venue for listening to music.
Directions: Piet Heinkade 1, 1019 BR, Amsterdam. On the IJ waterfront, to the north of the centre, just east from Amsterdam Centraal.
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Jazz
Bimhuis
The Bimhuis is, all in all, Amsterdam’s main venue for jazz; and calls itself ‘a concert hall for jazz and improvised music’. Beginning in 1973, it moved in 2005 into a building adjoining the Muziekgebouw. It hosts several concerts each week, in a hall with a capacity of 375.
Directions: Piet Heinkade 3, 1019 BR, Amsterdam. The Bimhuis is enjoined, as a building and as an enterprise, with the Muziekgebouw.
North Sea Jazz Club
The North Sea Jazz Club is an international jazz venue with regular weekend programming. On weekends, there are about 170 seats available, at which you can eat a three-course menu; and there is more room for standing. Each Thursday the venue hosts a dance night.
Directions: Pazzanistraat 1, 1014 DB, Amsterdam. To the west of the city, just beyond the Westerpark, part of a series of cafés and cultural spaces.
http://www.northseajazzclub.com/
Jazz Café Alto
Café Alto is a longstanding jazz venue in the centre of Amsterdam, with doors opening each evening at 9pm and the music continuing on into the depths of the night. The venue hosts some well established and regular artists. It is closed for a couple of months for refurbishment.
Directions: Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 115, 1017 PX, Amsterdam. A street or two along from the Leidseplein.
Maloe-Melo
This a blues and jazz venue with the same sort of routine as at Alto: music every night starting sometime after 9pm. Patti Smith played here a few years ago, which must have been something given the venue’s size.
Directions: Lijnbaansgracht 163, 1016 VX, Amsterdam. Towards the Jordaan, just after Elandsstraat.
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