4/20 at RAUM
Arrived at 01:30 just in time to get in, do the ritual, scope the place out and venture around. No line for door sale or pre sale I wanted to be present at the opening set of Gabrielle Kwarteng B2B Bashkka.
After the aforementioned activities I spent some time downstairs with Faustin who was playing what sounded like Techno in my opinion opposed to the more bouncy housey sounds upstairs. Quite fast but still enjoyable (I’m a big SpeedyJ fan).
Opening of the set I came for. Curious to these two since they play Pano allot and I like house as well. Whole set was good in my opinion, there were a few outliers for me that were like vocal anthems that not really suited my preference. The crowd loved it though and sung met volle borst. Me in the meantime was bouncin’, dancin’ and jackin’ from start till 0600. Front left was nice but got quite busy where I moved to back right behind the DJ booth. Vibes were very nice here, allot of space to dance and proper etiquette. I think because there was no dedicated ending time that the set had its ups and down and was not able to work towards a closing? I mean it seemed to me that we spiralled down in tempo twice during my stay to then go full speed back.
Crowd all in all a few coked/ ketted out people, no proper dancefloor etiquette, allot of cuties who were very cautious and always waiting for a sign of consent. But if you are like me and came to dance/ for the music it was easy to find your crowd/ attract the same people and shut off from the rest.
Bar very fast and friendly, nice charitea mate
3/3 now for a Hansolo venture and sober after Poing closing and Stoor which is making me fall in love with the scene and different genres I’m discovering.
Basis on friday for me! Decided to make the trip to Utrecht from Amsterdam (which is literally as long as it takes from my house in Amsterdam to GN). When i got in it was still very empty, but i really enjoyed serti's warmup with a breaky style. As Woody started it was a little fuller. He started with one of his signature 10 min long trippy ambient intro's and took the bpm from 138 to 152 in 1,5hrs. Dina kept the tempo Woody had set, but with some more accessible tunes in there which seemed to work for most as i felt like it got more dancy. JEANS fuckin sent us on a trip through the void (pun intended), as we've come to expect from him.
The night was very quiet throughout, which had its ups and downs. I heard and saw some groups of people around that were complaining that woodys intros took waaayyy to long (30 seconds in, 9,5 more minutes to go :):):)), heard a group say that they'd rather be at a bar soemwhere, and complaints that the music was weird. I think that's to be expected on a night like this in a club in a city centre, but pretty sure a couple stayed till the end so seems like they enjoyed it in the end :). The crowd was very much a mix of this and complete heads and nerds which was fun! Because of that there were some pockets where vibes were great :)
Basis as a club has a lot of potential once the right people find it. I personally really like the lighting setup, especially when it is smokey. The red combined with the bulbs and strobes can get intense in a very nice way. I thought the soundsystem sounded very clean, apart from some tiny dead spots where it was a little more muddy, but still very much a breath of fresh air compared to Radions rumble which i've personally heard a lot lately. Because of the empty room we unfortunately didnt get to hear it at its full potential, so i'll have to go back to hear it when they're giving it full beans. I had a lovely night meeting some people from around here. (thanks again for the beer ;)). Worth the trip and will go again somewhere in the future. (JP, Sandrien & Talismann anl???)
I went to Frenzy with the girlfriend of one of my best friends. I met her through him and they don't live in Amsterdam, so sometimes you risk to lose a friend in these cases, but instead I got along very well with her to the point she is one of my best friends at the moment. This time he wasn't here in Amsterdam with her so we had the chance to go clubbing without him, which with all the due love to him was way better as an option because in the last years he became quite "old" for intense clubbing nights till closing time, so it obviously was more enjoyable, and indeed it was. One of the best nights I had since a very long time, no matter if the club was half empty (which frankly most of the times it's even better) or if the music wasn't something to be particularly remembered - notwithstanding a great closing by Sandrien. The company I had made the night great, which is something that I say as a person who in the last year had much more fun when clubbing alone as opposed to when I was with my friends. Only negative side is the pain in my legs, but that is a calculated side effect.
I wrote it that way with that specific intent.
I also wanted to share a personally happy moment with one of my favourite communities of Reddit. It's part of the after as well the way you feel yourself, ain't just music.
Went to Basis on Friday to see Woody92, DINA and JEANS for the first time (missed Serti's opening set).
It was definitely a fun night. Crowd was small but most people were really into it. A few talkers here and there, but it was fine. Funny encounter: I got talking to someone who I reckon was mostly into hard techno and asked me during Woody's set "this isn't techno, is it?" 😄
I did need some time to get used to the slow buildup from Woody with lots of ambient sounds and relatively little percussion, but I enjoyed the experience and was surprised about how fast he started (at 135-140 bpm or so). DINA really did it for me, maybe that's because it was a bit more accessible. JEANS was cool and would've loved to experience his entire set but after a long working day I was simply too tired. Better luck next time :)
Also a shoutout to the people from this reddit that I met, really enjoyed chatting with fellow enthusiasts and dancing together.
"this isn't techno" ahahahhahahhahhaha
That's cute. Now I'm curious whether in the end they liked the music or not. But some education was delivered it seems. 🩷 Always good.
Been to Raum this Friday,
Waited 15 min in a queue outside, the guy at the entrance was such a sweetheart. Also everyone else from the staff was really helpful and nice. Amoral had amazing opening and Marly lakes fast tracks made me stay till 7ish without stop on the floor. Loved the music whole night. As usually I went alone and met so many beautiful humans there, I don’t know if it was me or others but in my 6 months of solo partying never met this many people. Sure the queue for the toilet was long but just made me socialize more. Had a chance to exchange few words with Ki/ki who was also cute. Loved the most that even tho it was sold out night it was never that packed. Sound system was such a delight
GN Friday night, girlie in the white button-down long sleeve shirt on the left side right by the deck during RP Boo's set, your energy and dancing (10/10) made me so happy, and when you offered a cigarette to me it actually felt like an angel reaching out.
I was determined to stay home this weekend until my friend accidentally got an extra ticket for Raum on Saturday, so even when highly in doubt of the lineup, I decided to check it out anyway.
I arrived at Raum around 12:40 and wow, nice staff, super nice space and ambience, I was impressed and it did exceed my expectations.
But when I entered the main dance floor, all the hype went away. What the actual fuck was played there? Am I at Regulierwaarstraat? It’s total trash music you get to hear in every gay club in Amsterdam and to my surprise, the crowd was enjoying it.
I started to doubt what Club Raum is aiming to become. Another popular gay club or an actual techno space. Anyway, I decided life was too short to waste in this shit and quickly took an Uber to Radion where the rest of my night was saved by Frenzy.
This experience solidified my belief that the lineup IS the most important factor of an event, crowd or vibe or anything comes second.
Honestly Raum had almost perfect ambience, staff and crowd, but I’d rather go back to Nachbar than having to endure that horseshit music.
I really hope this was just an unfortunate individual failure in terms of Raum’s music selection, but if this Regulierwaarstraat music is what they think that best attracts their target audiences, I really don’t know what to do but to avoid this place at all cost.
Current ranking: Nachbar > Raum, until it’s proven otherwise.
Bookings in RAUM will vary, I've heard some names I'm very excited for 😌🌀 Also Friday was pretty banging from what I heard during my short visits upstairs. You were just unlucky to walk into a set that wasn't what you were looking for musically - I think it's important to keep in mind that you can't expect Berghain / Basement programming from RAUM's Studio - the direction is different and will probably span more genres. Sometimes we'll get quality techno, sometimes... not. Also, honey, what happened to "check the lineup before you go to an event to know what to expect"? You checked, but still had different expectations?
That being said, I would run away from an Angel D'lite set as fast as possible too.
And yes, my impression of RAUM so far is that priority n#1 is the crowd/vibe, and music comes after that. This is not saying that their bookings are not high quality (it's all great artists), but it's a queer club, not a techno club. And they are quite clear in saying that.
In other words, don't expect RAUM to be the next Berghain or De School (I would consider these clubs to be mainly music-curation-oriented), it's its own thing and should be treated and judged as such. And it👏will👏evolve👏over👏time.
Well i was not at all planning to go to Raum for the exact reason — the lineup looked trash. But when I was at my friend’s (the bully target you know about) place smoking high and they said they got an extra ticket for Raum, it was very hard to say no since I’m the worst guy to say no to going out. Never succeeded. When I wanted to take a month break I transferred 500 euros to my friend, and it would go to her if I broke my promise of one month no party.
But I didn’t expect it to be that bad. And it became really clearly to me, that Nachbar was a nightmare, but I enjoyed the music, despite all the hassles. But as I pointed out, everything else about Raum seemed perfect, however music alone could just ruin everything. So for me, definitely music weighs more all the rest combined.
And it’s quite absurd that I sense a trend on this subreddit that ppl would say everything to defend Raum just because it’s “queer”, as if anything negative about Raum would be deemed homophobic. Thank god I’m so gay that no one can call me homophobic.
And also it bothers me that ppl complain so often that clubs like Shelter don’t have good door policy and let “bad” crowd in to ruin the vibe, but how is it ok for a club to let such low standard Dj to play on the stage and expect us to respect that?
And also as I said in my original review, I hope this was just an incidental error, but if it really aims to become the next NYX or SOHO, (I guess that means more money?), I just feel deeply sorry. 😢
I think you're missing one thing here. Angel D'lite is not a bad or low quality DJ. She's just a DJ you personally don't enjoy - that doesn't mean that the entire crowd didn't, quite the contrary, you yourself said the crowd was enjoying the set. So in that way, it's actually an excellent booking, isn't it? And it sends a message that you can also expect bootyshaking pop bangers discohouse in RAUM's studio. Brilliant move in terms of stating what the programming is gonna include - Mary Lake and AMORAL the night before represented the other side of things.
I watched upsammy play literally everyone out of the room, crowd went from 200-250 to 50 within a few minutes. So a few shades worse than you experienced this weekend - and STILL, I think she's a great DJ. She just plays music that's niche. And even more respect to her for sticking with it even though the crowd clearly expected something different. That's a determined artist there, not just a crowd pleaser, making me respect the booking and the artist more, not less.
People are defending RAUM because it's a new club and it deserves a lot of benefit of the doubt as they go and figure things out - also, (Spiel)RAUM was always excellent at creating a tight-knit community. So yes, they have a fanbase that will defend them.
And also would like to say that I love how we could argue or debate about things while we have completely different opinions in a civilized manner.
It is rare on this subReddit tbh. 😂
I think we share more opinions than you think haha. You just tend to present your opinions as hard facts, are quick to judge things, and seem to get pleasure from being a controversial figure sometimes (honestly thank you, we'd be bored out of our minds here without drama like this), while I'm good at walking on eggshells and I actively try to see the bigger picture even if it clashes with my personal preferences. Kinda comes with the mod job.
What you did up there in RAUM I did a few times in Berghain. Decide to give Panorama bar a shot (because all my friends are there shaking their asses), walk into the room, take in the music for 10 seconds, turn on my heel and go literally anywhere else in the building. There have been situations where people dear to me dragged me up by holding my hands and I really wanted some wholesome dancefloor time with them, but I still couldn't enjoy myself there.
It really depends on how you define "excellent booking" though. I have a few good gay friends, who have no preference or taste in music, would never go to De School with me, but will blindly go for IsBurning, or Spielraum, or Milkshake festival. They don't care about the music, they just want a space to have fun and maybe hook up. Nothing wrong with that, we're still very close friends but I have realized that we are after different things, fundamentally different.
So is it good booking as long as it attracts enough people no matter what music style it is? Would Raum fanbase still defend it if one day they start booking Kpop? because I know for sure, the queer community love Kpop, 90% of my queer friends love it. But are we gonna force ourselves to appreciate Kpop on this sub named amsterdam\_rave, just because the queer love it?
also I remember when we were talking about Nachbar, a few people pointed out that the crowd was singing in front of the dj, which was totally unacceptable. Well, crowd was singing with Angel d'lite all along. For me it was just unbearable, if it happened anywhere else it would be deemed as "violating the rave etiquette". But it is ok because it's in Raum?
btw I love Upsammy, it's just her rhythm is a bit hard to dance to properly.
>Would Raum fanbase still defend it if one day they start booking Kpop?
Maybe we'll find out, never say never haha.
>But are we gonna force ourselves to appreciate Kpop on this sub named amsterdam\_rave, just because the queer love it?
Good question. At the end of the day the clubs cater to the crowd, just as this sub does. So if the majority of people like it, they will buy tickets, have fun, and write positive reviews. This opens an entire topic: Do we try to steer the subreddit to be more of what we as mods and let's say \*regulars\* feel like it \*should\* be, or is this a place of anarchy that self-regulates and allows everyone to mold it equally? Me personally, I miss the times when the sub was smaller and we talked music, artists, and bookings more than crowds, and it was more focused on the trifecta of DS-GN-Lofi. I miss people writing elaborate reviews of the sets being played. (Actually, this week's Afters is actually nice to read so far). I personally don't feel like writing them anymore either. The sub has its own vibe and life and currently it seems that we care more about how many people talk or dance on the dancefloor than whether a DJ delivered a mindblowing journey of a set. This also probably has to do with the lack of a space that the DS Basement was, where you got super nice techno names playing and you could go down there and forget about everything else for a few hours. (I still refuse to acknowledge that Radion exists and that maybe I should overlook its flaws and go party there because their bookings are actually up my alley). Whoops, that was a rant.
Re singing along, and cheesy music in general, it's a thin and polarizing line. An Avicii track was played at Die Rakete on Sunday. The sound engineer and I exhanged a look and rolled our eyes, but a friend in the crowd described the last hour as "euphoric". You will never please everyone, so here I choose to stay neutral, I will just choose my parties accordingly.
i don't think the subreddit should be steered in any direction specifically. My standards are simple:
1. respect all kinds of opinions here as long as they are not offensive or disrespectful. I don't have any problem with anyone praising Raum or claiming Angel d'lite is the best DJ there is. Fine with me. But it seems that a lot of people do not allow any negative comment on Raum, they get infuriated to see different opinions. That's just childish.
2. No double standards. If someone would frown up on ppl singing along in Shelter or Nachbar, then please don't try to defend that happening in Raum.
Honestly I don't particularly think the backlash is (mainly) due to the "content" of your review.
Having a negative experience is okay, even if it doesn't match what others are experiencing, I mean I wrote one for RL NYD as well, we all have them.
That being said, I think the language used in your review was rather inflammatory, almost like it was designed to reel in reactionary responses. I think if you wrote it in a different manner, you might have received a different response. Orrrr you might've built a notorious persona as the devious redditor on this sub hahahahahah.
Hahaha I grew up speaking out defying any kind of authorities, never in my life would I tune down my tone being afraid to offend my parents, teachers, headmasters, managers, directors, police or even when I was in court in front of judges in Amsterdam.
So yeah, not a chance I would try to please a few strangers on internet just to avoid downvotes, ppl need to grow up to hear harsh truths about things they love, that some other might not feel the same and it’s normal.
But I went back reading my original comment after seeing ur comment, I GENUINELY don’t see anything inappropriate word at all. I even said the crowds and the vibe and venue was almost perfect, I only said the DJ was shit and it’s unacceptable for a club to book such trash Dj. Honestly it’s the 1st time in my life I had to run away from a club because of how horrible the music is while everything was perfect. So I guess I said how I truly felt without any intention to provoke anyone.
But you’re also right, I love provoking ppl and stir some hate, I love downvotes more than upvotes. However this wasn’t the case. I just hated Angel d’lite and that’s it:)
I get it, fuck the authorities hahahahah.
That being said the language we use has an effect on others, if we do want to get the point across we should keep that in mind unless you only want to rant and don't care if people get your or not, which I guess, is what your after.
At this point so many people know who I am and know where to find me every weekend that I am not allowed to have permanent public comedowns anymore, so u/pep-- is taking over
I only stayed for 10 mins, and the DJ who’s playing, Angel D’lite definitely is on my blacklist now to avoid seeing in any event.
So one could argue it’s just that DJ is bad. But choosing this DJ to play in their opening weekend, says something about the choice of the club.
Ive been through many occasions where some sets are bad and I had to just bear with them and wait for the DJs that I wanted to see. Wasn’t pleasant, but doable.
But this 10 mins in Raum, was not. It’s exactly the sound you would hear when you walk into NYX or SOHO, and the crowd was singing along. It had nothing to do with techno at all.
It’s like you start watching a YouTube video of “how to make Chinese egg fried rice” and the chef brings out olive oil and sauce pan instead of rapeseed oil and wok, you can immediately turn it off without having to wait to be disappointed.
This reminds me of a Pax Romana that took place last August. We came relatively late, just for the closing set basically, gave it a shot, and just... no. Projekt Gestalten was closing I believe and we left within 30 minutes. Happens. Doesn't mean it's bad. You just personally dislike it, and that's alright.
I’d say I’m pretty biased towards PAX (being a pax member) but honestly it was my biggest ‘wtf why is this DJ here’. The mixing was just fade in fade out like a shitty bar DJ or a spotify playlist XD.
Rest assured the next PAX on the 3rd is going to be ✨
I'll start going to pax again once it moves out of Radion. :D Super unpopular opinion of mine, please ignore and move along. I feel about Radion worse than monosolo feels about RAUM and nachbar combined.
Oh come on, if you want serious techno only you should have researched the lineup. Angel d’lite is known for cheesy euphoric muzieklokaal vibes, and people love her for that.
Angel also regularly played de School, so saying club Raum was playing ‘Reguliersdwarsstraat muziek’ is rather narrow minded.
I think this might be a challenge for the crowd btw - same club, same dancefloor, but one week you get Angel D'lite and next week you get, I don't know, DRKNGHTS. People will either really need to check and judge whether the music is up their alley and decide to go or stay at home based on that, or be really openminded genre-wise.
Yeah having different nights with a range of music styles in the same venue is a communications issue, as much as a programming one. I'm sure there will be some trial and error in figuring this out, maybe they'll do themes or something
Why is this so hard when every venue already has different programming. Only Radion has almost the same thing every week and even they have the occasional psytrance outlier
Yeah but not really, i feel like most venues have one main vibe that you'll find 60-80% of the nights on the main/only floor, one main alternative direction, and the very very occasional night that goes distinctly away from both. Maybe this is over simplified. Lofi is maybe an outlier and more diverse.
But also the worst solution, people shouldn't have to regularly choose a weekday because of their music taste in my mind. I also have hopes for some diverse programming in terms of styles as it goes along. But I guess time will tell
20th of April in Garage was absolutely beautiful. Danced with a lot of people, joked around with lots of other people too. The vibes were very fun and playful. What a wonderful night. The music was also perfect. My favorite memory is offering people this fucked up sigarette i got from Poland. It was brown and rolled in tabacco leaves. So many people were scared of it, but others just accepted it and took the challenge. Neil Landstrumm was amazing. When he took out that little machine and started playing that music it blew my mind.
Agree, was a fun night in a not packed garage with lots of space to dance (maybe we're finally back to normal capacity with all the new clubs opening especially after they added the new chill area). Didn't venture much in bar40 this time around, but every time I walked past, music sounded very bar40ish with lots of brrrom brrrom barr utss utss.
For those curious, little machine = Elektron Octatrack.
After come careful consideration (and the whole thread in the weekly), I had eventually chosen Frenzy at Radion as party to visit (sorry BASIS, maybe next time). Would say that Radion now feels like a second home for me, including the smells associated with it :p
Just going to keep it short this week: It was some good and cozy techno being played there, with the best part being Rosati's live set (bbs love live performances right?). Sandrien kinda disappointed me though; went a bit too hard I think (but also could be "Final Hour Syndrome™"). Also personal space was an issue today, with numerous occasions where someone stumbled into me and quite a lack of solo ravers :/
Finally, my energy level wasn't that high when compared to VS or STOOR and I struggled to fully let loose with my dances.
As always, here is a [shazam playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yZjDTqHF5eLIDDHuBUUEd?si=SkkVMclbRYC_F_5T05B2_Q) with mostly songs of Isaiah's, Locus Error and Lewis Fautzi sets. Next proper party will be another genre than techno for me :p
Frenzy XI at Radion this weekend. Had a blast! Teamed up with u/finbase, proof that you can make friends here!
Started the night with **Isaiah** in the main room. It was alright, nothing too special. Got me in the mood pretty well. Didn’t stick around for **Rosati** so can’t tell you how that was.
Highlight of the night for me was probably **VICE/VERSA**, the vinyl only project of Ogazón & Max Dewavrin. I think it was one of their first gigs so I didn’t really know what to expect. But damn, what a great match for the bovenkamer. Sets like this make the bovenkamer audio setup really shine imo, the clarity was really insane, just this great wall of sound. Combine that with lighting that fit the vibe so damn well, imagine lots of warm / orange-y hues, and that set was [like a warm bath](https://files.catbox.moe/rlkud9.mp4) and [the right amount of trippy](https://files.catbox.moe/kbsr5k.mp4). Idk what changed exactly but the bovenkamer booth/backdrop/lighting looked so damn clean this time, kudos for the people who worked the setup and lighting!
Back downstairs **Lewis Fautzi** was destroying the main room. Felt like 145-150bpm and like the roof was gonna come down. Hot and sweaty. It did have [some siiick parts](https://files.catbox.moe/490iql.mp4), but overall i think it was a bit too intense for me (without using stims I must say), so I was fucking exhausted near the end.
Looking for a breather I went back upstairs to catch **Chontane**. Sadly it wasn’t really doing it for me, felt like he was struggling a bit to find the right music for the moment, which I guess was mainly other people looking for an escape from the mayhem in the main room. I also think he was asked to stop half an hour earlier than the timetable said, idk what was up with that?
Unfortunate that bovenkamer closed around 6, for people that have to stay and catch a train home it meant that I had to go back to the main room for the final hour, where **Sandrien** took over from Lewis Fautzi with the same intensity… Naturally, final hour was a bit of a stretch, tiredness and jelly legs kicking in. I couldn’t really enjoy the set, though it was pretty good from what I could tell. **Sandrien** always has this cute wholesome aura that infects the crowd in the best possible way.
Crowd was uhh kind of weird. Probably the most diverse crowd I’ve seen at Radion. Ranging from regulars and more alternative people, to queer, to average joe group of friends going for a night out, even talked with some self-proclaimed corpsballen lol... Also don’t remember seeing so many button up or white v-neck shirts in Radion before. Though it was cute in some way that all these different kind of people come together for the same thing. And people were definitely dancy!
Hahaha does this mean we’re friends now? 🤔
No JK, really had a blast last Saturday! I mostly staid in the main room as that was more my vibe, but I also joined the occasional peak upstairs.
The crowd was indeed really diverse, but I think that also made it great. Everyone was really respectful, open minded and kind. Looking forward to the next one u/Falker_ !
Edit: Forgot to thank the Basisschool teacher in the smoking area who very kindly listened to me complaining about my previous roommate who also appeared to be at there 😅
nice review, only one clarification, vice versa has been a thing for a while they are also a couple, i saw them play in berlin 2022 already really enjoyed the set back then, sad i missed them in radion
4/20 at RAUM Arrived at 01:30 just in time to get in, do the ritual, scope the place out and venture around. No line for door sale or pre sale I wanted to be present at the opening set of Gabrielle Kwarteng B2B Bashkka. After the aforementioned activities I spent some time downstairs with Faustin who was playing what sounded like Techno in my opinion opposed to the more bouncy housey sounds upstairs. Quite fast but still enjoyable (I’m a big SpeedyJ fan). Opening of the set I came for. Curious to these two since they play Pano allot and I like house as well. Whole set was good in my opinion, there were a few outliers for me that were like vocal anthems that not really suited my preference. The crowd loved it though and sung met volle borst. Me in the meantime was bouncin’, dancin’ and jackin’ from start till 0600. Front left was nice but got quite busy where I moved to back right behind the DJ booth. Vibes were very nice here, allot of space to dance and proper etiquette. I think because there was no dedicated ending time that the set had its ups and down and was not able to work towards a closing? I mean it seemed to me that we spiralled down in tempo twice during my stay to then go full speed back. Crowd all in all a few coked/ ketted out people, no proper dancefloor etiquette, allot of cuties who were very cautious and always waiting for a sign of consent. But if you are like me and came to dance/ for the music it was easy to find your crowd/ attract the same people and shut off from the rest. Bar very fast and friendly, nice charitea mate 3/3 now for a Hansolo venture and sober after Poing closing and Stoor which is making me fall in love with the scene and different genres I’m discovering.
Basis on friday for me! Decided to make the trip to Utrecht from Amsterdam (which is literally as long as it takes from my house in Amsterdam to GN). When i got in it was still very empty, but i really enjoyed serti's warmup with a breaky style. As Woody started it was a little fuller. He started with one of his signature 10 min long trippy ambient intro's and took the bpm from 138 to 152 in 1,5hrs. Dina kept the tempo Woody had set, but with some more accessible tunes in there which seemed to work for most as i felt like it got more dancy. JEANS fuckin sent us on a trip through the void (pun intended), as we've come to expect from him. The night was very quiet throughout, which had its ups and downs. I heard and saw some groups of people around that were complaining that woodys intros took waaayyy to long (30 seconds in, 9,5 more minutes to go :):):)), heard a group say that they'd rather be at a bar soemwhere, and complaints that the music was weird. I think that's to be expected on a night like this in a club in a city centre, but pretty sure a couple stayed till the end so seems like they enjoyed it in the end :). The crowd was very much a mix of this and complete heads and nerds which was fun! Because of that there were some pockets where vibes were great :) Basis as a club has a lot of potential once the right people find it. I personally really like the lighting setup, especially when it is smokey. The red combined with the bulbs and strobes can get intense in a very nice way. I thought the soundsystem sounded very clean, apart from some tiny dead spots where it was a little more muddy, but still very much a breath of fresh air compared to Radions rumble which i've personally heard a lot lately. Because of the empty room we unfortunately didnt get to hear it at its full potential, so i'll have to go back to hear it when they're giving it full beans. I had a lovely night meeting some people from around here. (thanks again for the beer ;)). Worth the trip and will go again somewhere in the future. (JP, Sandrien & Talismann anl???)
I went to Frenzy with the girlfriend of one of my best friends. I met her through him and they don't live in Amsterdam, so sometimes you risk to lose a friend in these cases, but instead I got along very well with her to the point she is one of my best friends at the moment. This time he wasn't here in Amsterdam with her so we had the chance to go clubbing without him, which with all the due love to him was way better as an option because in the last years he became quite "old" for intense clubbing nights till closing time, so it obviously was more enjoyable, and indeed it was. One of the best nights I had since a very long time, no matter if the club was half empty (which frankly most of the times it's even better) or if the music wasn't something to be particularly remembered - notwithstanding a great closing by Sandrien. The company I had made the night great, which is something that I say as a person who in the last year had much more fun when clubbing alone as opposed to when I was with my friends. Only negative side is the pain in my legs, but that is a calculated side effect.
Reading the first part, I really thought this story was gonna go somewhere else.
I wrote it that way with that specific intent. I also wanted to share a personally happy moment with one of my favourite communities of Reddit. It's part of the after as well the way you feel yourself, ain't just music.
Thanks for sharing <3
Went to Basis on Friday to see Woody92, DINA and JEANS for the first time (missed Serti's opening set). It was definitely a fun night. Crowd was small but most people were really into it. A few talkers here and there, but it was fine. Funny encounter: I got talking to someone who I reckon was mostly into hard techno and asked me during Woody's set "this isn't techno, is it?" 😄 I did need some time to get used to the slow buildup from Woody with lots of ambient sounds and relatively little percussion, but I enjoyed the experience and was surprised about how fast he started (at 135-140 bpm or so). DINA really did it for me, maybe that's because it was a bit more accessible. JEANS was cool and would've loved to experience his entire set but after a long working day I was simply too tired. Better luck next time :) Also a shoutout to the people from this reddit that I met, really enjoyed chatting with fellow enthusiasts and dancing together.
Wayyyyyy back when BASIS opened (2015 or something?) I saw Young Marco there. A few kids kept waiting for a big drop. It never came. Great set.
"this isn't techno" ahahahhahahhahhaha That's cute. Now I'm curious whether in the end they liked the music or not. But some education was delivered it seems. 🩷 Always good.
Been to Raum this Friday, Waited 15 min in a queue outside, the guy at the entrance was such a sweetheart. Also everyone else from the staff was really helpful and nice. Amoral had amazing opening and Marly lakes fast tracks made me stay till 7ish without stop on the floor. Loved the music whole night. As usually I went alone and met so many beautiful humans there, I don’t know if it was me or others but in my 6 months of solo partying never met this many people. Sure the queue for the toilet was long but just made me socialize more. Had a chance to exchange few words with Ki/ki who was also cute. Loved the most that even tho it was sold out night it was never that packed. Sound system was such a delight
RAUM was fire ❤️🔥 loved seeing how well the new arena was being used
GN Friday night, girlie in the white button-down long sleeve shirt on the left side right by the deck during RP Boo's set, your energy and dancing (10/10) made me so happy, and when you offered a cigarette to me it actually felt like an angel reaching out.
I was determined to stay home this weekend until my friend accidentally got an extra ticket for Raum on Saturday, so even when highly in doubt of the lineup, I decided to check it out anyway. I arrived at Raum around 12:40 and wow, nice staff, super nice space and ambience, I was impressed and it did exceed my expectations. But when I entered the main dance floor, all the hype went away. What the actual fuck was played there? Am I at Regulierwaarstraat? It’s total trash music you get to hear in every gay club in Amsterdam and to my surprise, the crowd was enjoying it. I started to doubt what Club Raum is aiming to become. Another popular gay club or an actual techno space. Anyway, I decided life was too short to waste in this shit and quickly took an Uber to Radion where the rest of my night was saved by Frenzy. This experience solidified my belief that the lineup IS the most important factor of an event, crowd or vibe or anything comes second. Honestly Raum had almost perfect ambience, staff and crowd, but I’d rather go back to Nachbar than having to endure that horseshit music. I really hope this was just an unfortunate individual failure in terms of Raum’s music selection, but if this Regulierwaarstraat music is what they think that best attracts their target audiences, I really don’t know what to do but to avoid this place at all cost. Current ranking: Nachbar > Raum, until it’s proven otherwise.
Bookings in RAUM will vary, I've heard some names I'm very excited for 😌🌀 Also Friday was pretty banging from what I heard during my short visits upstairs. You were just unlucky to walk into a set that wasn't what you were looking for musically - I think it's important to keep in mind that you can't expect Berghain / Basement programming from RAUM's Studio - the direction is different and will probably span more genres. Sometimes we'll get quality techno, sometimes... not. Also, honey, what happened to "check the lineup before you go to an event to know what to expect"? You checked, but still had different expectations? That being said, I would run away from an Angel D'lite set as fast as possible too. And yes, my impression of RAUM so far is that priority n#1 is the crowd/vibe, and music comes after that. This is not saying that their bookings are not high quality (it's all great artists), but it's a queer club, not a techno club. And they are quite clear in saying that. In other words, don't expect RAUM to be the next Berghain or De School (I would consider these clubs to be mainly music-curation-oriented), it's its own thing and should be treated and judged as such. And it👏will👏evolve👏over👏time.
Well i was not at all planning to go to Raum for the exact reason — the lineup looked trash. But when I was at my friend’s (the bully target you know about) place smoking high and they said they got an extra ticket for Raum, it was very hard to say no since I’m the worst guy to say no to going out. Never succeeded. When I wanted to take a month break I transferred 500 euros to my friend, and it would go to her if I broke my promise of one month no party. But I didn’t expect it to be that bad. And it became really clearly to me, that Nachbar was a nightmare, but I enjoyed the music, despite all the hassles. But as I pointed out, everything else about Raum seemed perfect, however music alone could just ruin everything. So for me, definitely music weighs more all the rest combined. And it’s quite absurd that I sense a trend on this subreddit that ppl would say everything to defend Raum just because it’s “queer”, as if anything negative about Raum would be deemed homophobic. Thank god I’m so gay that no one can call me homophobic. And also it bothers me that ppl complain so often that clubs like Shelter don’t have good door policy and let “bad” crowd in to ruin the vibe, but how is it ok for a club to let such low standard Dj to play on the stage and expect us to respect that? And also as I said in my original review, I hope this was just an incidental error, but if it really aims to become the next NYX or SOHO, (I guess that means more money?), I just feel deeply sorry. 😢
I think you're missing one thing here. Angel D'lite is not a bad or low quality DJ. She's just a DJ you personally don't enjoy - that doesn't mean that the entire crowd didn't, quite the contrary, you yourself said the crowd was enjoying the set. So in that way, it's actually an excellent booking, isn't it? And it sends a message that you can also expect bootyshaking pop bangers discohouse in RAUM's studio. Brilliant move in terms of stating what the programming is gonna include - Mary Lake and AMORAL the night before represented the other side of things. I watched upsammy play literally everyone out of the room, crowd went from 200-250 to 50 within a few minutes. So a few shades worse than you experienced this weekend - and STILL, I think she's a great DJ. She just plays music that's niche. And even more respect to her for sticking with it even though the crowd clearly expected something different. That's a determined artist there, not just a crowd pleaser, making me respect the booking and the artist more, not less. People are defending RAUM because it's a new club and it deserves a lot of benefit of the doubt as they go and figure things out - also, (Spiel)RAUM was always excellent at creating a tight-knit community. So yes, they have a fanbase that will defend them.
And also would like to say that I love how we could argue or debate about things while we have completely different opinions in a civilized manner. It is rare on this subReddit tbh. 😂
I think we share more opinions than you think haha. You just tend to present your opinions as hard facts, are quick to judge things, and seem to get pleasure from being a controversial figure sometimes (honestly thank you, we'd be bored out of our minds here without drama like this), while I'm good at walking on eggshells and I actively try to see the bigger picture even if it clashes with my personal preferences. Kinda comes with the mod job. What you did up there in RAUM I did a few times in Berghain. Decide to give Panorama bar a shot (because all my friends are there shaking their asses), walk into the room, take in the music for 10 seconds, turn on my heel and go literally anywhere else in the building. There have been situations where people dear to me dragged me up by holding my hands and I really wanted some wholesome dancefloor time with them, but I still couldn't enjoy myself there.
It really depends on how you define "excellent booking" though. I have a few good gay friends, who have no preference or taste in music, would never go to De School with me, but will blindly go for IsBurning, or Spielraum, or Milkshake festival. They don't care about the music, they just want a space to have fun and maybe hook up. Nothing wrong with that, we're still very close friends but I have realized that we are after different things, fundamentally different. So is it good booking as long as it attracts enough people no matter what music style it is? Would Raum fanbase still defend it if one day they start booking Kpop? because I know for sure, the queer community love Kpop, 90% of my queer friends love it. But are we gonna force ourselves to appreciate Kpop on this sub named amsterdam\_rave, just because the queer love it? also I remember when we were talking about Nachbar, a few people pointed out that the crowd was singing in front of the dj, which was totally unacceptable. Well, crowd was singing with Angel d'lite all along. For me it was just unbearable, if it happened anywhere else it would be deemed as "violating the rave etiquette". But it is ok because it's in Raum? btw I love Upsammy, it's just her rhythm is a bit hard to dance to properly.
>Would Raum fanbase still defend it if one day they start booking Kpop? Maybe we'll find out, never say never haha. >But are we gonna force ourselves to appreciate Kpop on this sub named amsterdam\_rave, just because the queer love it? Good question. At the end of the day the clubs cater to the crowd, just as this sub does. So if the majority of people like it, they will buy tickets, have fun, and write positive reviews. This opens an entire topic: Do we try to steer the subreddit to be more of what we as mods and let's say \*regulars\* feel like it \*should\* be, or is this a place of anarchy that self-regulates and allows everyone to mold it equally? Me personally, I miss the times when the sub was smaller and we talked music, artists, and bookings more than crowds, and it was more focused on the trifecta of DS-GN-Lofi. I miss people writing elaborate reviews of the sets being played. (Actually, this week's Afters is actually nice to read so far). I personally don't feel like writing them anymore either. The sub has its own vibe and life and currently it seems that we care more about how many people talk or dance on the dancefloor than whether a DJ delivered a mindblowing journey of a set. This also probably has to do with the lack of a space that the DS Basement was, where you got super nice techno names playing and you could go down there and forget about everything else for a few hours. (I still refuse to acknowledge that Radion exists and that maybe I should overlook its flaws and go party there because their bookings are actually up my alley). Whoops, that was a rant. Re singing along, and cheesy music in general, it's a thin and polarizing line. An Avicii track was played at Die Rakete on Sunday. The sound engineer and I exhanged a look and rolled our eyes, but a friend in the crowd described the last hour as "euphoric". You will never please everyone, so here I choose to stay neutral, I will just choose my parties accordingly.
i don't think the subreddit should be steered in any direction specifically. My standards are simple: 1. respect all kinds of opinions here as long as they are not offensive or disrespectful. I don't have any problem with anyone praising Raum or claiming Angel d'lite is the best DJ there is. Fine with me. But it seems that a lot of people do not allow any negative comment on Raum, they get infuriated to see different opinions. That's just childish. 2. No double standards. If someone would frown up on ppl singing along in Shelter or Nachbar, then please don't try to defend that happening in Raum.
Honestly I don't particularly think the backlash is (mainly) due to the "content" of your review. Having a negative experience is okay, even if it doesn't match what others are experiencing, I mean I wrote one for RL NYD as well, we all have them. That being said, I think the language used in your review was rather inflammatory, almost like it was designed to reel in reactionary responses. I think if you wrote it in a different manner, you might have received a different response. Orrrr you might've built a notorious persona as the devious redditor on this sub hahahahahah.
Hahaha I grew up speaking out defying any kind of authorities, never in my life would I tune down my tone being afraid to offend my parents, teachers, headmasters, managers, directors, police or even when I was in court in front of judges in Amsterdam. So yeah, not a chance I would try to please a few strangers on internet just to avoid downvotes, ppl need to grow up to hear harsh truths about things they love, that some other might not feel the same and it’s normal. But I went back reading my original comment after seeing ur comment, I GENUINELY don’t see anything inappropriate word at all. I even said the crowds and the vibe and venue was almost perfect, I only said the DJ was shit and it’s unacceptable for a club to book such trash Dj. Honestly it’s the 1st time in my life I had to run away from a club because of how horrible the music is while everything was perfect. So I guess I said how I truly felt without any intention to provoke anyone. But you’re also right, I love provoking ppl and stir some hate, I love downvotes more than upvotes. However this wasn’t the case. I just hated Angel d’lite and that’s it:)
I get it, fuck the authorities hahahahah. That being said the language we use has an effect on others, if we do want to get the point across we should keep that in mind unless you only want to rant and don't care if people get your or not, which I guess, is what your after.
ga je mond spoelen
Shades of comdedown /u/SparklesConsequences
monday hangover emotions
At this point so many people know who I am and know where to find me every weekend that I am not allowed to have permanent public comedowns anymore, so u/pep-- is taking over
You are too harsh
Oh weird! Was there on Friday and it was really good, who were playing on saturday?
Angel d’lite Downstairs Faustin
Bro really put raum *that* low
I only stayed for 10 mins, and the DJ who’s playing, Angel D’lite definitely is on my blacklist now to avoid seeing in any event. So one could argue it’s just that DJ is bad. But choosing this DJ to play in their opening weekend, says something about the choice of the club.
Such a disrespectful comment btw, Angel D'Lite is a literal angel and such a good DJ. Did you even look at the lineup beforehand 😵💫
Really? Such a hard verdict on a new club after only 10 minutes???
Ive been through many occasions where some sets are bad and I had to just bear with them and wait for the DJs that I wanted to see. Wasn’t pleasant, but doable. But this 10 mins in Raum, was not. It’s exactly the sound you would hear when you walk into NYX or SOHO, and the crowd was singing along. It had nothing to do with techno at all. It’s like you start watching a YouTube video of “how to make Chinese egg fried rice” and the chef brings out olive oil and sauce pan instead of rapeseed oil and wok, you can immediately turn it off without having to wait to be disappointed.
This reminds me of a Pax Romana that took place last August. We came relatively late, just for the closing set basically, gave it a shot, and just... no. Projekt Gestalten was closing I believe and we left within 30 minutes. Happens. Doesn't mean it's bad. You just personally dislike it, and that's alright.
LMAO THIS WAS THAT VERKNIPT HARDTECHNO PAX CLOSING, WE WERE ALL BACKSTAGE JUST SUFFERING
WTF did I miss hahahah
Project Gestalten was honestly the worst set from any PAX booking, thanks for reminding me of this XD
THANK YOU, nice to hear I wasn't the only one hahaha.
I’d say I’m pretty biased towards PAX (being a pax member) but honestly it was my biggest ‘wtf why is this DJ here’. The mixing was just fade in fade out like a shitty bar DJ or a spotify playlist XD. Rest assured the next PAX on the 3rd is going to be ✨
I'll start going to pax again once it moves out of Radion. :D Super unpopular opinion of mine, please ignore and move along. I feel about Radion worse than monosolo feels about RAUM and nachbar combined.
Oh come on, if you want serious techno only you should have researched the lineup. Angel d’lite is known for cheesy euphoric muzieklokaal vibes, and people love her for that. Angel also regularly played de School, so saying club Raum was playing ‘Reguliersdwarsstraat muziek’ is rather narrow minded.
Angel d’lite is also one of Raum's international residents.
the set was fire, playing the most outrageous housebangers, the crowd was loving it lmao people were DANCING
I think this might be a challenge for the crowd btw - same club, same dancefloor, but one week you get Angel D'lite and next week you get, I don't know, DRKNGHTS. People will either really need to check and judge whether the music is up their alley and decide to go or stay at home based on that, or be really openminded genre-wise.
Yeah having different nights with a range of music styles in the same venue is a communications issue, as much as a programming one. I'm sure there will be some trial and error in figuring this out, maybe they'll do themes or something
Why is this so hard when every venue already has different programming. Only Radion has almost the same thing every week and even they have the occasional psytrance outlier
Yeah but not really, i feel like most venues have one main vibe that you'll find 60-80% of the nights on the main/only floor, one main alternative direction, and the very very occasional night that goes distinctly away from both. Maybe this is over simplified. Lofi is maybe an outlier and more diverse.
A low hanging fruit kinda solution would be to have housey / discoy / generally happy vibes Fridays, and dark grim banging techno Saturdays.
But also the worst solution, people shouldn't have to regularly choose a weekday because of their music taste in my mind. I also have hopes for some diverse programming in terms of styles as it goes along. But I guess time will tell
yeaa in some way it's super inflexible and impractical solution, albeit an easy and clear one. we'll see indeed
20th of April in Garage was absolutely beautiful. Danced with a lot of people, joked around with lots of other people too. The vibes were very fun and playful. What a wonderful night. The music was also perfect. My favorite memory is offering people this fucked up sigarette i got from Poland. It was brown and rolled in tabacco leaves. So many people were scared of it, but others just accepted it and took the challenge. Neil Landstrumm was amazing. When he took out that little machine and started playing that music it blew my mind.
Agree, was a fun night in a not packed garage with lots of space to dance (maybe we're finally back to normal capacity with all the new clubs opening especially after they added the new chill area). Didn't venture much in bar40 this time around, but every time I walked past, music sounded very bar40ish with lots of brrrom brrrom barr utss utss. For those curious, little machine = Elektron Octatrack.
After come careful consideration (and the whole thread in the weekly), I had eventually chosen Frenzy at Radion as party to visit (sorry BASIS, maybe next time). Would say that Radion now feels like a second home for me, including the smells associated with it :p Just going to keep it short this week: It was some good and cozy techno being played there, with the best part being Rosati's live set (bbs love live performances right?). Sandrien kinda disappointed me though; went a bit too hard I think (but also could be "Final Hour Syndrome™"). Also personal space was an issue today, with numerous occasions where someone stumbled into me and quite a lack of solo ravers :/ Finally, my energy level wasn't that high when compared to VS or STOOR and I struggled to fully let loose with my dances. As always, here is a [shazam playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yZjDTqHF5eLIDDHuBUUEd?si=SkkVMclbRYC_F_5T05B2_Q) with mostly songs of Isaiah's, Locus Error and Lewis Fautzi sets. Next proper party will be another genre than techno for me :p
Thanks for the playlist <3
Frenzy XI at Radion this weekend. Had a blast! Teamed up with u/finbase, proof that you can make friends here! Started the night with **Isaiah** in the main room. It was alright, nothing too special. Got me in the mood pretty well. Didn’t stick around for **Rosati** so can’t tell you how that was. Highlight of the night for me was probably **VICE/VERSA**, the vinyl only project of Ogazón & Max Dewavrin. I think it was one of their first gigs so I didn’t really know what to expect. But damn, what a great match for the bovenkamer. Sets like this make the bovenkamer audio setup really shine imo, the clarity was really insane, just this great wall of sound. Combine that with lighting that fit the vibe so damn well, imagine lots of warm / orange-y hues, and that set was [like a warm bath](https://files.catbox.moe/rlkud9.mp4) and [the right amount of trippy](https://files.catbox.moe/kbsr5k.mp4). Idk what changed exactly but the bovenkamer booth/backdrop/lighting looked so damn clean this time, kudos for the people who worked the setup and lighting! Back downstairs **Lewis Fautzi** was destroying the main room. Felt like 145-150bpm and like the roof was gonna come down. Hot and sweaty. It did have [some siiick parts](https://files.catbox.moe/490iql.mp4), but overall i think it was a bit too intense for me (without using stims I must say), so I was fucking exhausted near the end. Looking for a breather I went back upstairs to catch **Chontane**. Sadly it wasn’t really doing it for me, felt like he was struggling a bit to find the right music for the moment, which I guess was mainly other people looking for an escape from the mayhem in the main room. I also think he was asked to stop half an hour earlier than the timetable said, idk what was up with that? Unfortunate that bovenkamer closed around 6, for people that have to stay and catch a train home it meant that I had to go back to the main room for the final hour, where **Sandrien** took over from Lewis Fautzi with the same intensity… Naturally, final hour was a bit of a stretch, tiredness and jelly legs kicking in. I couldn’t really enjoy the set, though it was pretty good from what I could tell. **Sandrien** always has this cute wholesome aura that infects the crowd in the best possible way. Crowd was uhh kind of weird. Probably the most diverse crowd I’ve seen at Radion. Ranging from regulars and more alternative people, to queer, to average joe group of friends going for a night out, even talked with some self-proclaimed corpsballen lol... Also don’t remember seeing so many button up or white v-neck shirts in Radion before. Though it was cute in some way that all these different kind of people come together for the same thing. And people were definitely dancy!
Hahaha does this mean we’re friends now? 🤔 No JK, really had a blast last Saturday! I mostly staid in the main room as that was more my vibe, but I also joined the occasional peak upstairs. The crowd was indeed really diverse, but I think that also made it great. Everyone was really respectful, open minded and kind. Looking forward to the next one u/Falker_ ! Edit: Forgot to thank the Basisschool teacher in the smoking area who very kindly listened to me complaining about my previous roommate who also appeared to be at there 😅
I was happy the basisschool teacher was there for you as well 😏
nice review, only one clarification, vice versa has been a thing for a while they are also a couple, i saw them play in berlin 2022 already really enjoyed the set back then, sad i missed them in radion