Queen's Day 2007 in Amsterdam

[Tisswat]

As requested by cr78, I'm posting some info on the upcoming Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in Amsterdam. It's the city's biggest event of the year and there will be parties everywhere, but I will select a few that I think will be worth visiting.

Background info

Queen's Day (Dutch: Koninginnedag) on April 30 (or celebrated on April 29 if the 30th is Sunday) is a national holiday in the Netherlands. It started as a celebration of the Dutch monarchy. The holiday is celebrated on this date because it was the birthday of Queen Juliana (1909-2004). When Queen Beatrix succeeded Juliana on 30 April 1980, she decided to keep the holiday on April 30, as the weather on her own birthday, January 31, tends to prohibit the traditional outdoor festivities.

On Queen's Day the monarch, Queen Beatrix, visits one or two towns where she is received with celebrations in her honor. These celebrations often involve traditional Dutch dances and demonstrations of old crafts.

The color orange is a common sight on Queen's Day, as it represents the House of Orange, which is the name of the current Dutch dynasty. There are orange banners and flags, orange colored foods and drinks. Even the water in some fountains is dyed orange. The holiday is also a "free market" day where people set up stalls at the roadside to sell household goods they no longer need. Typically, many children sell their toys: some entrepreneurs also sell food and beverages. By the end of the day, much of the unsold is left on the streets.

In recent years, Queen's Day has become more and more of an open air party, particularly in Amsterdam, which attracts anywhere from 500,000 to two million visitors.

Since Queen's Day is a national holiday and thus a day off, many people also go out and party on the evening (or weekend) before Queen's Day. This evening is called Queen's Night (Koninginnenacht in Dutch).

(pre) Queen's Night parties on april 29

Sat 28 april

LFTFLD @ de Kring

23:00-?

De Kring, Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 7-9, Amsterdam

Adm €7

Not really Queen's Night yet, but worth mentioning anyway. LFTFLD Magazine is a free underground art mag distributed in A'dam. Occasionally they throw parties here and there and the parties are usually good. Go easy here, because you wouldn't want to miss the parties on the 29th.

Sun 29 april

K/SS OFF

OT301, Overtoom 301, Amsterdam

22:00-late

Adm €10

This would probably be my pick. OT301 is the former A'dam TV and film academy and is now squatted. It's an amazing raunchy location and it attracts a nice mixed crowd of hipsters, weirdos, cuties and everything in between. Attitudes are laid back and open-minded. It doesn't get anymore Berlin than this in Amsterdam.

Sun 29 april

UNK Koninginnenacht

23:00-04:00

Club 8, Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56, Amsterdam

Adm €8

Hipsters unite. Lots of gays, weirdos and extravagants on a a night where anything goes.

Sun 29 april

Ballroom Blitz 2

22:00-death..

Bitterzoet, Spuistraat, Amsterdam

Adm €10 (presale at PATTA)

The boys from PATTA and Rockers NYC team up for another party. Get your streetwear on and your ltd ed sneakers out. Mainly (underground) hiphop here, but don't expect any bling bling and FUBU. Bitterzoet hiphop crowds are young, beautiful and stylish. Bring your spliffs. Honeys and skater dudes all around.

Sun 29 april

Static Weekender - Koninginnenacht

Paul Kalkbrenner (live) and many others from Berlin and A'dam

23:00-?

BG, Oosterdokskade 3-5, Amsterdam

Adm €24 (presale €22 at Outland, Concerto and beatfreax.nl)

Personally I choose to avoid this one, but if you like your big techno parties, it probably doesn't get any better than this. Awesome line-up. Get tickets in advance. Bring your MDMA.

Sun 29 april

RAUW Special - Koninginnenacht

23:00-?

11, Oosterdokskade 3-5, Amsterdam

Adm €15 (get tickets in presale at Zipper, Concerto and beatfreax.nl)

In the same building as the previously mentioned event but on the 11th floor of the building (hence the name of the venue), Amsterdam icon DJ Joost van Bellen hosts his monthly clubnight RAUW. I'm not sure if this particular night will be the ideal RAUW night, but it's usually a good party. Fashionable crowds, but not as cool as 2 years ago. Good DJs that play anything from electro to punk. Live acts are usually interesting.

Sun 29 april

1 Day Off

Vitalic, Tiefschwarz, Dr. Lektroluv and Dominik Eulberg

22:00-05:00

Melkweg, Lijnbaansgracht, Amsterdam

A nice little taster of the 5 Days Off festival that is held every summer in Paradiso and Melkweg. Tickets are sold out, but are being scalped online. Arguably the best line-up in town this evening but expect your average Amsterdam party crowd. Personally, I'm holding out for the real 5 Days Off festival instead.

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) april 30

On Koninginnedag itself, Amsterdam turns into one big flea market, beer fest or street rave, depending on where you are. If you want to go on a serious vintage shopping spree, you better get up early. From around 13:00 onward, a steady stream of tourists from other parts of Holland (also referred to as retards) starts to pour into the city. This is around the same time when the bargains and gems are all gone and the emphasis is more on party than on flea market.

For the best flea market shopping head for:

De 9 Straatjes area

Currently the coolest shopping area in town. Lots of small boutiques and cafes here. It will be nice to hang around in this area for a while and shop for old vinyl, clothes and other retro stuff.

Vondelpark

On Koninginnedag, the Vondelpark is declared off-limits for adult vendors, so this is where the kids try their hardest to earn extra pocket money by playing instruments, selling food, dancing, acting plays, dancing and so on. Lots of fun to strawl around and see what the kids have come up with this time. I remember seeing a couple of kids selling young cannabis plants a few years ago - welcome to Amsterdam. Vondelpark strawls are the ideal way to recover from a hangover or escape from the madness elsewhere in the city.

Oud Zuid

Translated as 'old south', the area south of the big museums is traditionally where Amsterdam's well-off live. Especially in Van Baerlestraat and the surrounding neighborhood, you can expect to find lots of designer clothes being sold for (a lot) less. This is where You might find that original vintage Chanel blazer for the mrs. Also, lots of last year's designer labels and some interesting furniture. Early bird gets the worm. Good hunting!

Jordaan

Although Lindengracht, Westerstraat and Noordermarkt will most probably turn into one big beerfest later on in the day, the surrounding streets and canals embrace the traditional Amsterdam Koninginnedag feel, with some interesting junk being sold and plenty of delis and restaurants selling food outside.

Get your block party on..

There will be parties with DJs and bands playing practically everywhere around the city, here are a few that might be worth stopping by. Free entrance everywhere.

TWSTD

12:00-21:00

Weteringplantsoen

Already their 5th Qday party, TWSTD cafe parties are usually massive. This year they have a pretty amazing line-up with 30 DJs and live acts including Vince Watson, Bart SKils and Billy Nasty. Check out their

.

Queensday Bonanza! 2007

12:00-21:00

Bep, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 260-262

With the most exciting (local) line-up consisting of live acts and DJs from Amsterdam, London and NYC, this would probably be my party of choice. Also, there will be an 'Akka' football tournament with teams of (drunk) DJs and artists. RobbertJan get in there!

All is One Queensday BlockParty

13:00-21:00

Spuistraat 122-124

The ever lovely DJ Isis hosts her own block party and invites some old-time friends to join her. Hello RoXY crowd.

Apenkooi

12:00-21:00

Marie Heinekenplein

No comment. Might be good.

Boats

??:??-??:??

Everywhere

This might be a long shot, but there are plenty of boats on the water in the canals on Qday and it's usually not that big of a hussle to jump aboard. Bring some booze/drugs/women to ante up the odds of them letting you on.

Please note:

If the weather is warm and sunny, Amsterdam is visited by up to 2 million people and retards (see above). Considering that the city has only 1.2 million inhabitants, you can imagine the chaos. As a result, the city is very busy everywhere, somtimes to a scary extent. So first of all, here are some spots to avoid, unless you want to get crushed, trampled on and/or drowned in beer (in order of chaos): Museumplein, Rembrandtplein Leidseplein, Dam square, Damrak, Red Light District (some areas).

One last tip: WEAR SOMETHING ORANGE!

[RobbertJan]

ik ging je +rep geven maar kan niet:P thnx iig kan ik ff een betere keuze maken!

[Tisswat]

ik ging je +rep geven maar kan niet:P thnx iig kan ik ff een betere keuze maken!

Thanks gast. I can't +rep you either bij de weg.

[Charlie Delta]

Hey, lets all go spreek nederenglish mixed door elkaar!

Make that the cat wise.

And it's crying again wearing the cap!

[keska]

zukkelzzzz

[Charlie Delta]

zukkelzzzz

S Keska, S!

[thelion1856]

sweet shit man!

[linkejeuk]

Ugh, I am not staying in Amsterdam this koninginnedag. The parties aren't that much better than the usual, in my opinion, but that's maybe cause I hate orange and extreme crowdedness. It is worth getting up early and finding nice things, last year I found some good stuff.

I guess I am ambiguess, I feel most people are just trying to convince themselves that the parties are really something else, but to me those people make it worse. Just lots of posers. It might be interesting for some trapped tourists who don't know what's going on, just to witness something so Orange and stupid.

Oh yeah, and I do like little kids selling stuff and making music on the street.

[Tisswat]

Ugh, I am not staying in Amsterdam this koninginnedag.

Thank god for that.

[AstroWolf]

its a hard one.

[Tisswat]

Queens day is a bad example of humans at their wost. Not even respectable stupidity.

As pointed out earlier, the main reason I created this thread is to guide visitors (like cr78) through Amsterdam on Queens day. Every city is ugly sides to it and it would be very easy to plan a weekend in Amsterdam that would lead to him/her deciding never to visit this city again. Instead, I try to inform superfuture users about the highlights of the city that are often neglected or overlooked by tourists. That way, they can enjoy the city that I'm proud of just as I do.

I've already pointed out in my start post that there will be lots of annoying, loud and filthy people visiting the city. My aim is to highlight the spots and events on this day that ARE worth visiting. I don't see how your comment contributes to this discussion at all. Queen's Day may not be your cup of tea for various reasons, but I don't see the point of posting that 'everybody and everything sucks' (translated loosely). Instead, your comment merely represents your overly generalized, grumpy view.

So please - for the sake of my mood - keep your too-cool-for-school comments to yourself. Or at least post some alternative options. Again, this thread is to provide information for superfuture members visiting Amsterdam on april 30th. Try to contribute.

[AstroWolf]

scorn is uncool.

[Tisswat]

Thanks for clearing that up for us. I hope cr78 found it helpful.

Concerning linkejeuk's contribution - see my response to his post.