In short:
We’re adding 3 new venues that are kind of legendary in Rotterdam – but also a bit further out. So, be prepared for longer walks, bike rides, or (semi-)public transport. We’ll be posting explanatory videos soon, so no real need to spend 6 hours of your life reading this entire post.
The way-too-long version:
If you were a concertgoer in Rotterdam in the early 2000s, chances are you regularly went to Waterfront.
It was a bunker-like venue under the big red bridge, just east of the city centre. Dark and gritty. But if you needed some fresh air, you could simply step outside, and from the quay you’d have one of the best views of Rotterdam by night. We saw so many great concerts there – it was just a really cool place for anyone into so-called alternative music.
But things don’t last forever, not in Rotterdam anyway, and in 2008 Waterfront closed it doors.
In 2010, another organisation took over, and they really messed things up. They essentially scammed the local government (the owners of the building) and vanished abroad. After that, the concert hall remained empty.
For years, we’ve been trying to get Waterfront back in use – without success. Club Haug – a very cool comedy club – opened next door which sparked some hope, but apparently, there’s a leak in the roof of the actual concert hall that is – for technical reasons we don’t really understand – practically unfixable. Logically, the local government can’t allow new tenants into a leaking building, and so that’s where the story seemed to end.
Or so we thought.
A while ago, we decided to give it another try. We asked if we could use Waterfront only as a temporarily festival venue. There is a shortage of suitable concert halls in Rotterdam, especially during the Left of the Dial weekend and we could really use the extra room. We figured that if we had two weeks to tidy up the place, and brought in a few buckets just in case it rained, we could revive some of Waterfront’s historical glory – even if just for three days.
And much to our surprise our plan got green lighted!
We were over the moon when we got the news – but, as usual, it came with a whole new set of problems. Lots of logistical issues that we won’t bore you with, but our biggest concern was the venue being quite a walk from our other locations.
On the other hand, Waterfront is located at the pickup-point of Bands on a Boat, so our regular ticketholders know where to find it. We reckoned, if we’d add two more venues close by and set up a bus service to the area, it might still work.
And that’s basically what we’ve been doing the past few weeks; creating a sort of new festival hub to show you more of our beautiful city and to accommodate more bands.
It took us long enough, but we found two just as legendary venues in the same area: The Cube (formerly known as Plan C – if you’ve studied in Rotterdam, you’ve gotten drunk there at least once) and the iconic Rotterdam Public Library (where we borrowed hundreds of books over the years). All near the cube houses and the market hall and, more in general, it’s just another amazing part of the city.
To cut a way too long story a little bit shorter: we’re really proud that Waterfront, The Cube/Plan C and Rotterdam Public Library will be part of Left of the Dial 2025, but we also feel it’s only fair to warn you:
The three venues are about a 20-minute walk from the ticket desk, and it’ll take another 25 minutes to get from Waterfront to the Perron/Roodkapje/Salsability/160K area. The bus service will be free for all ticketholders, but given Rotterdam’s traffic, sticking to a fixed schedule will be tricky. If not impossible.
We’ll do our best to make everything run as smooth as possible, but wearing comfortable shoes or bringing your own bike (or getting a rental) is strongly recommended.
Either way, it felt like too cool an opportunity to pass up – and with a bit of love and understanding from your side, we’ll make it work!
In short:
We’re adding 3 new venues that are kind of legendary in Rotterdam – but also a bit further out. So, be prepared for longer walks, bike rides, or (semi-)public transport. We’ll be posting explanatory videos soon, so no real need to spend 6 hours of your life reading this entire post.
The way-too-long version:
If you were a concertgoer in Rotterdam in the early 2000s, chances are you regularly went to Waterfront.
It was a bunker-like venue under the big red bridge, just east of the city centre. Dark and gritty. But if you needed some fresh air, you could simply step outside, and from the quay you’d have one of the best views of Rotterdam by night. We saw so many great concerts there – it was just a really cool place for anyone into so-called alternative music.
But things don’t last forever, not in Rotterdam anyway, and in 2008 Waterfront closed it doors.
In 2010, another organisation took over, and they really messed things up. They essentially scammed the local government (the owners of the building) and vanished abroad. After that, the concert hall remained empty.
For years, we’ve been trying to get Waterfront back in use – without success. Club Haug – a very cool comedy club – opened next door which sparked some hope, but apparently, there’s a leak in the roof of the actual concert hall that is – for technical reasons we don’t really understand – practically unfixable. Logically, the local government can’t allow new tenants into a leaking building, and so that’s where the story seemed to end.
Or so we thought.
A while ago, we decided to give it another try. We asked if we could use Waterfront only as a temporarily festival venue. There is a shortage of suitable concert halls in Rotterdam, especially during the Left of the Dial weekend and we could really use the extra room. We figured that if we had two weeks to tidy up the place, and brought in a few buckets just in case it rained, we could revive some of Waterfront’s historical glory – even if just for three days.
And much to our surprise our plan got green lighted!
We were over the moon when we got the news – but, as usual, it came with a whole new set of problems. Lots of logistical issues that we won’t bore you with, but our biggest concern was the venue being quite a walk from our other locations.
On the other hand, Waterfront is located at the pickup-point of Bands on a Boat, so our regular ticketholders know where to find it. We reckoned, if we’d add two more venues close by and set up a bus service to the area, it might still work.
And that’s basically what we’ve been doing the past few weeks; creating a sort of new festival hub to show you more of our beautiful city and to accommodate more bands.
It took us long enough, but we found two just as legendary venues in the same area: The Cube (formerly known as Plan C - if you’ve studied in Rotterdam, you’ve gotten drunk there at least once) and the iconic Rotterdam Public Library (where we borrowed hundreds of books over the years). All near the cube houses and the market hall and, more in general, it’s just another amazing part of the city.
To cut a way too long story a little bit shorter: we’re really proud that Waterfront, The Cube/Plan C and Rotterdam Public Library will be part of Left of the Dial 2025, but we also feel it’s only fair to warn you:
The three venues are about a 20-minute walk from the ticket desk, and it’ll take another 25 minutes to get from Waterfront to the Perron/Roodkapje/Salsability/160K area. The bus service will be free for all ticketholders, but given Rotterdam’s traffic, sticking to a fixed schedule will be tricky. If not impossible.
We’ll do our best to make everything run as smooth as possible, but wearing comfortable shoes or bringing your own bike (or getting a rental) is strongly recommended.
Either way, it felt like too cool an opportunity to pass up – and with a bit of love and understanding from your side, we’ll make it work!