Melkweg

The Melkweg on Lijnbaansgracht just off Leidseplein is a multimedia centre founded in 1970, with concert halls, theatre, cinema and gallery housed in a former dairy - hence the name Milky Way. It grew out of Amsterdam's counterculture scene around the Provo movement and the Paradiso as an alternative venue for music, dance and the era's new hybrid forms. For decades it has counted as the most important Dutch live club for punk, reggae, hip-hop and electronic music, and it is still one of the few member clubs in the city where internally regulated cannabis sales operated openly. Today concerts spread across two halls with 700 and 1,500 capacities, with film series and visual-arts exhibitions running alongside. A night here typically combines a gig with the surrounding Leidseplein nightlife, and it quickly becomes obvious why Melkweg is many Amsterdammers' single most important stage.