No Lowlands, but cultural protest: ‘I had four festivals for September’

Actually, Rikki Borgelt (30, front woman of the indie pop band Rondé) and Kiki Boreel (25, model) would be at Lowlands this weekend. Instead, they will be at the Amsterdam RAI this Saturday afternoon. Boreel: “It feels like a festival site here because of the different stages and the dixies (toilets). I meet all kinds of people I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Along the length of the Amsterdam RAI, about ten stages have been set up on large cars, each with its own music style and associated supporters. The heavy bass of the hardstyle stage drowns out the bubbling beats of the Vunzige Deuntjes stage. A boy pours a bottle of wine into a small water bottle, his friends open cans of beer. Young people are flying around each other’s necks. The cars with the stages will soon drive a round through the center of Amsterdam in three hours. Dozens of DJs will perform and there will be speeches by people from the cultural sector, including radio DJ Michiel Veenstra, publicist Linda Duits and author Kluun.

‘Stop the arbitrariness’

On Saturday, protest marches under the name ‘Unmute Us’ took place in six cities. The music sector made itself heard in Groningen, Nijmegen, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The message: stop the arbitrariness. Why does the government allow thousands of football fans in the stadiums and will there be 70,000 spectators present at Formula 1 in Zandvoort? With the Unmute Us protest, the event industry is demanding that events be allowed to take place again at full capacity from September 1, 2021.

The protest was set up in a few days. Yet, according to the Unmute Us website, more than 1,500 organizations from the event industry are associated with the march. “Everyone who does something in the event sector is now connected,” says Jasper Goossen, spokesperson for Unmute Us and founder of the Amsterdam festival organization Apenkooi. “We just want to be able to do our job. We have a passion that we haven’t been able to carry out for two years. Our sector is really being destroyed.” With the preparations for the protest, the organizational fire started to burn again at Goossen. “Over the past week, I ran into producers I hadn’t seen in a long time.” Is it some kind of big reunion? “Yes, it feels that way, but not a nice reunion.”

Also read: Saturday protest marches in five cities. ‘There is no longer any reason to ban festivals’

That was the drop

The Formula 1 in Zandvoort that will continue later, that was the last straw for Dennis Hobbelink (33), agile coach at Unilever. “That’s the reason I’m here today. Because of that decision, I really don’t understand anything about the government anymore.” Going out was always an outlet for Hobbelink. He was a regular guest at Amsterdam clubs such as the Marktkantine and festivals such as Zeezout and Milkshake. “I had four festivals for September.” His new outlet? “Because of corona I started doing more yoga and meditation, so completely the other way. But there is simply no replacement. I miss going out, meeting new people.”

“I’m here to support my friends from the music world,” says Chantal Medze (25) – bright pink hair, fishnet tights, tattoos on her hands – is an artist (“and I paint and try to do a little tattooing”). “And of course it’s a good party here, I think we’re all ready for that.” She believes that the government has a double standard. “Despite testing and vaccination, everything remains closed. I think it’s bullshit, I’m done with it.”

‘It’s my life’

Her friend, the German Sarah Rupp (26), is a social media manager for a record label and normally also organizes events. “It’s not just a job, it’s my life. Being together with like-minded people, feeling the music, thinking of nothing else.” She hopes that the government is finally listening to the sector. “We have had a lot of patience, but now so many alternative ways have been devised to allow events to continue.” Rupp is thrilled that so many people have come to the protest. “I feel very supported today. There are so many different kinds of people here, all for the same reason. That feeling of being together, that’s what we all miss so much.”

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