Amsterdam’s nightlife landscape is a patchwork of DIY venues, Queer bars, community-driven collectives and forward-thinking radio stations. Few people understand its grassroots heartbeat better than baby ganoush. Adopted into the city by way of Sweden, the DJ, art director, designer, Echobox Radio host and curator behind b3tter.irl has become deeply woven into Amsterdam’s nightlife and creative networks. From playing major clubs to nurturing emerging micro-scenes, she’s built bridges across communities of every kind.
This is baby ganoush’s definitive guide to the venues, collectives, DJs and radio platforms shaping Amsterdam nightlife today.
The best venues
Garage Noord
baby ganoush: “Garage Noord has been a bar, club and restaurant since 2017, functioning from an old car repair shop. While I wasn’t a big part of its earliest days it’s a place that kind of saved my life coming out of lockdown. It really became a home for me. Especially with its heavy and dedicated focus on safer spaces, diversity, equity and inclusion. Garage Noord beautifully platforms new talent no matter their experience. To me this place is less about getting lost and more about being present. Especially with the music and the wide range of it. Going there has felt reassuring, while also opening my eyes to so many new genres.
The countless hours spent in their front left corners of the upstairs room BAR40 and downstairs Garage. Absorbing literally anything from Afro-diasporic music, to minimal or percussive, to Dub. Then to Dubstep, Dancehall, Reggaeton, Bass, Baile Funk, Jungle, Grime, Trap and Leftfield. It really made me connect back to myself and my roots. Finding grounding in the in-between.
Each year, Garage Noord collaborates with Ugandan Collective Nyege Nyege and throws Garage Fest. This is a festival using the whole space with a one-of-a-kind atmosphere, including the most treasured talent. This year they even had a brass band that moved the party from outside to inside with their amazing performance.
Rooted as a community-driven and DIY space that continuously evolves, Garage Noord has now moved on from its very familiar Roti restaurant, where they used to throw Caribbean BBQs on the terrace, to a contemporary Sichuan place where you can enjoy a warm environment, great food and really lit cocktails before going to the club.
Garage Noord believed in me, before I even believed in myself. As a DJ and curator, not just a listener. Their continuous support really pushed me to reach for my full potential. As a kind of odd diaspora kid it meant a lot to me to feel seen and represented by the experimental and genre-bending artists who performed there. People like Lazergazer, Noisediva YoungWoman, Zobayda and Zohar.
In 2022, they opened their sibling project kanaal40, a venue and digital music platform focused on Micropop culture. It aims to reclaim the centre of Amsterdam for the locals. With an extra focus on the youth and underrepresented communities. However, it’s now closed for renovation, but the mysterious question remains: will it open again? No one knows, but you can still experience lots of emerging microcultures through Garage’s Thursday offerings.”
Club Raum
“Spielraum is a Queer event series I’ve watched grow throughout the years and has finally established its own venue, Club Raum. They’ve done a really impressive job shaping this huge and beautiful space with three dancefloors, which brings a lot of new potential for the music scene here.”
Bar Bario and Pamela
“These are two loved and crucial Queer bars. Bar Bario is a bar, creative space and safe space for BIPOC, Trans and Queer communities. They host everything from exhibitions to themed events to panel discussions. Really cultivating a creative and nourishing environment for people from all walks of life. Meanwhile, Pamela is now facing difficulties and has a fundraiser up. They need our support to stay alive, so go donate.”
Murmur
Murmur (another homebase) is a cultural space, resto bar and live music space with a custom sound system by Kantarion Sound, who also designed a sick sound system for the venue LAAK in Den Haag. You can catch a listening session, dine Lebanese food and get ready for the night with some amazing music, great wine and warm vibes. It’s also a great alternative to a full on club night.
murmur is one of the spaces that gave me the confidence to run my own initiative b:3tter irl. A softer alternative to partying. A place to ground yourself from the overwhelming world. Where time slows down and you can reflect and connect intimately both with yourself and with others.”
OT301
OT301 is an underground cultural space offering a wide range of club nights and concerts, often focused on more alternative and experimental sounds. From its early days as a squatter’s paradise to now, it has housed everything from kids drama classes to aerial gymnastics. They often host Subbacultcha events and have also collaborated with bigger initiatives like Sonic Acts. Right at the front door there’s a cultural kitchen called Café Gilde, that offers a full vegan menu and a range of its own events.
Up and coming DJs, curators and collectives
Los Angles
“Focused on showcasing and nurturing emerging Trans talent via live music acts, performance and visual art, Los Angles throws some of the best nights with the warmest crowd at places like Garage Noord, Kanaal40 and TILLATEC.”
KRUISPUNT
“KRUISPUNT is an underground collective bridging gaps by bringing more representation and mixed genres into the Punk scene. They often collaborate with the punk collective Pacific Ondergronds to curate alternative club nights stacked with live music.
Chinnamasta
“Chinnamasta is a purposeful and considerate curator who’s been involved in the nightlife scene for a long time throwing events like Roots and Riddims, focused on the pulse of the trans-Atlantic diaspora. She’s also involved with metro54, a space for artistic and contemporary culture with a focus on grassroot community work and transformative justice.
Eastern Playgrounds
“Eastern Playgrounds is an Asian and Queer-centred playground celebrating ESEA diasporic culture with lots of board games and karaoke!”
April222
“DJ, music producer, vocalist and curator april222 is part of bbbwithluv and the founder of ìpọ̀sìn’s peace, a Queer BIPOC collective centring Black marginalised genders.”
Some other initiatives to discover: corecore, Traumgarten, Fuuture jazz, dusty cabinets, glimpse, Perreo31, Flora y Fauna, Pyxls, Subbacultcha, Klub Krai, The Planet, platform1, sanaa’s kitchen, zeedyke, no clubs and smokeshow.
Essential radio shows and stations
Diaspora Radio
“Hosted on Echobox FM by Hani, Diaspora Radio explores the Arabic diaspora from West Asia and North Africa, scattered over time and space, connected through music.”
HOTHEAD Radio
“An independent bookstore, publisher and creative space that also programmes radio, HOTHEAD is a place where images, text and sound collide. They powered live radio with the likes of Pound And Yam and hosted live performances by Lauren Duffus, Shauwdii and many more.”
As well as stations like Echobox, Future Intel, Operator, Radio TNP and stranded fm.
