Groningen is one of the most progressive underground locations.

Last March was the Month of the Underground for 3voor12, the VPRO's multimedia platform for pop music. 3voor12 went in search of progressive venues for the underground scene and received hundreds of responses. No fewer than two Groningen venues feature in the top ten of the most important underground locations in the Netherlands.

The platform received more than 750 responses to the question of what the truly forward-looking, modern, and uncompromising places of 2016 are. Among the top 10 (unranked) that emerged from the votes are also Paradigm and The Gym mentioned from Groningen.

Paradigm
“Perhaps the most important underground venue for electronic music in the Netherlands: a club that manages to capture the feeling of underground raves but also presents a progressive lineup with an increasing number of international names.” Reports 3voor12.

The monthly ‘Loodsrave’, which originated after an illegal rave was cancelled, and the Paradigm Festival are referred to as: “The Paradigm Festival is a wondrous experience every year where anything goes, from techno to psytrance.” This appeals enormously to the audience, even from the Randstad; an Amsterdam visitor mentions that the parties at the unique location evoke a Berlin vibe, “with creative excesses, without being pretentious.”

Trailer Paradigm Festival 2016

The Gym
“It is a still-young underground venue, yet De Gym is already known as a place for artistic youth,” reports 3voor12 about De Gym, which officially reopened on April 1 at Oosterstraat 13a. The so-called underground gem is managed by former students of Academie Minerva, including members of the artist collective Owsum.

The building on Oosterstraat has a rich history. For instance, it was first home to the Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium, a risk cinema, a group of squatters, and the nightclub Pruim City. But nowadays, the ‘nighttime stage for contemporary culture’—as it calls itself on Facebook—thinks ahead and books everything from punk to hip-hop to noise and combinations thereof.

Gym-goer Harmen on the nighttime stage: “Super good atmosphere, nicely worn out, and a place where a scene is really forming.”

Impression of The Gym

The music video “Find a Way” by the band The Black Cult, which was filmed at De Gym, among other locations.

Main photo: Facebook Paradigm