Dutch venue 013 Poppodium has opened the doors of a low-stimulation space called Pause for concertgoers who need a moment of rest during an event.

The design, which features a dark space with dimmed light, muted sound and various seating areas, was based on input from volunteers at the Tilburg venue.

A project group was formed following a suggestion from HR advisor Lotte Wijnen and assistant marketing and show promoter Renske Jacobs, who sought out their office during busy shows as a place to de-stimulate, and wanted to offer a similar opportunity to attendees. Guidance was also sought from Poppodium Bibelot in Dordrecht, which has a similar space.

The space has already been tested during several shows this year and assessed by visitors and external parties Toegankelijk Tilburg and Stichting Accessibility.

We were approached by 013 Poppodium to see if we wanted to test the low-stimulus space

“We were approached by 013 Poppodium to see if we wanted to test the low-stimulus space,” says Accessible Tilburg project leader Gerdy Zijlmans. “Our organisation has approximately 50 experienced experts affiliated with it, some of whom may also suffer from excessive stimuli due to their disability.

“The test was on a Saturday evening during a concert and we also tested the space later for physical accessibility. We also looked at whether people who, for example, visit in a wheelchair or are blind or partially sighted, can also make good use of the space.

“We enjoy working with this great organisation and have also been used to them for years to think along with us as much as possible in the field of accessibility. It is great that they have now found us again.”

Upcoming acts set to perform at the 3,000-cap venue include Foster the People, Madness, Empire of the Sun, A Day to Remember, Viagra Boys, Lorna Shore and Eagles of Death Metal. It will also host the inaugural edition of hip-hop festival Headlines this Saturday 10 May with promoter Friendly Fire.

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Dutch promoter Friendly Fire is joining forces with 013 Poppodium to launch a “bold and fresh” indoor hip-hop festival.

The 2,000-cap Headlines, which will debut at the Tilburg venue on Saturday 10 May, will celebrate the “alternative, left-field side of hip-hop”.

Friendly Fire is behind established festivals such as Best Kept Secret, while 013 Poppodium has organised gatherings including Roadburn and Woo Hah! and attracts 350,000 visitors annually to more than 375 shows.

According to Friendly Fire’s Rens Peters and Elvin Usidame, the idea for Headlines arose from the lack of alternatives in the market.

“There are very few festivals in the Netherlands that provide a stage for these artists, even though we see a high demand for it,” explains Peters.

“A festival like this has been missing, not just from our roster, but from the Dutch scene as a whole”

“With Headlines, we not only want to highlight this part of the genre but also bring curious hip-hop fans together and introduce them to new sounds,” adds Usidame.

Ticket costs €43.80, with lineup details to be announced soon. FKP Scorpio-backed Friendly Fire celebrated its 15th anniversary last year.

“Tilburg is the ultimate hip-hop city in the Netherlands, and 013 has been repping the culture for 25 years strong,” says Daan Holthuis, Headlines co-founder and head of programming at 013 Poppodium. “A festival like this has been missing, not just from our roster, but from the Dutch scene as a whole. With Headlines, we’re stepping back into the spotlight. This is the must attend event for all hip-hop lovers.”

The news offers a timely boost to the Netherlands’ festival sector after it was revealed that more than 100 festivals disappeared from the market in 2024 due to being either cancelled or discontinued. Forty-six new events cropped up during the same period.

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Greenhouse Talent has revealed plans to expand the annual Spoorpark LIVE from a festival weekend into a week-long event at the end of June 2025.

The 12,500-capacity Dutch festival was launched in Tilburg’s Spoorpark in June 2022 with a primary focus on domestic acts. After the second edition in 2023, the event was acquired by Greenhouse Talent – the biggest independent promoter in Benelux.

The firm now works on Spoorpark LIVE with another leading independent This Is Live Group, whose portfolio includes Paaspop, Extrema, Solar Weekend, WiSH Outdoor, SMÈRRIG, and Elektrum.

Following the acquisition, Greenhouse introduced the first-ever international headliners to the festival in 2023: English reggae and pop legends UB40. This year, Massive Attack and Young Fathers brought the international flavour.

“It was always our intention to expand the festival into a multi-date event,” Greenhouse Talent chief operating officer Wouter de Wilde tells IQ. “We wanted to turn the weekend festival into a series of events during one week and we are streamlining our site management and production to do this.

“It was always our intention to expand the festival into a multi-date event”

“The ability to do a multi-day event in the heart of a Dutch city is very unique, as we don’t see many events like this in city centres. This also gives us the opportunity to do weekdays which is helpful for tour routings. The end of June is a very busy touring period, so we are delighted that we can do this event in this timeframe.”

Canadian singer-songwriter and musician Bryan Adams is the first confirmed artist for Spoorpark LIVE 2025, with more to be announced in January.

“Bryan Adams is a very strong artist with an even stronger fanbase in our territory,” continues Wilde. “He has a proven record of great live shows which keep his fans coming for more.”

The news rounds off a successful year for Greenhouse Talent, with highlights including headline shows with Taylor Swift at Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam and two Rammstein shows.

“I think it’s actually one of the biggest years we have had,” says Wilde, whose slate has also included the summer Zuiderpark Live show series in The Hague and the returning C2C: Country to Country festival in Rotterdam in March, with arena shows for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Bryan Adams coming up.

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The team behind Dutch venue 013 is working to identify a new, permanent outdoor location to host concerts and festivals in the Netherlands.

The plan, which has the support of the local authority, involves finding a site near the city of Tilburg with a capacity of 30,000 to 35,000, which would be operated and programmed by 013.

013 first approached the municipality with three large-scale, permanent outdoor concepts: a plug and play concert venue, a festival site for large events and an open-air concert site for A-list artists, but have since consolidated their plans into one idea.

“There is a need for open-air locations,” says 013 director Frens Frijns, as per VNPF. “You should think of artists who also perform concerts in [Amsterdam’s] Ziggo Dome. We receive these signals at 013 and it is our wish and our dream to bring those great artists here.”

According to Frijns, establishing a permanent plug and play venue is more sustainable than building a festival site that then has to be dismantled.

“There is no dot on the horizon. There is a dream on the horizon.’

“Consider the emissions from trucks when delivering and removing items, but also practical advantages such as the fact that the power cables are already there,” he says. “[Promoter] MOJO has calculated that 47% of C02 emissions at festivals come from production.”

Frijns, who stresses that further research is required before a specific site is able to be earmarked, has enlisted Rotterdam-based design agency West8 to assist with the project.

“The idea of ​​this open air venue is that it is recorded in a specially developed landscape park where performances can be performed in various places and which is designed in such a way that noise pollution is limited,” he adds.

“I jokingly dropped the date of 2 May 2030, but that is purely fictional. The renovation of 013 in 2015 was completed in eight months, so if the municipality is behind it, it can happen quickly. But there is no dot on the horizon. There is a dream on the horizon.”

Opened in 1998, Tilburg’s 013 is home to a 3,000-cap concert hall and a 700-cap smaller stage.

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