Tivoli is a popular

music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

and

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Tivoli is run by a non-profit organisation. The original organisation dates back to 1823 and functioned as a relaxing place outside the city's Stadsbuitengracht. In May 2014 Tivoli "Oudegracht" closed its doors. A large new venue, named

TivoliVredenburg The TivoliVredenburg is a contemporary music complex located in Utrecht, Netherlands. The venue consists of five halls designed acoustically for a specific music genre. Along with its hall, the venue also features an "amateur stage" and a cafe. ...

, came to existence when Tivoli and the former

Muziekcentrum Vredenburg Muziekcentrum Vredenburg was a music venue in Utrecht, Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the ...

merged as part of the fusion between the two, with

having 5 event halls with a capacity of 5500 people. Tivoli "De Helling", formerly known as "De Vloer" before they went bankrupt in 2003 and after Tivoli decided to reopen and rebrand the venue, remained to continue as an independent music venue. The "De Helling" location has a capacity of 425 people, and the "Oudegracht" location had a capacity of approximately 1000 people. Formerly one of the Netherlands' major venues (together with Paradiso, Paard van Troje,

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

and

Melkweg Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way") is a music venue and cultural center on Lijnbaansgracht, near Leidseplein in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is housed in a former dairy and includes four music halls as well as a cinema, a restaurant and an exhibitio ...

), Tivoli "Oudegracht" was located in the historic premises in Utrecht's city centre, and featured more than 300 productions annually and attracted between 250 000 and 300 000 visitors annually. Apart from pop concerts, there were dance evenings every Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Tivoli Oudegracht was the main concert venue for the Summer Darkness festival for many years.

History

In 1979 a group of squatters named "Komitee Tivoli Tijdelijk", translated "Committee Tivoli Temporary", decided to squat and occupy the former concertbuilding Tivoli aan het Lepelenburg. This building would eventually end up being demolished and musical activities would be relocated to

. The

punk movement The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of Punk rock, music, Punk ideologies, ideologies, Punk fashion, fashion, and other forms of expression, Punk visual art, visual art, dance, Punk literature, literature, and film. La ...

present at the time, was hoping the wooden building of Lepelenburg would serve its purpose as a temporary solution for housing the alternative popmusic scene in await for a more permanent place. However, that very building burned down that very same year. After Tivoli aan het Lepelenburg burned down, the "Committee Tivoli Temporary" decided to squat Oudegracht 245, also known as the "NV-house" since the former unions of

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

personnel used to settle there by the time it was 1981 (this would later redeem itself as their main location, Tivoli "Oudegracht"). The squat led to a violent confrontation with the " mobiele eenheid" (

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

of the

) which led to a small

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

outside the building. Eventually, the " mobiele eenheid" pulled back, and things were left to go as usual again. So, in the years that followed, many concerts took place. Eventually the city council of

saw an opportunity in rebuilding and subsidising Tivoli "Oudegracht". The line-ups evolved from predominantly locally and nationally known

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands to a much wider array of musicians generally more known to the public, including both national and international

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

artists. "Tivoli Temporary", became just "Tivoli", and, developed themselves, under this new branding, towards a professional event venue.

Footage of the squat & violent confrontation of Tivoli "Oudegracht" (1981)

The Oudegracht location is a

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

since it still contains parts of a medieval monastery.

External links

TivoliVredenburg
{{Coord missing, Netherlands Culture of the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Utrecht (city)