Few places in the city carry such a fraught history as The Warehouse on Elementenstraat. Between April 1992 and May 1993, the Multigroove crew organized 61 illegal raves here in an abandoned peanut factory. No permit, no fuss. Just loud music in a bare building, and that's where the Dutch gabber sound was born. On May 15, 1993, the police raided the place and it was over. The building remained closed for almost twenty years after that.
The people behind that first period are now legendary. Ilja Reiman, co-founder of the Multigroove crew, built the concept from nothing. On the turntables were names like The Prophet, Buzz Fuzz, Gizmo, Dano and Flamman & Abraxas. Those names mean little if you didn't grow up in gabber, but in that world they were pioneers. It was raw, it was loud, and it was exactly what it needed to be.
In 2014 kocht de bekende festivalorganisator het gebouw op en trok er letterlijk alles uit. De voormalige pindafabriek werd gestript en omgebouwd tot een modulaire betonnen doolhof met meerdere zalen, verbeterde akoestiek en een serieus geluidssysteem. De capaciteit verdrievoudigde ten opzichte van de originele raveperiode: The Warehouse past nu 3.000 mensen. Elke ruimte is configureerbaar, van kleine clubavond tot indoor festival. ID&T verhuurt het pand niet zomaar aan wie het maar wilde huren. Het bleef een thuis voor underground elektronische muziek, in de buurt rondom het Isolatorweg-metrostation, midden in industrieel west.
The building doesn't look like much from the outside. But it did in 1992, and then it changed Dutch dance music forever.
At the bars you pay by card only, re-entry is not involved, and lockers are available on site. Practical details, but handy to know before you leave. The Warehouse can be reached via Isolatorweg subway station, a few minutes' walk away. The building doesn't look like much from the outside. But it did in 1992, and back then it changed Dutch dance music forever. Few places can say that.