Looking at the entries and comments I started digging in my own metal adventures over the years. I didn’t want it to be a nagging ‘venue closed because of… ‘-type of story, but since I first saw a metal band live a heck load of venues disappeared. I think of Troll Hoorn, first location of R17 Grootebroek (Pestilence in 1989, Cannibal Corpse in ‘92…), Simplon Groningen (there was a time when Bolt Thrower played there EVERY year), Blokhut Rotterdam, Nighttown Rotterdam, Kiehool Bergum (Manowar in a basketball field pitch sized venue, later Carcass), De Kade Zaandam, Drieluik Zaandam (Autopsy played there in ’91 but due to a broken down train we never passed Purmerend…
) and many others. I will try to find as much info as I can.
Metal venues:
Holland
The most important and famous/infamous venues in Holland are Scum Katwijk, Vera Groningen, Dynamo Eindhoven and Atak Enschede and to some extent, 013 in Tilburg and Effenaar in Eindhoven. Apart from Vera they’ve all been torn down and rebuilt over the years. These venues have helped Holland become metal friendly to a LOT of American and German bands, ranging from Whiplash to Morbid Angel, Assassin to Kreator and Bolt Thrower, Death, Slayer and more.
Dynamo Eindhoven, Catharinaplein 21 Eindhoven
http://www.dynamo-eindhoven.nl Venue has one of the best sound systems in the country; there’s some metal show at least once a month. Dynamo has several bars and the food is quite good, can hold up to 350 visitors, with foyer some 150 more. It’s only a six minute walk from Eindhoven Central train station.
Scum Katwijk, Noordduinseweg 3 Katwijk ZH
http://www.scumkatwijk.nl There used to be two metal shows a week halfway the eighties (Raven, Kreator, Slayer), but now there are some two metal shows a month. The bigger hall can hold some 300 visitors, it’s connected to a small hall for 100 visitors and has an excellent kitchen. The venue is located at the beach, in Summer there’s a BBQ a week (not all metal
)
Vera Groningen, Oosterstraat 44 Groningen
http://www.vera-groningen.nl This venue used to be the punk and indie capitol of Northern Netherlands, along with Bolwerk Sneek (see below). Nearly every day there’s a band there (performing or practicing), metal usually once a month. Big hall can hold 350 visitors, the basement less than 100. Food is awful, as if veggies need to overpower carnivoristic metalheads? Pfft. Carcass played a legendary show there in 1994 *cool*
Atak Enschede, Willem Wilminkplein 2 Enschede
http://www.atak.nl The old venue was literally a bricked-up haystack in the city center of Enschede, but the new venue has a very wide stage, big foyer and a great set of bars. All Grolsch. The venue sometimes cooperates with the Wilmink Theatre for the bigger bookings (Kreator, Cannibal Corpse) for some 750 visitors. Note: in the foyer they served ice cold glass swing tops of Grolsch, which many take into the venue. Glass cuts during the monthly to two-weekly metal shows are inevitable. I haven’t been to the basement hall yet.
Baroeg Rotterdam, Spinozaweg 300 Rotterdam
http://www.baroeg.nl Really, really THE underground metal bar/café/venue of the south of Holland. The perfect place for a bigger metal band to do an intimate show with real fanatic death metalheads. Foyer has a bar, the hall doesn’t. Some 350 people fit in and during Hail of Bullets, Dissection or Suffocation, doesn’t matter, these 350 are there and they freak out.
Effenaar Eindhoven, Dommelstraat 2 Eindhoven,
http://www.effenaar.nl ; home of Eindhoven Metal Meeting every December and loads of metal shows during the year. Big hall holds 2500 visitors, small one some 500.
013 Tilburg, Veemarktstraat 44 Tilburg,
http://www.013.nl one of the biggest pop- en metal venues of Holland, big hall for 3500 visitors and the smaller one for 800. Metal every month, state of the art sound system but awful food. Nowadays home to Netherlands Deathfest in March.
Bolwerk Sneek, Kerkgracht 8 Sneek
http://www.hetbolwerk.nl I don’t know much about this venue as I missed quite a lot of bands there... big hall for 450, small hall for 150 visitors, loads of folk(-metal) and ‘regular’ metal about once a month.
Iduna Drachten, Oliemolenstraat 16 Drachten
http://www.iduna.nu Big hall for some 250 visitors, small one some 150 (with annoying concrete poles in front of stage). Metal about once a month
Little Devil Tilburg, Stationsstraat 27 Tilburg
http://www.littledevil.nl The combination of beer and metal is imminent here. The bar is open nearly every day (‘till late
) and the unaesthetic stage for less than 150 has live metal once or twice a week. Really a cool bar, when an extreme death metal band plays on stage, there’s some ancient rock in the bar
or vice versa
and every month they have beer specials.
Paradiso Amsterdam, Weteringschans 6-8 Amsterdam
http://www.paradiso.nl One of the most prolific pop-, indie- and metal venues of the country. Somewhere in one of the five halls there’s a band playing every day, but metal is getting more and more scarce lately. Metallica opened their 1984 European tour there, Slayer played there last year, the big hall sold it’s 850 tickets in less than two minutes. Annoying membership fee (for a month *sigh* ), expensive wardrobe but reasonable price for beer: € 5 for a pint.
Melkweg Amsterdam, Lijnbaansgracht 234A Amsterdam,
http://www.melkweg.nl Big hall used to have metal every month, varying between Morbid Angel and Paganfests for some 700 headbangers, now there’s more nu stuff and pop music. Last time I went there Exodus played the small hall to pulp for 300 ecstatic thrashers.
The Cave Amsterdam, Prinsengracht 472 Amsterdam,
http://www.thecave.nl This is more a metal bar than a metal concert venue, but pretty cool bands played there for some 120 visitors. Near the Red Light District in Amsterdam, Hell’s Angels on the corner, corny.
Doornroosje Nijmegen and Merleyn Nijmegen,
http://www.doornroosje.nl two venues under one directive board and one website. Doornroosje is the big venue on Stationsplein 11 and Merleyn is the small one on Hertogstraat 13. Metal once a month, sometimes in Doornroosje, the other month in Merleyn. As they’ve been rebuilt lately I don’t know shit about these venues yet. Merleyn used to be a 200 person venue, associated with FortaRock Festival (pre-party).
Manifesto Hoorn, Holenweg 14C Hoorn,
http://www.manifesto-hoorn.nl Difficult what to expect what Manifesto will do metal-wise. The Metal Thursday was no success, but it brought live metal every last Thursday of the month in an intimate setting (tops 30 visitors, mostly local bands) and financiers aren’t really reliving the old days of Kataklysm, Skyclad and Napalm Death anymore. Cover bands and tributes to the big ones (Led Zep, The Doors, Iron Maiden, G’n’R, Metallica, Rammstein) are more frequently than, let’s say, Inhume and Rectal Smegma in two weeks. The venue has a brawl with the Heavy Metal Maniacs Fanclub (and so, the HMM Festival) for some time now, but they brought in the fullest venues lately, up to 400 visitors.
De Buze Steenwijk, Oostwijkstraat 108 Steenwijk
http://www.buze.nl The base of Stonehengefestival for over 25 years! As the old venue was about to collapse, there haven’t been much shows last two years. Nowadays the organizer of Stonehengefestival lets visitors in on what he calls coffee concerts on Sunday afternoons, for a taste of metal between the festivals (end of July normally) during the year. The new venue is brand new and therefore I don’t know if it’s any bigger than the old venue was, some 200-250 visitors watched mostly extreme metal throughout the years. Deicide, D.R.I., Immolation, Kutschurft, name them.
Patronaat Haarlem, Zijlsingel 2 Haarlem
http://www.patronaat.nl Venue used to have metal at least once every two months, but lately there’s more pop going on there. Big hall can hold 700 visitors, wide stage and reachable bars, but the small hall the bar is situated below the stairs and is crammy. I was one of 200 that saw Vader battling God Dethroned and Severe Torture there, sound was awesome! Shitty places to park all over the city. Easy to get lost, as in the old center all streets look alike… But cool bands played here, Amon Amarth, Death Angel, Bolt Thrower, Exodus, Destruction, Vader [so I've seen Vader in the big AND in the small hall
]
Willemeen Arnhem, Willemsplein 1 Arnhem,
http://www.willemeen.nl The home of the Geldersch Metal Treffen with the obnoxious habit to try to deafen everybody inside… be it 250 people in the big hall or some 100 in the basement. But seeing Asphyx, Kataklysm and Fleshcrawl there made up for the volume greatly. Jupiler in plastic, Hertog Jan and Palm on bottle, glass everywhere…
De Flux Zaandam, Zuiderkerkstraat 2 Zaandam,
http://www.podiumdeflux.nl What’s left of the small hall of Poppodium De Kade is now the only stage that will allow metal in Zaandam, can hold some 150 visitors for monthly metal.
Hedon Zwolle, Burgemeester Drijbersingel (no house number) Zwolle,
http://www.hedon-zwolle.nl totally rebuilt and re-amped venue with some 850 visitors; metal once a month, sometimes small local stuff in the bar (for max. 100 people).
Lucky Rijssen, Morsweg 8E Rijssen,
http://www.lucky.nl Can it really hold 1200 visitors? Oh yeah, it’s multi-floored. I’ve been there only once and during One Man Army & The Undead Quartet the rigid East Netherlands people nearly pissed off Johan Lindstrand and me. The same night even Henri Sattler got angry for lack of feedback to his band/music. I can be mistaken, I can be misled because of the present Bible Belt there, but during Elsrock festivals in the same village the crowd went nuts.
Gigant Apeldoorn, Nieuwstraat 377 Apeldoorn
http://www.gigant.nl/podium/ This venue, up to 350 people, shares the building with a cinema. Don’t look scared if ordinary movie people and metalheads mix once a month at the bar. Homebar of The Lucifer Principle *snigger*
Stairway to Heaven, Mariaplaats 11-12 Utrecht,
http://www.stairway.nl The club and restaurant, owned by former metal DJ Henk Westbroek (of
https://youtu.be/ElYwUY60UYw fame; he wrote the original version
) has release parties for instance for the new Iron Maiden-, AC/DC-, Metallica- and Rammstein-albums because Henk still loves some metal even though he was in Dutch (-singing) pop band Het Goede Doel.
Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht, Tivoli Oudegracht, Tivoli De Helling. Pot pourri of venues all over Utrecht, Vredenburg the biggest (six or seven halls, 1200 visitors, once metal in three months; Epica, Behemoth
http://www.tivolivredenburg.nl center Utrecht Vredenburgkade 11 Utrecht), De Helling the smallest (Helling 7 Utrecht, on the outskirts of the city,
http://www.dehelling.nl had Suffocation and Nervecell). I don’t know/can’t find if Oudegracht is still in business)
dB’s Utrecht, CAB Rondom 8 Utrecht
http://www.dbstudio.nl is a 17-fold practice bin for all kinds of bands, but metal bands play there nearly every Sunday. The venue has a huge bar/foyer but there’s no beer in the hall, for 200 visitors. You have to keep walking if you’re an alcoholic metalhead :/ In Summer metal matinées are combined with BBQ. You have to use the link to really find the route to his venue, but it’s worth it.
Mezz Breda, Keizerstraat 101 Breda,
http://www.mezz.nl venue for 650 visitors. One of my metal buddies is the metal programmer for this venue, Macabre played there once, but I have no more info yet.
Neushoorn Leeuwarden, Ruiterskwartier 41 Leeuwarden,
http://www.neushoorn.nl Quite new venue, opened after the demise of Poppodium Romein, which held a shitload of metal over the years. Neushoorn has multiple halls, quite varying in size, metal at least once a month. Sometimes cooperating with the theater Schaaf nearby, for the bigger metal events like Kreator + Morbid Angel.
P60 Amstelveen, Winkelcentrum Stadshart Amstelveen, Stadsplein 100a amstelveen,
http://www.p60.nl bar, restaurant and concert venue; metal every month at least. Venue had Six Feet Under and loads of female-fronted metal bands, along with Marduk and Legion of the Damned. Filled with some 350 persons.
Het Paard Den Haag, Prinsegracht 12 Den Haag,
http://www.paard.nl held Overkill once, but the programming went to much more mainstream lately. Venue can have some 300 visitors.
The region Gooi in the Netherlands used to have a huge extreme metal community, but I have no idea what’s left of De Peppel in Zeist, Cameleon Bussum, Gooisch Podium Hilversum and one venue in Soest.
Victorie Alkmaar, Breedstraat 33 Alkmaar,
http://www.podiumvictorie.nl No use to give much information, as there are plans to move this venue to the outskirts of the city, to avoid more noise complaints
I’ve seen Gorefest, Obituary and The Gathering there, all and all for 250 visitors.
Metropool Hengelo, Industrieplein 10 Hengelo,
http://www.metropool.nl As it’s an over 200 km drive I don’t frequent this, but Macabre was pretty cool there. Can hold maybe 300 visitors.
Now some metal venues I only visited once, so I don’t really know if and how often metal plays live there or it’s just a metal bar:
Scandinavia
The Garage Bergen Christiesgate 14 Bergen Norway
https://www.facebook.com/garagebergen/ really, really cool metal bar with metal basement for some 200 raging Exodus or Dismember fans. The bar above ground has a prominent place in Norwegian (not only black) metal community. If you order coffee you get a stone mug of which you’re expected to bring home, to spread the word. On the mug there are quotes printed of rock- and metal musicians that entered the dressing rooms of the venue.
Restaurant 2112 Göteborg, owned by In Flames members, Magasinsgatan 5 Göteborg Sweden
http://www.restaurant2112.com It was closed twice when we walked by, but the metal related burgers seem to be awesome.
Germany
Heavy Duty Dresden, Louisenstrasse 28 Dresden
http://www.heavyduty-dresden.de/HeavyDu ... /start.htm (site completely in German). Nearly every metal band that ever played in Dresden hangs in this metal bar, on tour poster, signed card, picture, painting or whatever. The bar has a basement for some 150 visitors. +100 beers on bottle, seven days a week metal through the speakers. A museum of metal.
Turock Essen, Viehofer Platz 3 Essen,
http://www.turock.de combined with rock café/restaurant Nord, Viehofer Platz 1 Essen has a Metal Friday every week. Kreator members often sit here, as it’s only a couple of minutes walk to Altenessen, Mille and Ventor’s home town. The concert venue holds some 350 visitors, many special gigs happen here.
Stadthalle Lichtenfels,
http://www.lichtenfels-city.de/index.php?id=0,13 the infamous Way of Darkness festival was held there, there were plenty of metal shows there but I have no idea if that’s still the case.
Treffpunkt 13drei Emsdetten, Grevener Damm 133 Emsdetten
http://www.13drei.de holds the The Storm is Coming festival, but it’s no more than a municipal youth hall in a small town. Fleshcrawl killed them
Hypothalamus.de Rheine, Auf dem Thie 13 Rheine
http://www.hypothalamus.de usually a discotheque, but when the Death Metal Birthday happens, it’s a mayhem inside and out. Venue for 150 visitors.
Live Club Bamberg, Bahnhofplatz 2 Bamberg,
http://www.posthalle.de home of the Torture Editions of the Hell Inside festival. Cool venue to hang around, once in a while a metal tour or festival stops in Bamberg, but they run out of beer way too early in the night…
Schlachthof Aurich, Breiterweg 24 Aurich,
http://okja-aurich.de/jugendzentrum_schlachthof/ Youth centre and antifa stronghold for some 200 visitors. Has a Schlachtfest every six months, only devoted to oldschool death metal.
Exzellenzhaus Trier, Zurmaienerstrasse 114 Trier,
http://exhaus.de/kategorisch/exzellenzhaus/ metal in two venues that used to be an orphanage or monastery. Metal every month, more Death Shall Rise festivals in the future. Loads of OSDM.
Munich and Berlin have so many venues it’s hard to pick out the metal venues. If you look at a pile of European tour shirts there’s nearly always a different venue in both cities.
Belgium
Rockcafé Sodom, Jaminestraat 18 Tongeren,
https://nl-nl.facebook.com/pages/Rockca ... 5673432120 cool rock café with huge Ozzy-, King Diamond-, Alice Cooper- and Angus-paintings on the walls and sometimes a band.
Biebob Vosselaar already mentioned in this thread. Only time I got there can be seen on the Novella Reservoir DVD by November’s Doom
UK
The Bull and Gate Bar / HMV Forums. The Bull and Gate bar was the gathering point for Boltfest, HMV forums the concert venue.
Electric Ballroom Bloodbath. Ancient bands played there for 3 quid, if you believe the posters
USA
I agree on what’s said on The Ottobar in Baltimore MD, pity the old Sonar shut down. I never felt welcome in the Ram’s Head, but the Soundstage held me well.
Revolution Fort Lauderdale FL (Amon Amarth 2014)
The Wonderland Bar Richmond VA pretty cool horror-themed bar, they play all kinds of metal, one album at the time
No idea if bands play there, members of Lamb of God and Municipal Waste frequent the bar