Simplon

Simplon is a music venue on Boterdiep in Groningen, housed in an early-20th-century factory building once used to make raincoats and canning goods. Hippies and artists occupied it in the early 1970s, holding concerts and sessions there; it became a youth centre in 1977. In the early 1980s, the venue became a punk stage and hosted the Boegies. Its basement concert room shut in 1993 over a lack of funding for soundproofing, then reopened four years later.

A renovation begun in 2000 led to Simplon reopening in early 2002, with a 400-capacity main hall, a smaller room for up to 200 and a café. The venue has a large hall and an upper hall, and its programme spans electronic music, hip-hop, pop, metal, punk, folk and jazz. It took the name Poppodium Simplon in 2006, with dance and hip-hop among its regular strands. Iris Luimstra and Transparent Audio have run events there; artists on the programme include Thys, skantia, GEST (UK) and Skeptical. After Simplon filed for bankruptcy in November 2013, Vera took over in February 2014, with the transfer of its subsidy preserving the venue’s activities.