Paradiso (Amsterdam)

Paradiso
Paradiso
Location in Amsterdam
General information
Address	Weteringschans 6-8
Opened	30 March 1968
Other information
Seating capacity	1,500 (main hall) 250 (upper floor stage)
Website
www.paradiso.nl

Paradiso is a music venue and cultural center located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije Gemeente" (Free Congregation). It is located on de Weteringschans, near the Leidseplein, one of the nightlife and tourism centers of the city. The main concert hall in the former church interior has high ceilings and two balcony rings overlooking the stage area, with three large illuminated church windows above the stage. The acoustics are rather echoey, but improvements have been made over the years. In addition to the main concert hall, there are two smaller cafe stages, on an upper floor and in the basement.

Paradiso was squatted by hippies in 1967 who wanted to convert the church to an entertainment and leisure club. The police ended the festivities the same year. In 1968 the city opened Paradiso as a publicly subsidized youth entertainment center. Along with the nearby Melkweg (Milky Way), it soon became synonymous with the hippie counterculture and the rock music of that era. It was one of the first locations in which the use and sale of soft drugs was tolerated. From the mid-1970s, Paradiso became increasingly associated with punk and new wave music, although it continued to program a wide variety of artists. Starting in the late 1980s, raves and themed dance parties became frequent.

In recent years, the venue has settled into an eclectic range of programming, which, besides rock, can include lectures, plays, classical music, and crossover artists. Long associated with clouds of tobacco and hashish smoke, Paradiso banned smoking in its public areas (except for a small smoking room) in 2008 in accordance with a nationwide ban on smoking in public venues.

Artists who have recorded or filmed concerts at the Paradiso include Adele, The Rolling Stones, Joy Division, Johnny Thunders, Chic, Joe Jackson, Chris Isaak, Kaizers Orchestra, Duran Duran, Willie Nelson, Dexter Gordon, Phish, Arcade Fire, Nightwish, Bad Brains, Kayak, Loudness, Nirvana, John Cale, The Cure, Soft Machine, Emilíana Torrini, Jalebee Cartel, Link Wray, Lenny Kravitz, Omar & the Howlers, The Only Ones, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Electrosexual, Beth Hart, Dayna Kurtz, Dave Matthews, Smoosh, Suzanne Vega, Amy Winehouse, Milow, Fiction Plane, Epica, Editors, Motorpsycho, Pain of Salvation, Deftones, Riverside, Lamb, Live, NITS, Jamiroquai, Live and The Roots.