Reviews

Dutch punk band Downtown District celebrates flight of Spanish army in 1574

By Herman de Tollenaere
Downtown District band

Leiden band Downtown District inspired pogoing at a local festival!

On 1st October 2024, there was a free concert in Leiden, the Netherlands, by the young local punks of Downtown District.

Why on 1 October? Who are Downtown District? Well, over 450 years ago, King Philip II of Spain ruled what became the Netherlands autocratically and harshly. City dwellers had to pay high taxes. The king’s inquisition burned Protestants at the stake. Dutch Roman Catholics disliked seeing this religious persecution.

Downtown District poster

Rebellion started in 1568, and in 1573, the Spanish army encircled the rebel city of Leiden. That year-long siege caused hardship, as no food entered Leiden anymore. People ate dogs and cats (that was true then, not a lie by a US billionaire politician). One-third of the citizens died.

On the morning of 3rd October 1574, Leiden people saw that flooding had driven the Spanish soldiers out of their entrenchments. The fleeing military had left cooking pots with potatoes, carrots and onions. (A meal called hotchpotch in English, and hutspot in Dutch). Also, the rebel fleet arrived, bringing herring and bread for the starving Leiden people.

Every 3rd October, still many Leiden people eat hutspot, herring or bread for the biggest festival of the Leiden calendar. Much of the inner city becomes a big fairground attracting throngs of tens of thousands of people. More bands play in more pubs than usual.

2024 marks 450 years since the end of the siege, so the celebrations this year were even bigger, including the three Leiden punk bands Helleveeg, Kleibeuker and Skir at the Resistor venue on 2nd October.

Part of this was the Downtown District concert on 1st October. They played in a tent erected for the festival by Rockcafé Lazarus just outside their building. At Lazarus, usually, metal bands play, but this time, a punk gig.

Downtown District was founded on 15th June 2017 by four boys from Leiden and the surrounding area. In 2018, their first self-titled album ‘Downtown District‘ came out.

They are: vocals/rhythm guitar Joel van der Horst, lead guitar Niels van den Berg, bass Bjorn Baltus and drums/backing vocals Stan Schrama. Downtown District’s second album, ‘Pressure‘, was released in 2023.

Downtown District by Morwenna Boulter
Downtown District - photo by Morwenna Boulter

They attracted an enthusiastic crowd, mainly of their own twenty-something age. Their mostly fast songs inspired pogoing, and sometimes skanking, as there was some ska influence in part of the songs.

Here is their setlist, thank you, band!

Downtown District set list

They played their own songs. Except for ‘Blitzkrieg Bop‘, of course by the Ramones.

Here is a video of their third song, their single ‘Shitfaced‘. Halfway through the song, the singer interjected “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” which would come back later, during the only cover played by the band.

‘Antisocial‘ on the setlist is not the Skrewdriver song of that name, but a Downtown District tune, with ‘Anti-Social Syndrome‘ as its full title. You can hear it on this video.

After the gig, the audience left satisfied, maybe to check other sides of the celebration of the flight of King Philip II’s soldiers.

On 26 October, Downtown District will be playing their next concert in Katwijk. They will play there with NØFX; who are not the United States band NOFX, but a Dutch tribute band with Ø instead of O.

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