(not in general of course, only when it comes to
the Left of the Dial Wednesday)
At the Left of the
Dial office, things usually go like this: we come up with something small that
would be fun to add to the festival. We all agree that this small thing is
manageable, both logistically and financially, and get to work. Then, a few
weeks later, somehow this small thing has turned into something much bigger,
and we're all working three times as hard to make it happen.
That's basically how the Extra Extras came about, and it's also why we ended up publishing a 300-page magazine.
More or less the same thing happened while planning the Left of the Dial Wednesday.
A while ago, we explained at length why we added the Wednesday to the festival, but in short: we just wanted to showcase some of the amazing artists we have in Rotterdam. For free, so they would be guaranteed a substantial crowd. We figured we'd put two bands in Rotown and two next door at Bar3, and that would be it.
The free tickets were going fast, so we decided to add another venue to create some extra capacity. At the same time, we were trying to select the Rotterdam artists we wanted to invite, and that turned out to be the biggest challenge. There are so many Rotterdam-based artists who absolutely deserve your attention that picking only six bands was extremely difficult.
So we did the one thing we promised ourselves we wouldn't do: we expanded the Wednesday once again. We swapped Bar3 for a bigger room and added another venue. And while we were at it, we also decided to have three acts at each venue.
This means:
The Left of the Dial Wednesday will now take place in Rotown, Uniek, Stalles (fka Centraal) and the glorious Arminius. On Friday, we'll announce the lineup, consisting of 12 artists. Still nowhere near enough to properly represent the Rotterdam music scene, but we have to start somewhere.
If you're still looking for tickets for the Wednesday, here's the important bit:
The Left of the Dial Wednesday was sold out, but now that we have four venues, another 100 tickets will become available after next week.
The tickets are still free, but there are two requirements:
-
You need to
have a Left of the Dial 2026 ticket
-
You need to
sign up for the waitlist, which you can find on our website
In next week's newsletter, we'll explain all further details, so please keep an eye on your inbox. And your spam folder, where our newsletters tend to end up sometimes.
And before our DMs explode with even more talented bands from Rotterdam: sorry, the Wednesday lineup is complete. Maybe you'll get another shot next year, but that really depends on the success of this year's Wednesday.
Because after all, it's still just an experiment. And if the 21st of October turns out to be the worst Wednesday night in the history of festivals worldwide, we'll probably do something entirely different next year.
That's a bridge to cross later. For now, let's just celebrate Rotterdam.
All hail to the Butt Plug Gnome!
Big love,
The
vegan kapsalon-eaters of Left of the Dial
