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Den Bosch Diary: Day One

SDE in the Netherlands at the world’s biggest Record Fair

By Paul Sinclair

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59

I’m in Den Bosch – or ‘s-Hertogenbosch to give it its full name – in the Netherlands for Record Planet’s 58th Mega Record & CD Fair – The world’s biggest record fair!

Around 55 miles south of Amsterdam, Den Bosch is an old medieval town, with the city walls and fortifications built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The city is the capital of the Dutch province of North Brabant and two rivers flow through it, the Dommel and Binnendieze.

For the next two days it’s ‘Vinyl Weekend: Vinyl Ville‘ in Den Bosch, as music lovers from around Europe and beyond arrive to see what rarities they can pick up in a space that is equivalent in size to two football pitches. As well as an enormous array of dealers and stalls, there’s a program of DJ sets and live performances, with writer and music consultant Daryl Easlea (he worked on the ABC and Mike Oldfield reissues last year) on site to compere!

Of course, you have to get here first, but living in London makes it very easy for me, what with the Eurostar going straight from St Pancras International to Amsterdam Centraal. Going by train also has the advantage of less stringent baggage restrictions, when compared to flying, which could end up being quite important, depending on how many records I end up buying!

I took the 08.16 direct train yesterday and treated myself to a ‘Standard Premier’ seat, which is like posh second class. You get table service (handy when you are travelling alone with laptops etc.) for drinks and snacks, a bit more space and a light breakfast. It takes four hours to get to Amsterdam Centraal station from London and although I had vague plans to relax, my book laid untouched as I spend nearly all that time working, preparing the groundwork for yesterday’s Luther Vandross launch!

Eurostar’s ‘Standard Premier’ breakfast. That pastry was as unappealing as it looks.

I arrived in Amsterdam at 13.15 local time. To get to Den Bosch you need to hop on an Intercity service which takes around 50 minutes. However, as a first time visitor to Amsterdam, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have a look around town for an hour or two, before heading south, so I found the rather ingenious automated left luggage facility (the kind of thing they don’t seem to have in the UK!) dumped my bags and went for a wander.

Sunny and warm in Amsterdam, yesterday lunchtime

The capital was heaving and it was warm, so I was glad I wasn’t lugging my bags around. Since I was only passing through and wasn’t going to have long in Amsterdam, I hadn’t done any planning (naturally). Of course, there was no time to actually do anything significant (like visit one of the museums) so it was just a case of trying to find some interesting streets to walk down.

I was hungry by this point and could not pass up the opportunity of some classic ‘Holland Fries’ with lashings of mayonnaise (€1.40 extra for the sauce!). Later, I found a good Italian style Gelateria; chips and ice-cream, perhaps not the healthiest of lunches, but it kept me going!

‘Holland Fries’ for lunch at Mannekenpis

Time waits for no man, so after an hour of walking around, I thought I’d better head back to the station, retrieve my luggage and work out how to get to Den Bosch. I knew from travelling by train on a holiday in Italy in 2022 how good – and easy – European train travel can be, and indeed it was the case here. All the complexities and expense of trying to book an ‘on the day’ ticket in the UK were absent and the machine gave me two simple options: single or day return. €19 later, I had my ticket, validated it on the machine on the platform and took the 15.11 service to Maastricht, (best known for its treaties!). The train was one of those ‘double-decker’ ones you get in Europe, which, pitifully, rather excites your 54-year-old correspondent, so I went up to the top deck (of course).

I arrived in Den Bosch not long after four o’clock and walked 10 minutes to the hotel where I’m staying for this ‘Vinyl Weekend’. First impressions were very positive. The town seems really clean and full of shops, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, with loads of space to walk around.

Walking from the station into Den Bosch town centre
Cobbled streets in this very pleasant medieval town

There’s actually a good record shop called Doogan Records in the centre of Den Bosch. Of course, I wasn’t going to not go in, despite the excess of vinyl and CDs that await at the record fair. I picked up Dutch 12-inch of Was Not Was’ ‘Spy in the House of Love’ and a handful of CD singles, including some three-inch ones that were popular for a while in the late 1980s (Soul II Soul’s ‘Get A Life’, Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ and Chaka Khan’s ‘I’m Every Woman’, were the titles I bought).

It’s good to end day one of this three-day trip talking about some records, because that’s what this weekend is ultimately about. Collecting physical music: my passion, our passion. Holding the music in your hands, to coin a phrase. As I write this, it’s early Saturday morning and soon I’ll be off to the main event, the feature presentation, if you will. Check back here tomorrow for day two of this Den Bosch Diary, but if you can’t wait until then, I’ll be posting updates on SDE twitter during today (as I did yesterday), so if you ‘do’ social media, then make sure you follow SDE on twitter, or ‘X’ or whatever it’s called these days!

Cheers,
Paul

Read the Day Two Den Bosch Diary

A few purchases from ‘Doogan Records’ in Den Bosch

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59 Comments

59 thoughts on “Den Bosch Diary: Day One”

  2. This 53-year-old would have bounded up (at least as much as my aging knees would allow me) to the top of the double decker train car, too. LOVED reading this, thank you!

  4. In the past the record fairs had a large amount of sellers of cds.
    Nowadays most sellers only have vinyl.
    I don’t visit those fairs any more because I have no interest in vinyl.
    It’s a shame tho.

    1. I agree, paid £5 entrance fee to one about a year ago only to find there was one sad corner of the hall with someone selling CD’s and most the kind you can find at a car boot or charity shop. Very annoying.

      Love the article Paul, where’s Pt2?

  7. Ah blast and I was getting sunburnt in Xandvoort, couldve been more fun, I miss big record fairs. Uk 3″ cd singles are one of my collecting quirks, I have about 200+, a good 3 there Paul. Look forward to day 2.

  8. Lucky you!!
    This is a bucket list trip for me… maybe next year !
    Hope you didn’t spend too much :-)
    I’d need to take a helper to carry the CDs and LPs back to Scotland !!

  9. Wow, Paul, hope every minute of your trip is great.

    I’m a 10-time visitor to The Netherlands, but have not been to Den Bosch, or any of the great record fairs, such as in Utrecht or Haarlem. So, a case of Orange Envy here.

    Don’t forget the other small, round, physical, sure-to-bring-joy item, of which you will find plenty: The Stropwaffel.

    1. Yes, there’s still plenty of CDs to search through. I’m a CD-person as well and regularly visit this fair. Last November I came back with lots of CD singles, plus the occasional ‘regular’ CD and boxset. Even when only browsing the CD stalls you can keep yourself busy for a full day!

  11. This record fair sounds overwhelming. The most time I spent in a record shop was a couple of hours which was a only slightly tiring but felt like enough.

    I guess there should be a little bit of a plan. Surely there will be lessons learnt for going the next time or perhaps “ticking the box” will be enough?

  13. I hope you are enjoying the Netherlands Paul as it is a fantastic country. It will be interesting to see if you spot any music recorded in surround sound while you are there.

  14. Well, Paul, What a coïncidence ! I was on that same train back to the continent ! On Thursday I went to the Vortex in Hackney, to see and hear Joel Ross, with my son: his very first concert ! Great, super-dense music, but rather disorganised venue. They work with volunteers, so it’s forgiven … I was also rather disappointed with the record shops in London: not so much choice and prices much steeper than on the continent. But I bought a lot of books at very good prices at Foyles and Any Amount Of Books on Charing Cross Road. The best one: ‘Kerouac On Record’, about the influence of the writer on contemporary music and his own recordings. If you are by any chance today in Amsterdam, please, visit Concerto in the Utrechtse Straat, that is, IMHO, the very bèst record shop in the world, and I have visited them on all continents, except Antartica (now, there is hole in the market …) I will be on the premises between 3 and 6PM, if you’re there I will recognize you … PS: I thought Utrecht was the biggest record fair, but maybe Den Bosch has overtaken it.

    2. Regarding “I thought Utrecht was the biggest record fair, but maybe Den Bosch has overtaken it.”
      This record fair used to take place in Utrecht, but in 2021 they had a conflict with the venue in Utrecht (and organizers of the overall Collectors Fair). So the organizers of the Mega Record & CD Fair moved to Den Bosch. And thankfully most (all?) of the record dealers moved with them.

  15. I hope you are having a blast. We’re of equal age, and you have been the best tour guide through music history for this yank from behind the Orange Curtain. Someday I will buy you a concert T. Cheers.

  18. Have a nice time in the Netherlands Paul and enjoy your stay.

    I can recommend a few days’ stay in Amsterdam possibly with the wife and/or daughters as i did so only last year and we had four great days there.

    Try to prepare that with a Travellers Guide though because otherwise you’ll certainly miss some of the things you’d really want to see…

  19. I have lived and worked in Den Bosch for a couple of years and it is indeed a very nice city. I would have advised you to skip Amterdam alltogether and perhaps stroll around my current hometown Utrecht for a couple of hours instead (en route to Den Bosch). Much less of a tourist trap and equally charming with canals and all. But hinsight is a wonderful thing, eh…
    Try and do the Binnendieze Canal Boat ride in Den Bosch (https://dagjedenbosch.com/en/activities/historical-boat-tour-on-the-binnendieze/) if you still have time. The Korte Putstraat is a nice little street with loads of small restaurants to eat. But you cannot really go wrong tbh. Hope you enjoy your stay!

    1. Good point.
      I would have encouraged skipping A’dam too and would have recommended my alma mater town of Leiden though it’s a wee bit out of the way. Maybe on your way back?
      Rent a bike from the train station and get some leg exercises in. The country is built for that! Have fun in NL.

      (PS: €1.40 for mayonnaise? Knowing my people, I suspect some bring a cup from home given that price)

  20. Living vicariously through your experience Paul. Thank you so much for sharing! Love the detail of the food, weather, etc. Looking forward to more tomorrow.

  21. Excellent Paul. I remember the similar thing you did in New York a few years back that was also very interesting! Can’t wait to see what you buy.

  22. Funny people, the Dutch! The fries shop is called ‘MANNEKEN PIS’ which is actually Belgian (that’s the little boy pissing near the main square in Brussels) and they mention the fries as being ‘vlaamse’ (Flemish). Best fries are Belgian fries! Don’t believe the French either! Also come to Brussels as we have a handful of record fairs (well maybe not as big as this one) and we also have plenty of record stores downtown.

    1. Brussels is great for records shopping indeed.
      Even Antwerp which probably has more record shops than central london nowadays. There’s a shop called Chelsea in Antwerp where you can find any 80s 7” 12” you want in multiple copies. The shop is about 5 times the size of what you expect from looking at the outside.

      And yes of course chips are best in Belgium. Holland is ok of you like sugary mayo and peanut sauce, possibly together, on your chips.

    2. The only place in Europe I have been is Italy, but I also know that Belgian fries are the BEST. There is a place in Grennwich Village in New York called ”Pommes Frites”. The owner is originally from Belgium and they are the best I’ve ever had. My fave condiment is a lemon mayo, and they have about 30 others. The fries come in paper cones and they have special tables from Belgium that have holes in them where you can put the cones in!

      And they are near at least 3 record stores.

  23. Enjoy my home country Paul. Amsterdam is great. Best town in the world if you ask me. I live in NYC but go home several times a year. Enjoy the fair. Maybe next year I’ll go there. It sounds like a physical music lover’s paradise.

  24. “The train was one of those ‘double-decker’ ones you get in Europe, which, pitifully, rather excites your 54-year-old correspondent, so I went up to the top deck (of course).”

    That laugh-out-loud comment made my day! I was exactly the same in Switzerland.

    Thank you.

  25. Brilliant piece and how I envy such a trip. Back in the eighties record collecters fairs were all over the place and many a hour or two was spent looking at fantastic stuff. Then suddenly it seems they disappearedand now apart from in the big cities you hardly get any. They were such great times and you could fid all sorts of gems including some ‘naughty’ stuff if you know what I mean, my racks are full of Zeppelin and Springsteen ‘collectables’. Mostly I liked discovering long lost vinyl records drom the late sixties and seventies by bands I had read about but never heard, no internet or itunes back then. I never did find the one album I was looking for ‘Grand Funk Railroad-Live’ double album and now have to put up with it on CD, oh well.
    Enjoy your trip Paul, I look forward to the next instalment.

    1. Hi, paulus there is a couple of used copies on eBay of Grand funk railroad live double vinyl for around the £25 mark, one of which is described as “excellent”. I was looking myself the other day.

  26. Wish I could be there, the fair looks amazing! Visited Amsterdam for the first time in December and it’s a very cool city – even better now that us Londoners can get there via Eurostar. Den Bosch looks nice as well. Enjoy – hopefully I can go in 2025! :)

  27. Amazing to see you hanging out in Den Bosch, the city I work in. (living in Rotterdam). Enjoy the fair! Looking forward to the next post.

  29. It’s a fantastic record fair, I’ve been a couple of times and it has a nice atmosphere. The town is very nice too and well worth a wander. Back in the day Amsterdam was a music lovers paradise, with loads of fantastic record shops (Concerto, Killakutz, Distortion, and Record Mania all being especially good). Amsterdam is a fantastic cultural city with friendly (and very tall people ;) that I’ve visited many times and well worth more than just a long weekend visit. Enjoy yourself.

  31. How nice to follow your trip to the Netherlands, including all the details about public transportation. As a Dutch person, it’s very recognizable. Good luck and enjoy your time in Den Bosch. Already curious about your adventures on the second day. Make sure to have a Bosche Bol, filled with chocolate and lots of whipped cream. It’s really delicious.

    1. They sell Flemmish fries (Vlaamse frieten), which to some extend explains the reference to something in Belgium. It’s a chain that has been around for decades in the Netherlands. I think the first store was in Utrecht.

    2. Not as weird as having an American franchise with a Scottish name conquering most parts of the world with food that tastes the same wherever you are…

      1. That was cause the chain was started by two brothers in Southern California named McDonald, although they eventually sold the chain. And having a Scottish name is very common in the US. My middle name is Scottish from my mother’s side of the family, and both of her parents were Scottish.

  34. Excellent! Looks and sounds like fun. Thanks for the roaming report(s).
    A bit far for me to go (from Australia).
    I’m just listening to my new vinyl purchases – Kirsty MacColl’s Kite and Electric Landlady, half speed masters, which are excellent too.

  35. have fun in Den Bosch or s’hertogenbosch, what’s in a name. Paul two tips to do there when you have time, visit the cathedral with some paintings from Jheronius Bosch, and take a ride in a small boat under the houses in a very small canal named the Dieze. very nice thing to do and see.

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