Dave Clarke presents 30 Years of ADE,
chauffeured.
Three decades of the event, marked in techno at the Melkweg. A night built around the history of the event itself, programmed by someone who has been there for most of it. Techno with a long memory, in the room that has hosted more of these nights than almost any other in the city.
Friday 23 October, at the Melkweg.
The heaviest night on paper. Day programmes and night programmes overlap, several rooms run double bills, and crossing town between them is the whole art of it.
A night built around the history of the event itself, programmed by someone who has been there for most of it. Techno with a long memory, in the room that has hosted more of these nights than almost any other in the city.
The Melkweg is on the Lijnbaansgracht behind the Leidseplein — central, famous, and genuinely difficult to arrive at by car unless the person driving does it every week.
Minutes from anywhere in the canal belt, though never in a straight line. From Schiphol the A4 and the S106 take about half an hour. Your chauffeur picks the street that is moving and puts you down thirty seconds from the entrance.
The Leidseplein at four in the morning is busy, loud and closed to through traffic in places. Dispatch names the street to walk to, which is quicker than standing on the square hoping the app finds a way in.
Lijnbaansgracht, near the Leidseplein.
The Melkweg sits on the Lijnbaansgracht behind the Leidseplein, in the tangle of one-way streets, bridges and tram tracks that make the square slow at every hour of the day.
The car stops on the Marnixstraat or the Leidsekade, whichever is moving, and you walk the last thirty seconds. Late at night the square is closed to through traffic in places and the pickup point shifts a street or two — dispatch has the current one.
The Melkweg sits on the Lijnbaansgracht behind the Leidseplein, in the tangle of one-way streets, bridges and tram tracks that make the square slow at every hour of the day. Your chauffeur checks the roads before setting off rather than when he arrives, and the price is fixed when you book, whatever the traffic does.
The car stops on the Marnixstraat or the Leidsekade, whichever is moving, and you walk the last thirty seconds. Late at night the square is closed to through traffic in places and the pickup point shifts a street or two — dispatch has the current one.
Yes, and on this night it is the sensible way to do it. The Leidseplein at four in the morning is busy, loud and closed to through traffic in places. Dispatch names the street to walk to, which is quicker than standing on the square hoping the app finds a way in. Book the return at the same time as the outward ride, or keep one car and chauffeur for the whole night by the hour, from €65 an hour in Business Class with a two-hour minimum.
Schiphol to any address in Amsterdam is a fixed €90 in Business Class, €125 in the seven-seat Van Class and €140 in First Class — taxes included, per car, with the flight tracked and a chauffeur waiting inside the arrivals hall. Going back to Schiphol the fixed prices are €80, €85 and €90.
The Van Class takes up to seven passengers and seven bags in one car, with captain chairs and walk-in headroom. For a larger party dispatch stages several cars to arrive together at Melkweg, with one contact for the whole group rather than a separate booking per car.
Message dispatch on WhatsApp and the pickup time moves. It is one number, answered around the clock in English, and once a chauffeur is assigned you have his line too. There is no surge pricing at four in the morning — the fare was agreed when you booked.