Crate Diggers' Coffee
New in Haarlem, or just looking for someone to dig with? Come for a coffee.
Whether you just moved here or you're still finding your way around, the Haarlem Vinyl Festival weekend is one of the best possible introductions to your new city. And if you're a solo crate digger who'd rather not hunt alone, this is your moment to find your people.
On Saturday at 10:00 and Sunday at 11:00, we're hosting an informal coffee moment on the Grote Markt. Swing by the Haarlem Vinyl Festival info & merch stand, grab a cup of filter coffee from Wakuli (first round's on us), and let us point you in the right direction.
We'll hand you a route through the festival, a mix of free and ticketed highlights spread across more than 30 locations throughout the city. Stick around to meet a few seasoned crate diggers who are happy to share their tips on how to navigate the market and find the good stuff.
Saturday, 10:00 & Sunday, 11:00, Grote Markt (Haarlem Vinyl Festival info & merch stand) – free
Record Fair hosted by Record Planet
The big one, and this year it moves to the Grote Markt, right in the historic city centre. Over 65 local and international vendors line the square with everything from rare finds to classic albums, organised with Record Planet, Europe's leading vinyl fair organizer. You won't be digging in silence either. The Zwarte Liefde Container and the Funky Vinyl Stage play vinyl DJ sets on the square on both days, and on Saturday the container also hosts two free DJ masterclasses (more on those in Your DIY Route).
Saturday & Sunday, 10:00–17:00, Grote Markt – free entrance
Kids' Corner at the Grote Markt
Bringing the kids along? While you work through the crates, they can take on a giant game of Connect Four or draughts right on the square. There's also a DIY table where they can decorate their own record sleeves with stickers and more, so everyone goes home with something new for the collection.
The day program at PHIL has grown quite a bit over the past few weeks, and some of the latest additions won't cost you a thing.
The Doors Surprise Session
The Doors it is. You picked the record for our surprise session, and on Sunday you'll hear In The Beginning: 1966 Sessions before anyone else, straight from the test pressing. It's a rare glimpse of a Doors session at Sunset Sound on 29 August 1966, while the band was recording its debut album. You'll hear chatter, false starts and multiple takes of "Moonlight Drive" and "Indian Summer", neither of which ended up on that album. Presented by the Vinyl Alliance in cooperation with Warner Music Group, Reprise Records and Rhino Records as an early preview of Black Friday 2026.
Sunday, 15:30–16:30, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance
My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade at 20
My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade turns 20, and the Vinyl Alliance marks it with the 20th Anniversary One-Step Audiophile Edition, introduced by Billy Fields from Warner Music Group. It's cut from the original analog master tapes and limited to 7,000 numbered copies, and it includes a live version of "Someone Out There Loves You" recorded at Maxwell's in Hoboken in 2007.
Saturday, 16:00–17:00, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance
A Brief History of Japanese Reggae Pop
Kay Suzuki of the Time Capsule label takes you on a journey through Tokyo Riddim. He explores how Jamaican and British reggae travelled to Japan throughout the '70s and '80s and helped shape the country's pop music. Presented by Audio-Technica.
Saturday, 13:00, PHIL – free entrance
More Free Listening at PHIL
Plenty more of the PHIL program costs nothing but your time. Several of these sessions take place in the Warmerdamzaal, where BarcaNova Records hosts a system built piece by piece to stay out of your way. The room seats just 40, so it pays to be early.
- Mykaell Riley opens the festival with a keynote on 500 years of Black British music, from Ska and Reggae to Grime and beyond. As a founding member of Grammy-winning roots reggae band Steel Pulse, he has lived the history he now studies.
Friday, 16:00, PHIL Café – free entrance - Golden Earring's million-seller Moontan, remastered and restored from the original master tapes, gets the full Warmerdamzaal treatment. Wouter Bessels, the producer behind the reissue, shares the stories behind it, with Menno Pot moderating.
Saturday, 11:30–12:30, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance - Michael Lampe, the Aruban artist known musically as Fellow, has collected records from Aruba, Curaçao and across the Dutch Caribbean for more than two decades. He brings part of that collection to play and shares the personal journey behind it.
Saturday, 13:00–14:00, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance - Brainteaser Orchestra's composer and conductor Tyn Wybenga and guitarist Teis Semey take you behind the scenes of their new vinyl album Tonepool Paradox, showing how vinyl sampling, reversing and live composition can break existing sounds apart and rebuild them into something new.
Sunday, 11:30–12:30, PHIL – free entrance - Katayoun takes you through the 1970s golden era of vinyl in Iran, followed by the evolution of the Iranian music industry in Los Angeles from the 1980s onwards. Catch her DJ set in the PHIL Café at 15:00.
Sunday, 12:30–13:30, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance - Jos Smolders presents the complete electronic works of Ton de Leeuw, the first release of the Dutch Oscillation Series. A few of the compositions are played in a quadraphonic setup, the way they were meant to sound, for the first time in over 50 years.
Sunday, 13:00–14:30, PHIL (Van Beijnumzaal) – free entrance - DJ Jigüe traces the history of Cuban music through rare vinyl, from its golden age to today's Afro-Cuban underground, and introduces Havana RPM, Cuba's first international vinyl festival. He returns at 17:00 for HAVANALOGICA, a vinyl DJ set.
Sunday, 14:30–15:30, PHIL (Warmerdamzaal) – free entrance - Theo Lucassen plays quadraphonic records from his own collection, from Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark to Aretha Franklin's Live at Fillmore West, and explains how record companies in the '70s managed to press four channels onto a regular vinyl record.
Sunday, 14:30–15:30, PHIL – free entrance
On the Decks at PHIL
Amsterdam Vinyl Club celebrates the thrills of collecting records, sharing music and discovering new sounds, and brings a different line-up of selectors to PHIL each day. In the PHIL Café, Black Star Sound plays roots reggae, dubplates and deep cuts on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, Ingrid Enache brings a vinyl-only set of Dutch artists for Kaas FM, the online radio station that grew out of her own move from Romania to the Netherlands. The concert nights end for free too: DJ Ed Rock plays an all-vinyl afterparty once Chef'Special leaves the stage on Friday, and Lostboyshawty takes over for the aftershow following Mula on Saturday.
Amsterdam Vinyl Club: Saturday & Sunday from 12:30. Black Star Sound: Saturday, 15:00. Kaas FM: Sunday, 16:00. Afterparties: Friday from 22:15 and Saturday from 22:30. All at PHIL – free entrance
Around Town with Our Community Partners
Beyond the Grote Markt and PHIL, our community partners bring the festival into venues all over town, from a brewery in a former church to a boat on the canals.
- De Vleeshal: Allard Krijger (FRAKnoise) and visual artist Jurjen Alkema transform the hall through sound, light and image. It sits right on the Grote Markt, so it's easy to step inside between digging sessions at the record fair.
Saturday, 13:00 & Sunday, 13:00 and 15:00, De Vleeshal – free entrance - Sounds Haarlem: The Grote Houtstraat record store turns into a stage for the weekend, with 247GO and Hollow Drifter on Friday, Birdcage Radio Records taking over on Saturday afternoon and Inge Lamboo closing on Sunday. Digging while a band plays behind you is a very specific pleasure.
Friday from 16:00, Saturday from 14:00, Sunday from 17:00, Sounds Haarlem – free entrance - Haarlem Canal Tours: Haarlem singer-songwriter Anouk Wolf takes to the canals for a series of intimate acoustic pop-up performances. Grab a seat on the boat and see the city from the water, with a live soundtrack.
Saturday, from 15:15, Haarlem Canal Tours – free entrance - Het Zaeltje: Hans Peeters presents a special listening afternoon on Saturday. On Sunday, Dolf's Ten Cool Guitar Melodies offers a preview of an upcoming box set dedicated to the work of Dolf Planteijdt.
Saturday, 15:00–17:00 & Sunday, 15:00, Het Zaeltje – free entrance - Maxime's Deli: Sunday is for Grassroots music, with authentic vinyl sounds from Radikal Rupert and live banjo, harmonica and close harmony from The Mule Stompers. Pair it with a Grassroots cocktail and some freshly baked bread.
Sunday, 13:00 & 16:00, Maxime's Deli – free entrance - Jopenkerk: Beers and tunes with EL-JAY & Mies Cordes on Friday. On Saturday, Lexus and Damian Zico of house night Vierkant Rooster invite Ben Diggins, and DJ Boogiedown spins the best records all Sunday afternoon and evening.
Friday from 19:00, Saturday from 20:30, Sunday from 15:00, Jopenkerk – free entrance - Café Trouw: On Friday the Near Mint Haarlem crew and friends head to their favourite hangout for a well-deserved drink after a day at the store. Saturday brings warm, rolling '90s house from Just Visser, followed by a live set from NISTA.
Friday from 21:15, Saturday from 20:00, Café Trouw – free entrance - Stiels gives each night to a live tribute act. Soulquake brings back the golden years of 1960s soul and gospel-blues on Friday, 2K Magic ft. Leehaund take on hip-hop classics on Saturday, and Heeren van Haerlem close the weekend with Dutch hits.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 21:00, Stiels – free entrance - Skatepark Haarlem: Cumbia in a skate park, need we say more? Buenos Aires' Rolando Bruno plays what he calls cumbia trash, mixing Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia and psychedelic rock, with Daan Modern and DJ Guzz completing a night of rock 'n roll exotica.
Saturday, 20:00, Skatepark Haarlem – free entrance - The Wolfhound: The Dukes of Harlem return with their Rock & Roll Revolution, this time centred around the theme of Rock Opera, together with Rasmus Bisschop.
Saturday, 22:00, The Wolfhound – free entrance - Café du Théâtre: Revert 95 Soundsystem feat. Hiphopbyjob play vinyl only, from classic hip hop to future classics.
Saturday, 22:00, Café du Théâtre – free entrance
More free program on our other routes. Your DIY Route has the Repair Café, the Vinyl Alliance Education Zone and Open Decks at De Volharding. Your Crate Diggers Route takes you to the Haarlem Record Label Market, the VinylFreaks store opening, the Platenzaak.nl Lounge, HaarlemsEIGEN and the Killa Cutz Records pop-up at Locael Centraal, all free to walk into. Over on Your Art & Film Route you'll find The Vogue Years exhibition at Near Mint Haarlem, Jazzwork at Paviljoen Welgelegen and Han Ernest's Sunday morning of photos, stories, vinyl and coffee at PHIL.
Keep an eye on our program and filter by day or venue to plan your own free route.