The second edition of Africa Night Utrecht is history now and we can tell you that we had some fun. Even though the night started off really slow (was it because of the weather?) it certainly ended on a high note. This time the dj was really on top of his game and those of you who came can attest to this.
The unfortunate thing is only that another organiser has apparent decided to have their own Africa-themed party also on the first Saturdays of the month in Utrecht. So for the second time, there was an overlap. To be fair to them, they had been organising their shows every first Saturdays of the month before. However Africa Night Productions decided to take Africa Night to Utrecht only when these people assured us they were quitting the scene because they had little or no people coming to their shows. For a few months they actually stopped and we felt free to bring the Africa Night train into Utrecht city.
However much to our surprise, the moment we announced to the general public we were coming to Utrecht, they decided it was time to resuscitate their dead show. This is very unfortunate and really confusing, we think, for the general African music loving company. We resisted the call to start an Africa Night Utrecht for the past 4 years out of sheer respect for the efforts of the other party. From our experience, one Africa-themed party in town a month is just about right. Having two on the same day is not the smartest. When we cannot trust people on their words, it is difficult to understand their motives.
We do what we do for the general African music loving people anywhere and everywhere. It is not an ego trip. To start a new show like this in Utrecht, we mostly spend more money than we get in return to build it up. The first months are always about us incurring huge expenses and debts. But we are happy to do that as long as we serve you, our guests. It is almost an embarrassment to see some other organisers (whom we respected) go back on their own words.
We have had Africa Night Utrecht now 2 times. We will now go into a period of evaluation to determine our next move. If you’ve visited the Africa Night Utrecht website, you’ll have noticed that we have not given you the date of the next show. We have to take you, our guests and clients, serious. We are considering switching Africa Night Utrecht to another Saturday to avoid a clash with the other show. We just need to find which Saturday is the best. This is because a month unfortunately has only 4 or 5 Saturdays.
The second Saturdays (every 2 months) is already occupied by Africa Night Rotterdam. The third Saturdays by Africa Night Tilburg and with Africa Night Belgium in the works (yes, we never get tired in our quest to spread the African music), we might have to really break our heads to fit Utrecht in. Maybe we will just switch Utrecht to the 4th Saturdays of the month. This depends, as you know, on whether Café Morgen has enough room to manoeuvre. We then have to hope that the other organiser does not switch his party again! Please give your suggestion at our Africa Night group board on Facebook.
To all of you who came to the second edition of Africa Night Utrecht, we like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to be back soon to entertain you even more.
For all who still want some more, we invite you to the beautiful city of Rotterdam this Saturday for the return of Africa Night Rotterdam. From what we hear and see, it promises to be huge! So join us at Podium Grounds, Willem Buytewechstraat 68, Rotterdam. You can be a part of the show. It begins at 11 pm. Come and dance and don’t be a part of the group of picture surfers who always wait until the Mondays after before regretting not being there!
We rise, we fall and we rise again. That is the spirit of Africa Night Productions. In other words, nothing can keep us down.
