“Guys, one shot at the king and tonight.” Thijmen, 19, fills his shot glass with Barcardi Razz and his five friends do the same. Red, white, blue or orange flower wreaths hang around the boys’ necks and the Dutch national team shirts have been pulled out of the closet. The song sounds from the large speaker box on the dining table in the Alkmaar student house of Thijmen, Gijs (19) and Jesse (18). I am Kachel from OBZ (1.5 million views on YouTube):
I drink beer
I think I’m going to break
And also Chardonnay
All women participating
To get the atmosphere right for their first King’s Night, the three housemates have already started drinking at the beginning of the evening. The table is full of bottles of Licor 43, Smirnoff, Sourz and Villa Massa – all with only a small layer of liquor left. Their friends Liam (18), Justin (19) and Jasper (18) are also drinking along.
Nobody really knows what to expect from the coming night and the following King’s Day. Because of corona, they have not been able to celebrate King’s Night before. “I think I’m going to the supermarket tomorrow to get half liters and then we can go back into town,” Justin says. ‘My brother always does that on King’s Day too.’
Alkmaar has a loyal tradition of starting on time to usher in the king’s birthday. On the day before King’s Day, Alkmaarders are allowed to sell their stuff on the free market in the shopping streets from the morning. In the evening, party crowds fill the city squares. The night has been celebrated on a grand scale since 1980, the year of Juliana and Beatrix’s throne, says Karin Hiemstra, the chairman of the Alkmaar branch of the trade association Koninklijke Horeca Nederland. “And it seems to get bigger every year.”
Anticipation
After two years of cancellation due to the corona lockdowns, the anticipation is already noticeable on social media, Hiemstra says on the afternoon before King’s Night. “It looks like it will be extra busy this year. People have had to miss so much lately, you will notice that they want to celebrate life tonight. In Whatsapp groups I see colleagues in the catering industry wish each other extra success with the large crowds that are expected.’
The eagerness to party has seen Koninklijke Horeca Nederland everywhere in the nightlife sector since it has been completely open again. In recent weeks, owners have complained about nuisance, especially from young people who have not been given the opportunity to gradually gain experience with going out due to the corona closure. The new generation would be too rash and not know their own limits.
‘You have to learn a bit about going out,’ says Martha de Jonge, researcher at the Trimbos Institute. ‘There are social norms in nightlife that you usually inherit from older generations. How do you deal with bar staff, doormen or security guards? How do you behave towards other visitors? What does alcohol do to you if you drink too quickly or too much?’
According to her, a large group of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds are now flowing into the nightlife at once, all of whom have no experience with it. ‘They see anyone who tries to temper them as an annoying limitation. They have the idea: I can do whatever I want while going out. But of course it’s not like that.’
The Waagplein is where the six friends in Alkmaar should go, Justin has heard from his older brother. That’s where the younger audience comes and ‘wrong Dutch music’ is played, he says. ‘Dries Roelvink is coming too, isn’t that cool?’ The square is fenced off and now and then security lets in a group of partygoers. For some young people it takes too long. “Come on guys, knock down that fence,” someone shouts from the waiting crowd.
The encouragement is successful and a large group manages to struggle inside, including Thijmen and Justin. Their four friends had squeezed through the fence before. Inside the gates it is a King’s Night as usual: crushed plastic glasses, beer flying around, painted flags on the cheeks and as many orange attributes as possible. There is also the eternal staring at the telephone, hoping to finally find out where the friends are with a single line of internet connection.
Police figures do not yet show that there have been more problems in nightlife recently than before the corona years, says Raoul Verwey of the Center for Crime Prevention and Security (CCV). Yet Verwey receives the same complaints ‘en masse’ from catering operators, enforcers and local police officers. He is in talks with them and will present an ‘overall picture’ of this in June.
If it is indeed the inexperience and eagerness, then it is expected that it is a temporary effect, the experts say. Many young people will quickly learn their limits through trial and error. Moreover, they cannot remain as excited forever as dancing cows that are allowed to go back to the meadow after a long winter.
Drink tokens
The six have found each other again on Waagplein, where the Cheese Market is usually held on Friday morning. Jesse takes big steps towards the podium. He is whistled back by his friends, because first a beer has to be obtained. The long lines for the drink tokens and again for the bar: that is also King’s Night.
After forty minutes since they entered the city center of Alkmaar, the boys are in a good place in the party crowd. ‘It’s fun’, says Jasper, ‘but really very busy.’ Older, and therefore more experienced partygoers, agree that it is an exceptionally busy evening.
The song blares out from the speakers Atje for the atmosphere, where a singing crowd joins in. Liam taps his friends and lifts his hands open, “Hey, they’re empty! That is not the intention.’