Tomorrow is one those magical dates: the beginning of July. The start of a month you’ve been looking forward to during all those cold, rainy and stressful days. In July the clouds disappear as the sun breaks through, while schools and offices make space for beaches and festivals. Only downside is, however, that there isn’t a lot to do for people who didn’t plan their days off during this period. The entire country is on a summer timetable and therefore the music venues adjusted their programming as well. At Rockstone we feel a bit sorry for the ones who keep on working, while saving money for their trips later on. Especially for those working class heroes, who deserve a break now and then, we selected five promising gigs in our capital that won’t cost more than fifteen euro.


Lisa Mitchell – Paradiso – Wednesday 1 July

The music of singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell has been described as perfect for a relaxed summer day. We assume it’ll be suitable for a nice summer evening in Amsterdam as well. Her beautiful folk songs are indeed calm. This might has to do with the fact that she left busy England at the age of three, in order to grow up on a on a huge Australian farm. While she was living in this outback, she started playing guitar at the age of twelve. Four years later she made it to the sixth place of Australian Idol. Her first EP was released in 2007 and peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes Top Albums chart. Her first two studio albums were successful as well and the now 25 years old Lisa Mitchell is working on her third one already. The clip below is of her single ‘Wah Ha’, which will be on that forthcoming record. Like it as much as we do? Then check out her show in Paradiso for only eight euro!

Further info and tickets: www.paradiso.nl

Raury – Melkweg – Wednesday 15 July

Exactly two weeks after Lisa Mitchell’s show in Paradiso, American singer-songwriter Raury will perform in the Melkweg. It’s a bit special, since he has only released one EP so far. This, however, has to do with the fact that the kid is only nineteen years old. Moreover, this particular EP is incredibly good. The teenager from Atlanta not only manages to play multiple styles such as funk, hip hop and folk, but he’s also able to combine those perfectly. Raury himself describes his genre as word music. The BBC noticed his extraordinary talent too and elected him fourth on the Sound of 2015. The video below of ‘Cigarette Song’ definitely demonstrates this talent. The track is from the aforementioned EP, which is called Indigo Child. His show in Amsterdam next moth will only cost fourteen euro.

Further info and tickets: www.melkweg.nl

Ben Miller Band – Paradiso – Sunday 19 July

If you’d like to spice up your Sunday summer night, we definitely recommend seeing the Ben Miller Band the nineteenth in Paradiso. These three guys are from the southern part of Missouri (US) and play that awesome and energetic bluegrass and blues music you’d expect from the region. They released their debut album in 2012 and after being discovered by Billy Gibbons from the great ZZ Top, things went fast for the trio. Being more popular than they would have ever expected, the Ben Miller Band kept developing their characteristic blues sound. A sound that’s highly distinctive, mainly because of percussionist Doug Dicharry, who also plays instruments like a mandoline, trumpet and even a washboard. Last year they released their second album and at the moment the band is touring through Europe. Make sure you’ll catch their show in Amsterdam, which only costs fifteen euro. The video below is of their song called ‘Twinkle Toes’.

Further info and tickets: www.paradiso.nl

The Drums – Melkweg – Wednesday 22 July

We consider The Drums an absolute must-see this July. This band from Brooklyn, New York is made up of Jonny Pierce and Jacob Grahamon. They started playing together in 2008 and proved to be very talented with the release of their first album in 2010. This was confirmed by NME music magazine, which named them the number one top tip for that year. The indie pop band released their second studio album only one year later and managed to meet the high expectations they created with their debut. Things got even more interesting with Encyclopedia (2014). This work is in a way a pop encyclopedia, because it’s a gathering of many different pop styles. The song below is called ‘Wild Geese’ and the ending track of the CD. Pierce says about it: “As soon as we had it, we knew right away that the record was done and it had to be the last song. How could we possibly write another song after that?” Attending their show will cost you only fifteen euro.

Further info and tickets: www.melkweg.nl

Ricciotti Ensemble – Paradiso – Saturday 25 July

If you feel like something totally different for a change, then we definitely suggest seeing the Ricciotti Ensemble in Paradiso at the end of July. It’s an orchestra comprised of forty young musicians, whose goal it is to bring symphonic music to places where it isn’t commonly heard. Whether it is on the streets, in a refugee centre or in an orphanage, Ricciotti wants to make people happy and bring them closer together with music. Their set up makes them able to do so, since the orchestra can play their classical, jazz, pop and world music within two minutes of leaving the bus. They say that all they need is a space of six by eight meter (or even less as can be seen in the video below). Because of this flexibility, it’s no problem giving multiple performances on a day and therefore they even made it to a Guinness World Record, with thirteen shows within 24 hours. The gig in Paradiso will have a significant Balkan connection, because the ensemble is going to be accompanied by Bosnian musicians Nermin Tulić (accordion) en Mišo Petrović (guitar). That must be a very cheerful combination, which you can see for only 7,50 euro. The clip below demonstrates the orchestra’s mobility with a small show in a supermarket.

Further info and tickets: www.melkweg.nl