After one and a half years, there was live music once again in theatre hall C. Last Saturday, four talented musicians took the stage during the Popronde – a traveling festival with Nijmegen as its home base.

Bright lights, loud music, and passionate singers. Almost everything was back to normal during the Popronde last Saturday. Only the mostly empty stands were still a harsh reminder of the pandemic. Just thirty people were allowed entrance to the theatre, which usually holds up to 174.

The Popronde is a traveling festival, visiting forty cities. Saturday was Nijmegen’s turn. Distributed over different locations, a dozen bands performed in the city. That social distancing was enforced by the organisers lead to disappointment among the musicians, but the excitement to perform live music again outweighed the discontent.

Something the organisers agreed on as well. ‘It’s very cool to be able to organise an event like this on campus again at the beginning of the academic year,’ says Rose Snijders, student and one of the organisers.

Unmute Us

For most musicians, Saturday night was the first live performance since the start of the pandemic. And for singer Neil Hollyn, it was even the first time to perform his own music live ever. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Melle was mostly happy to play with a band again – and then even in front of an audience.

Nicolaas quite literally rocked the stage when he and his band played Take a walk on the wild side by Lou Reed. A true ode to the ‘Unmute Us’ protest that took place at Nijmegen’s Waalkade at the same time. Nicolaas himself is a supporter of the movement that calls for a revival of the event sector. And on Saturday, he most certainly unmuted C.

The finishing performance of the night came from Neil Hollyn in the form of a juicy guitar solo. And the applause from the audience most certainly confirmed that the first live event back on campus was a full success.