Minutes before people were due to start flooding into the Maassilo event hall in the city of Rotterdam, concertgoers were told to turn around and go home.
The crowd, there to see the rock band Allah-Las from the United States, was quickly ushered away because authorities had been warned of a possible terrorist attack.
Dutch officials have confirmed the information came from their Spanish counterparts, still dealing with the aftermath of last week's attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in Spain.
Rotterdam's mayor says, after considering whether to proceed with the concert with increased security, the decision was made to cancel it.
Soon after, a man driving a van with Spanish licence plates was arrested for driving his vehicle in circles around the venue.
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However, this concertgoer was sceptical of just how serious the threat was:
"We're from around here, so it's not a big problem. It's a bummer for those who came from afar. They basically came here for nothing. I'm curious to hear the reason for the cancellation."
But Rotterdam police say, when they inspected the van, they made an alarming discovery: a number of gas tanks were found inside.
Military-explosives experts were dispatched to examine the vehicle, and its Spanish driver was taken in for questioning.
The National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism Office says the threat level in the Netherlands is unchanged, remaining at "substantial" as it has since 2013.
And Rotterdam's mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is warning people not to assume anything yet.
"The ring that the police established around the Maassilo to monitor the area resulted in the stopping of a Spanish car, a car with a Spanish licence plate -- a van, to be precise -- containing gas tanks. A link between the bus with the gas tanks and the threat cannot yet be established. The explosive-clearance service is working on the van to see exactly what is going on."
The band, from the US state of California, says it has previously received some backlash to its name.
In a previous interview with The Guardian newspaper, band members admitted they chose the word Allah, meaning God in Arabic, because they wanted something "holy-sounding."
They said they did not think it might cause offence.
This fan has speculated about the role their name may have played:
"I think it comes from the name, Allah-Las, though they actually have nothing to do with religion, the lyrics have nothing to do with it. Because they have that name is probably why there is a terror threat. But I'm not sure about that at all. I'm just saying that because it seems likely."
The incident comes one week after the attacks in Spain killed 15 people, including a seven-year-old boy from Australia.
Police in the region have announced plans to step up security around landmarks and tourist hotspots, install bollards and increase the number of officers on the streets.
A day after the Spanish attacks, a man went on a stabbing spree in the Finnish town of Turku, killing two women and wounding another eight.
