Lowlands Hits A High Spot

The decision to switch Holland’s Lowlands Festival to avoid clashing with the U.K.’s Carling Weekend at Reading and Leeds is really starting to pay dividends, said Eric van Eerdenburg from Mojo Concerts.

"We decided to change four years ago because we were going to get in a bidding war that we were bound to lose," he told Pollstar after all 55,000 three-day tickets for the Biddinghuizen event were snapped up in advance. "In 2005, the first year we moved forward a week, we almost sold out. We did sell out in 2006 and now, in 2007, we’ve sold out three weeks in advance.

"We are still on the same weekend as the U.K.’s V Festivals and Belgium’s Pukkelpop, but so far we haven’t found that to be so much of a problem."

The Killers, Lily Allen, Mika, Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal, Editors, Kasabian, Rodrigo Y Gabriela and Damien Rice were among the acts that played V and Lowlands, while those that did V and Pukkelpop included Iggy & The Stooges, Dizzee Rascal, Basement Jaxx, Juliette & The Licks and Just Jack.

The increased crowd has developed Lowlands into an event van Eerdenburg describes as having "a fantastic atmosphere," with this year’s bash benefiting from the fact that "only a few drops" of rain fell over the August 17-19 weekend.

The other acts helping A Camping Flight to Lowlands Paradise, to give it its full name, hit the high spots included Kaiser Chiefs, Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Motorhead, Eagles of Death Metal, Goose, Interpol, Klaxons and The Good, The Bad & The Queen.