God Must Be A Jazz Lover

North Sea Jazz organiser Jan Willem Luyken believes it may have been a bit of divine intervention that caused the foul weather to clear up in time for this year’s festival, particularly as the rain started up again once the Dutch event had finished.

"God must love jazz," he told Pollstar after the third NSJ he’s stewarded since the festival moved from The Hague to Rotterdam fulfilled Mojo Concerts’ three-year plan for the event.

"We gave ourselves that much time to establish the festival in Rotterdam to the same attendance level it had been before the move, and I’m very proud to say that we’ve achieved that," he explained. "Actually, we just about did it last year but this year we’ve comfortably done it."

The July 11-13 crowd totaled 70,000, which was 3,000 up on 2007. And that figure was 5,000 up on what the festival did in 2006, the first year after the move.

The all-star July 11-13 lineup included Alicia Keys, Herbie Hancock, John Dankworth, Lee Ritenour, Bootsy Collins, Pat Metheny Trio, Paul Simon, Buddy Guy, Gnarls Barkley and The Mars Volta.