FortaRock: Rammstein Hard To Follow

The 2013 festival – the first that Trommelen ran the event at Nijmegen’s Goffertpark – attracted 46,000 fans, but Rammstein topped the bill and this year he didn’t expect nearly as many.

He took over the event for the Korstanje family, which made its fortune by creating and selling Fortapack, an industrial packaging business that makes milk cartons for the major Dutch dairies.

“Rammstein attracts another crowd but next time it won’t return to see what they regard as a metal lineup,” Trommelen explained, pointing out that this year his expectations weren’t as high.

“I knew what we could do with Rammstein and this year I budgeted for a lot less, so it was OK.”

Apart from covering itself financially, Trommlen was also pleased with the sunny weather and a very positive reaction from the Dutch media.

Whatever sort of festival season Europe has, Live Nation in The Netherlands is heading for a good one.

Pinkpop (June 7-9) and Lowlands (Aug. 15-17) – the two other Mojo-run major fests – both sold their 65,000 capacities well in advance.

The acts finding Rammstein a hard act to follow at 2014’s FortaRock included Iron Maiden, Slayer, Alter Bridge, Anthrax, and Trivium.