Koopmans Hitches Festival Ride

Having to travel around three European festivals in one weekend proved no problem for German promoter Folkert Koopmans, who picked up a ride in an airplane flown by business partner Scumeck Sabottka.

Festival promoter Folkert Koopmans (R) has no trouble getting from festival to festival, as business partner Scumeck Sabottka has been taking flying lessons. Don’t worry, his flying instructor came along.

Sabottka, head of Hamburg-based MCT Konzertagentur and a partner in Koopmans’ twinned Hurricane and Southside festivals, has been taking flying lessons in a four-seater, prop-driven Mooney M20 Ranger he’s owned for a year.

“He flew me safely,” Koopmans told Pollstar, pointing out that one of the seats in the plane had to be filled by Sabottka’s flying instructor. “It was very easy because we could take off and land from small airfields that are very near to the festival sites.”

Koopmans and Sabottka’s flying tour of festivals took in Hurricane and Southside, which sold out their combined capacities of 133,000, and on to Tilburg in The Netherlands, where Best Kept Secret festival did 17,500 per day.

Although the crowd at the Dutch festival – which is produced with local promoter Friendly Fire – matched last year’s gathering, Koopmans said he had hoped it would have done even better. He blamed stiff competition in a crowded Dutch festival market. Koopmans also said the festivals – and presumably his chauffeur pilot – benefited from clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine.

The acts at Hurricane and Southside June 20-22 included Arcade Fire, Pixies, Volbeat, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Seeed, The Black Keys, Elbow, and Passenger. Best Kept Secret June 20-22 had Babyshambles, Belle & Sebastian, Elbow, CHVRCHES, Franz Ferdinand, Interpolo, Caribou, and Cheatahs.