‘Mr. Pinkpop’ Jan Smeets Retires

The man behind it all
Bart Heemskerk – The man behind it all
Jan Smeets, founder and CEO of Pinkpop.

Jan Smeets, 75, announced that he will be stepping down from his role as CEO of Pinkpop, one of the Netherland’s most famous events and the oldest annual pop and rock festival in the world. 

The festival hadn’t skipped one edition since 1970, which earned it a Guinness World Record in 1990. This year marked the first time in 51 years that Smeets was forced to cancel Pinkpop.
Smeets addressed his decision in an open letter, explaining that the forced downtime allowed him to reflect on the future of Pinkpop as well as his own.
He wrote that he’s been struggling with health issues in recent years, which formed part of the reason why he decided to hand over the reins to long-time festival partners Mojo Concerts, Live Nation’s Dutch operation, which has been programming the festival since 1986.
“I may officially retire as director, but you certainly haven’t seen the last of me yet,” said Smeets.
Pollstar sat down for an extensive interview with Smeets last year, ahead of Pinkpop’s 50th anniversary, which sold 80,500 tickets and grossed $13,258,063.
It placed the festival second on Pollstar’s annual Magna Charta ranking. The festival’s anniversary lineup featured Mumford & Sons, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Soham De, Nada Adjoa, David Keenan, Syml, Laura-Mary Carter, Indian Askin and more.
We talked about the festivals history from its inception on Whit Monday in 1970 to it growth into a 80,000 mass event that’s hosted virtually any big name in music, from the Stones to Springsteen to Metallica.
We talked about the festivals history from its inception on Whit Monday in 1970 to it growth into a 70,000 mass event that’s hosted virtually any big name in music, from the Stones to Springsteen to Metallica.
More than 2.8 million people have visited Pinkpop over the years. 
The festival’s 50th anniversary also marked the year in which Smeets was promoted to Officer in The Order of Oranje-Nassau due to his commitment to pop music in general and Pinkpop in particular.
He also received the Golden Harp from the Dutch copyright organisation Buma. 
Pinkpop Festival 2019
Bart Heemskerk – Pinkpop Festival 2019
Pinkpop Festival number 50 featured headliners Mumford & Sons, The Cure, and Fleetwood Mac from June 8-10 at Megaland in Landgraaf, Netherlands.

Smeets, by his own admission, staged his first concert in 1961. During his impressive career he’s received several Lifetime Achievement Awards and honors, was one of the founders of Europe’s festival association Yourope, and is highly regarded in the pop music and festival world at home and abroad.
Read the Pollstar interview with Smeets here, to find out about the only year, during which he actually considered throwing in the towel.