‘It Feels Like 2026 Is Going To Be Another Strong Year’: Q’s With Kim Bloem, Head Promoter, MD, Mojo Concerts

For our annual Dutch Focus, Pollstar reached out to Kim Bloem, head promoter and managing director at the country’s biggest promoter Mojo Concerts/Live Nation. Bloem talked about the state of business at Mojo at year’s end, current trends, challenges, opportunities, and shared her outlook for 2026.

Keeping It Lowlands: Annual Dutch Focus 2025

Pollstar: How would you describe the state of business at Mojo Concerts as we approach the end of 2025, and how would you sum up this year from a business standpoint?
Kim Bloem: It’s been another great year for us. We saw very strong demand for headline shows, and at the same time, festivals like Lowlands, Down The Rabbit Hole and NN North Sea Jazz sold out faster than ever. Domestic business is also doing well, with many more Dutch artists progressing to arenas than in previous years.

What’s your outlook on 2026 (and beyond)?
It feels like 2026 is going to be another strong year, with a record number of stadium shows including The Weeknd, Bad Bunny and Pitbull. Plus acts like Wu Tang Clan, Tash Sultana and Olivia Dean contributing to our strong arena and theatre business.

Any trends that stand out to you, like certain genres becoming more popular than expected; more or less touring at a certain capacity level, like clubs or arenas; more mini-residencies; etc.?
K-pop and Latin artists are selling out faster than ever before, and the same goes for Country and Americana. The arena business is having a record year, and fans are more and more interested in experience-based festivals like Lowlands and Down The Rabbit Hole.

Two questions regarding fans’ purchasing habits: are they, one, still waiting longer to buy tickets, generally speaking, i.e., do they buy closer to show date than pre-COVID? And, two, is there still a great willingness to pay for VIP/Premium/Boutique experiences?
Tickets are selling faster than ever. For festivals, we make sure to deliver an exclusive experience, both artistically and at a service level, which creates a certain FOMO feeling among fans and creates high demand for premium camping options.

What challenges remain to your day-to-day business? What opportunities do you identify?
The Netherlands is a top touring destination in Europe, with a healthy business in building artist careers through grassroots venues, which can sometimes lead to limited venue availability. But we see this as a privileged environment to be operating in.

What’s the state of Mojo’s festival business? It’s no secret that festivals feel the insane cost increases of recent times the most. How do you make the economics work in spite of the challenging environment?
Business is thriving. For decades we have built a unique festival experience, a cultural hideaway, and we feel very confident about the future. Increasing costs challenge us to be more creative in our premium offering for fans, all whilst staying true to the heart of the festival.

Please name one event/concert/festival/show you witnessed this year that stands out to you – for whatever reason you choose.
This year we saw really strong female shows. Lady Gaga at Ziggo Dome was a great example, as were the two co-headline shows at the Ziggo Dome that we produced with domestic acts, Froukje and S10. 

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