Features
Pinkpop Bounces Back
The world’s oldest festival made such a sparkling return that Jan Smeets reckons this year’s
“It’s certainly in the top five and may even turn out to be in the top three,” Smeets told Pollstar after Holland’s best-known outdoor had sold out and drawn a chorus of approval from the Dutch and Belgian media.
Last year, the Whitsun weekend when Pinkpop is traditionally held came so early in the year that it was isolated in the festival calendar. Fewer acts had started their European tours and attendances were down to around 20,000 per day.
This year, it was back to the first weekend in June, and able to share acts with Germany’s twinned Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals. The crowds were back up to the 30,000 mark.
It could have been more but the camping site had to be cut back because the part of it owned by the local soccer club was unavailable due to the laying of an artificial pitch.
Sales of a special one-day ticket for June 5th, the festival’s third and final day, were up to 65,000 as the extra fans didn’t need to be tented overnight.
“It was glorious weather and every act turned up,” Smeets said, barely able to contain his enthusiasm for a weekend when everything fell right.
Among the acts helping him make hay while the sun was shining at Landgraaf June 3-5 were
– John Gammon