Jan Smeets stops as director of the Limburg pop festival Pinkpop. “What started in 1970 with a few friends has grown over the years into the most famous festival in the Netherlands. Who would have ever thought that”, he writes in his farewell letter on the site of the music festival.
Not a year was skipped until 2020. Last year, the fiftieth edition of Pinkpop was celebrated extensively. This year, for the first time in its history, the festival could not take place due to the corona crisis.
Health issues
“Corona has also played tricks on me”, writes 75-year-old Smeets, who has been struggling with health problems for years and who was also diagnosed with the corona virus this year. “Partly because of this, I have decided it is time to hand over the baton.”
Smeets’ permanent team, in collaboration with concert organizer Mojo, will continue to organize Pinkpop. Co-founder Smeets remains connected to the festival as an advisor as ‘Mister Pinkpop’. “Although I am taking a step back, they are still far from getting rid of me, haha.”
Pinkpop babies
After the first edition on Whit Monday 18 May 1970, the event in Landgraaf grew into the Netherlands’ most famous pop festival with almost 2.8 million unique visitors and performances by the greatest bands in the world, such as the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Metallica.
“I am extremely proud of all 2.8 million visitors, crew, suppliers, sponsors, partners, artists, the viewers at home and all Pinkpop babies. Without you I would never have been able to make my hobby my job”, says Smeets.
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