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Over 60,000 people apply for test festival tickets

The Netherlands' Back to Live festivals have "really exploded", with 63,000 people applying for the government-backed pilot events in March

By IQ on 17 Feb 2021

The Back to Live festivals will take place at the Lowlands site

The Back to Live festivals will take place at the Lowlands site


image © A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise

More than 60,000 people have applied for the 1,500 tickets available for the two experimental festivals being organised as part of the Netherlands’ Back to Live initiative.

Two music festivals – a dance music event and a rock/pop festival – will take place on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 March, respectively, on the Lowlands site in Biddinghuizen, in the central Netherlands, as part of a wide-ranging, government-backed study that aims to show how live events may be restarted safely.

Pieter Lubberts, programme manager at Fieldlab, which is organising the trial shows, told Dutch TV presenter Eva Jinek that around 63,000 people had applied to attend the festivals, which each have a capacity of 1,500.

“It is clear that people really need this”

“It is clear that people really need this. It really exploded,” said Lubberts. Successful applicants will be selected by a lottery draw, he added.

The first Back to Live event, Back to Live Business, which simulated a conference environment, took place at Utrecht’s Beatrix Theatre on Monday (15 February) with 500 people. Future shows include a dance event and concert at the Ziggo Dome arena on 6 and 7 March and the two festivals.

Participants in Back to Business, which was attended by Mona Keijzer, the Netherlands’ minister for economic affairs and climate policy, were required to test negative for the coronavirus in advance, with some also undergoing rapid tests on the door along with temperature checks. During the event, contact between attendees was measured by motion sensors, and all are required to have another test five days after the conference.

 


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