Eric van Eerdenburg reveals Lowlands exit strategy

Lowlands director Eric van Eerdenburg has revealed his intention to step down from the Dutch festival next year.

Van Eerdenburg has been involved with the long-running event, which is promoted by Live Nation’s Mojo Concerts, since the turn of the century. But Vpro reports that he has now set the wheels in motion for his “process to the back door”.

“I’m not quitting yet, but I’ve started quitting, so to speak,” Van Eerdenburg told the De Machine podcast. “I will definitely do this Lowlands again and next year too. And someone will walk with me to take over afterwards.

“Lowlands is big, Lowlands is a lot. There is a lot of networking involved, which you don’t write down on a note and say, ‘Good luck with it.’ So I chose to do it that way.”

He continued: “Lowlands is a young festival. It’s about young culture, young new bands, new influences, new things. There you can think for a long time that you still feel it all the way down to your toes, but at a certain point that is no longer the case.”

“I’m not ready to wave goodbye to everyone yet”

Van Eerdenburg plans to hand over the reins to Mojo’s festival project manager Camiel le Rutte, who works across events such as Rolling Loud, Stadspark Live and Warehouse Project Rotterdam, and previously programmed Amsterdam’s Melkweg venue.

“He has also done things as a freelancer at Lowlands in the past,” said Van Eerdenburg. “I think he is the right man to take over this. He is now 38, 39, a good age to start. The same age as when I started.”

He added: “I’m not ready to wave goodbye to everyone yet.”

The 2024 edition of A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise will be held in Biddinghuizen between 16-18 August. Acts at the 60,000-cap festival will include Fred Again.., Queens of the Stone Age, Skrillex, Peggy Gou, Froukje, The Smile, Nas, Denzel Curry, Jorja Smith, Sugababes, Big Thief and Wargasm. Tickets, priced €325, sold out within 15 minutes of going on sale in February.

Van Eerdenburg joined the festival team in 2000 as right-hand man to MD John Mulder, becoming director the following year. Mulder himself stepped down from Mojo at the start of 2024 to “give the young guard space”. The new leadership team consists of Ruben Brouwer, with whom Mulder has co-led Mojo since 2017, as well as Ronny Hooch Antink and Kim Bloem.

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