Dutch festivals reschedule en masse for September

Swathes of Dutch festivals are postponing spring editions until the autumn in order to be covered by the government’s event cancellation insurance scheme.

The government announced the €300 million insurance scheme last month and is now considering a 1 June commencement date, which is prompting an increasing number of festivals to delay events until the second half of the year.

September is shaping up to be a particularly busy month in the Netherlands’ 2021 festival calendar, with newly rescheduled dates from Awakenings, Paaspop, Zwarte Cross, DGTL, Dauwpop and Utrecht Central Park Festival among others.

Amsterdam dance festival DGTL (pictured), which typically take places during Easter weekend, has been rescheduled for 11 and 12 September at its usual location, the NDSM docklands.

DJs including The Blessed Madonna, HAAi, CamelPhat, Honey Dijon, Nina Kraviz and Ricardo Villalobos have been confirmed.

Dauwpop has also been pushed back, from its standard date in May to 4 September, but will take place at its usual location in Hellendoorn.

Awakenings, Paaspop, Zwarte Cross, DGTL, Dauwpop and Utrecht Central Park Festival have rescheduled for September

The 26th edition of the Mojo-promoted festival will host performances from artists including Chef Special, Eefje De Visser, Kensington and Typhoon. Dauwpop’s organisers say they want to book as many of the same names as possible from the cancelled 2020 event.

Elsewhere, the Utrecht Central Park Festival in Transwijk Park has been moved from 5 June to 18 September “to give visitors more certainty that [the festival] can still take place this year”.

According to the festival, 85% of the tickets have already been sold during last year, while the remaining few are on sale now.

The organisers say they’re hoping to re-book the acts that were due to perform at last year’s edition including Kensington, Chef Special, Di-rect, De Staat and more.

Earlier this month, Paaspop, Awakenings and Zwarte Cross announced new dates.

Best Kept Secret, Pinkpop, Defqon. 1, Motel Mozaique Festival and Ribs & Blues are among the other Dutch festivals scheduled to take place in the spring, but which haven’t announced rescheduled dates.

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