Artists Don’t Like Festivals AnymoreBy Boele Loonstra

For every student that loves live music, it’s gonna be a very expensive year, because we’re living in the hay-day of concerts in the Netherlands. If you just take a look at the Ziggo Dome’s agenda for 2026, you can see how incredibly full of big artists it is. It just came off of a full start of the year, with five comeback concerts of the Dutch hip hop collective New Wave, and an impressive show by Dave. The coming month, there are legendary performances coming up by Hans Zimmer and Wu Tang-Clan, while other days call for a fanbase stuck in 2015, with Sean Paul, Jason Derulo, and MGK taking the stage. Don’t worry; the latter two are priced down and not sold out.

The list luckily goes on. The following artists are already announced: Eric Clapton, Tame Impala, Rosalía, The Neighbourhood, Olivia Dean, TWICE, Guns ‘N Roses, A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Deep Purple and so many more. Oh, there’s also two stadiums hosting. In the Johan Cruijff Arena, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars, and The Weeknd together with Playboi Carti will be performing, while the GelreDome in Arnhem will host Bad Bunny, Pitbull, and, of course, Suzan & Freek (tap in). Let’s also not forget about the highly anticipated and controversial Ye concert.

Furthermore, AFAS Live has artists like Paul Simon, The Black Keys, Madness, Baby Keem, Gunna, and Ken Carson planned. Snoop Dogg, JID, and Freddie Gibbs are also performing throughout the Netherlands. Considering it’s only the start of the year, more announcements are bound to come. 

In short, I think it’s fair to consider this an active and exciting concert year. However, I also turned to the festival line-ups that have been announced in the past months. Here, I found out why there’s so many concerts coming up. There’s been a downward trend in quality in the past ten years. Coachella went from Radiohead, Beyoncé, and Kendrick Lamar headlining in 2017, supported by Mac Miller, Travis Scott, Future, and Lorde, to a headline consisting of Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G, supported by Swae Lee, Young Thug, and Sombr in 2026. 

Rolling Loud went from Kendrick Lamar, Future, Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Tyler, The Creator, Denzel Curry, Post Malone, and Migos (not even half of the big names) to Playboi Carti, Don Toliver, and NBA YoungBoy (yes, these are the headlines). The biggest support acts: Sexyy Red, EsDeeKid, Fakemink, and a guy called Bossman Dlow. Our own biggest festival, Lowlands, didn’t have the most interesting line-up in 2017 either, but this year, the quality drop after the headlines is incredible.

There’s a pattern here. All the biggest artists, present at festivals in 2017, have chosen concerts in 2026. Is festival season over before it began? Maybe. Artists seem to choose their own fanbase over festival crowds, and I get them. They no longer want to be part of the stories posted by drugged-up Brexit geezers with bucket hats, nor of the posts of rich kids in tents trying to show through which rough circumstances they’re willing to go to bop their heads to Black Beatles. The nostalgia really hits different at festivals! If you’re looking to go to a festival this year, please carefully consider your options; there’s enough to see around the corner.