.: FuryRocks :: music :: Fortarock_Organization_is_quite_ambitious

Published: 01 Juli 2009

Fortarock - Organization is quite ambitious

It may be remarkable that in these times, when everyone – if I’m supposed to believe the news – has less money to spend, a new festival appears. But the brand new FortaRock festival is definitely worth it, says co-organizer Freek Koster. The organization behind the festival in Nijmegen in The Netherlands already organizes concerts in the local venue Doornroosje and right now, the time seems right for an open air festival. And quite a good one too, with names like Moonspell, Meshuggah, Death Angel and Candlemass on the bill.

Furyrocks talked about the festival with Freek Koster.

Freek: ‘The idea for a festival was already there from the beginning, when the FortaRock evenings first took place in 2005. FortaRock is a cooperation between Doornroosje and the Korstanje family. They have a family company in Nijmegen and support metal music, in order to put Nijmegen on the map as the rock and metal city in the Nederlands once and for all. The Korstanje family founded FortaRock BV with a guarantee fund to be able to book rock and metal bands in Nijmegen in cooperation with Doornroosje. The ultimate goal was clear from the very beginning: an open air festival of our own in Nijmegen.’

An open air festival seemed a better idea than something big in Doornroosje?

‘Something big in Doornroosje is possible, but the building isn’t as versatile as many newer buildings. Logistically, it’s quite a challenge. In addition, the capacity of Doornroosje, even with two halls, is rather limited. And that’s quite important, because you want to earn the expenses back of course. Who knows, we might organize an indoor thing in the winter, but it’s too early for that right now.’

The festival has a quite a broad lineup. According to Koster, it was meant to be that way.

‘We started the preparations near the end of February this year, after we found out there was enough interest and a good location for the festival. Most festivals already start approaching bands and making plans in September. In March, several festivals, among which Wâldrock and Zwarte Cross, were almost online! Still, we were quite sure about what we wanted: two stages, one for relatively young, fresh metal and one with the more traditional metal genres. All of this without any real headliners. So we don’t have those, but we do have a few bands whose names are quite well known. Bands that have a good live reputation as well, which isn’t irrelevant for an open air festival.

In addition, every band on the festival has a little brother or sister, so people won’t have to pay € 32,50 for just one band. Or at least that’s the idea. Fans of Meshuggah normally can appreciate the musical madness of The Dillinger Escape Plan as well. Fans of Satyricon and Keep Of Kalessin usually match, which goes for fans of Delain and Moonspell as well. For the old school die hard, we have Warbringer, Death Angel and Candlemass. Only Heidevolk is a bit one of a kind. We were supposed to link them to another folkmetalband, like Ensiferum, but there wasn’t anyone available. That’s what happens when you start booking so late. A risk we took. But I’m sure Heidevolk will entertain plenty of people. Of course, we can’t make every metal fan happy with thirteen bands, but I think we can be quite content.’

So the organization is quite ambitious. Still, it’s quite a daring move to start a new festival in an economically difficult time. Especially in the metal scene, where it’s hard to stand out between traditional festivals such as Graspop, Wâldrock and Wacken.

‘Starting out is always hard, for a new festival as well. The name FortaRock has been around for quite some time, but organizing concerts or a festival with a national charisma are two completely different things. We have had a lot of positive reactions about the lineup, the entrance fee and the guts to start a new metal festival during this time. There’s of course a few risks and we haven’t made things easy for ourselves, but we deliberately chose this approach. It’s quite modest, also budget-wise. PR wise, there aren’t too many options. Of course, we will place ads everywhere we can, but most of the attention is generated by free publicity. This first festival should be the basis of the next editions. Of course, there’s plenty of things left to learn for us. We hope a lot of people have heard of the name FortaRock.’

Next editions? So there are plans to organize this festival more often.

‘We’ll have to see where this first festival goes, but our goal is to be a festival for eight to ten thousand people. Not too big though, we don’t want to rival with festivals like Fields Of Rock, you’ll only be in each other’s way when you do. We’ll also put some more effort in the appearance. There was too little time to focus on that right now, but I’m sure there’ll be more preparation time for that next year.’

When is the festival a succes for the organization?

‘The festival is a success when both the audience and the bands have a good time and the idea that they’re playing in a trusted environment, so they’ll consider coming again next year. And it would be great if they can share that feeling with as many people as possible!’

The last words are for Koster himself, he can tell us why people should come to FortaRock in this busy festival season.

‘There are many festivals, there’s plenty to do and of course, everything costs something. This festival has quite a nice price with € 32,50 and through that way, we’d like to make it a bit easier for people who have to make any choices. In addition, there’s plenty of nice things on the bill to justify this entrance fee. And why not? Who wouldn’t like to enjoy the old classics of Candlemass with their friends and a beer in their hand in Nijmegen’s most beautiful and fun park?’

Tickets are available – as said for € 32,50 – on www.doornroosje.nl