ESNS founder Peter Smidt: The architect who made Europe listen to itself

By journalist Menno Visser (3FM)

In our upcoming issue, Radar Magazine dives deep into the legacy of Peter Smidt, the founder of ESNS. In this exclusive interview by journalist Menno Visser, Smidt reflects on the early days of Europe's most influential music showcase and the ideas that turned a local initiative into a front-running event with global appeal.

We're publishing a hand-picked selection of previews online in the lead-up to our upcoming issue – stay tuned for more.

Peter Smidt is the kind of man who has an idea over breakfast and a working version by lunch. The founder of ESNS is a relentless dreamer with a knack for turning what-ifs into main stages. How did a musical football match in 1986 turn into Europe’s leading four-day music showcase and conference? Time to rewind the tape with the man who started the European music revolution in Groningen.

For decades, Smidt was the artistic compass of ESNS. In 2019, health issues nudged him out of the spotlight, but not off the pitch. Now 65, he still serves on the festival’s advisory board. Sitting in his Amsterdam home, Smidt still knows his priorities: “Here I’m just a fifteen-minute bicycle ride from pop temple Paradiso”. His eyes still gleam when he talks about one thing: bringing European music the audience it deserves.

A Dutch versus Belgian band battle?

Let’s travel back to the mid-eighties. Smidt started out as a concert promoter in Groningen, cooking up gigs in a squatted cinema called the Grand Theatre – still a beloved ESNS venue today. He worked as a volunteer with Stichting Pop Groningen when De Oosterpoort, then not a regular venue for gigs, pitched them a challenge: organise a pop event during the 1986 Christmas break.

“At the time, Dutch music critics were swooning over Belgian acts. We liked some new Dutch acts. So we brainstormed the idea: what if we put them head-to-head, like a real football match?”

That marketing joke worked out well. The first edition sold out, packing in 1,700 visitors. Even better, Dutch bands – unexpectedly – impressed the press. “One headline read: ‘Holland beats Belgium’”, Smidt chuckles, flipping through a yellowing scrapbook.

The next year, the concept evolved: the North of the Netherlands versus the rest. And thus Noorderslag (Dutch for "Northern Clash") was born.

From bars to business

It didn’t take long for Smidt to realise that all the networking at the bar could use, well, a more professional setting. In 1993, a one-day conference was added on the Saturday. It drew 400 attendees. “We couldn’t start before noon”, Smidt recalls, “because everyone had to travel in from Amsterdam or Hilversum.”

Then came the next idea: showcasing European acts. Enter Euroslag, a Friday-night experiment to give non-Dutch acts a shot. “There’s so much great music out there”, Smidt says. “But across the border nobody has heard of them, but on the other hand I couldn’t name any German or French bands either. If you only know the British, American and local acts, it’s cultural poverty.”

Smidt wanted to fix that.

Groningen, with its compact city centre, thirsty students and a bar-per-capita ratio to make Dublin jealous, was the perfect playground. Historically, pubs could stay open longer when programming live music. Venues, stages and curious audiences? Check, check, check.

Chess master moves: Building a European music network

Smidt thinks five steps ahead. After he invited the European festival association Yourope to Groningen, together with Yourope he invented in 2003 ETEP, now known as European Talent Exchange.

Smart move. Suddenly, bookers from across the continent were in one room, watching showcases, swapping favourites. The result? A booking explosion. In the first year alone, Eurosonic acts landed 53 festival gigs – including Norwegian language rock band Kaizers Orchestra out-booking British indie band The Libertines.

Festivals became launchpads for new European acts. “Festivals can present an unknown act that nevertheless manages to attract an audience. Festivals can be the starting point for careers. Bookers check every show at ESNS, helping spread the word for European acts and becoming our family of taste-makers”, says Smidt. By 2024, nearly 400 festivals sent scouts to Groningen in search of the next big thing.

Making Brussels dance

Next move. Convincing Brussels to fund pop music wasn’t easy. “You had to explain that supporting local music pays back. Europe’s music market is bigger than America’s. But most policy folks didn’t know that. It is a matter of awareness – on a country level: do you want to be a buyer or a maker in the music world? I think there is enough fantastic European repertoire, but you need to make it visible. You have to develop the bridges – not only from a cultural point of view, but also from a business aspect.”

Eventually, Smidt got his foot in the door. A damning report on the lack of European music circulation shook things up, and in 2006 the first European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA’s) were born – precursors to today’s MME Awards.

“By asking for funding and getting awards, it was like asking for a train set for Christmas and getting pyjamas”, Smidt jokes. “But it was a start.” Today, pop music is finally on the EU’s cultural radar.

Looking ahead

So what keeps ESNS relevant for its founding father?

“We’ve built an ecosystem where the right people are in the right rooms. We have a high level of decision makers present,” says Smidt. “We owe it to all European artists to create a European market for all European artists.”