Royal Jaarbeurs: the inspired, sustainable and ever-renewing host for the whole of the Netherlands. A place where people have been meeting, inspiring, learning from each other and growing for over 105 years. We would like to tell you what is and has been going on at Royal Jaarbeurs. How? By introducing you to our most valuable asset: our people. Maggie Köhnen (1945) worked in the press room of Jaarbeurs for 28 years and welcomed artists such as Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, Beyoncé and Armin van Buuren.
Carrying a big blue stool from the press room, we step into Maggie's cosy flat on a sunny afternoon. She does not immediately recognise the stool, but when she sees that her name is written on it, her eyes get big. Even after years of absence, traces of Maggie can still be found in the press room. "Yes, I do remember that stool. I am not that tall and the desk in the press room was quite high, so with my foot stool I could still sit comfortably at the desk."
An unforgettable time
"I have been gone for more than 20 years now, but I had such a great time at Jaarbeurs. I was really lucky with all the people I got to meet and work with. I particularly enjoyed working with Ruud van Ingen, who was director at the time. He often stopped by for a chat."
On Maggie's wall hangs a notice board full of backstage passes, entrance tickets and press cards. "There used to be two press rooms, one in the Beatrix Building and one in exhibition building. I usually worked in the press room in the fair building so I experienced a lot of fairs and concerts. Many of those concerts were organised by MOJO, I really had a golden time in that period. I am still eternally grateful that I was able to work during all those concerts."
Memories of greats
Maggie leans forward, grabs a booklet from the table and starts listing: "Dave Berry, AC/DC, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, Armin van Buuren and KISS. Those have all been in the press room with me. It is just a selection of the artists Maggie met in the press room. "To me, all people are equal, whether you are AC/DC or Armin van Buuren. But when Dave Berry walked into the press room, I was really speechless for a moment. After all, Dave Berry really is my hero. He even sang my favourite song This Strange Effect to me. Back then, it was quite normal for artists to sit in the press room. It sometimes happened that journalists then accidentally walked in, but they would just talk to each other. Groupies also knew how to find the press room. They would say they were pregnant by the artist inside, for example," she says, laughing.
Chatting with Armin and the Super Bowl with Bowie
That artists 'just entered' the press room provided memorable moments. Maggie points to a wine rack in the corner of the living room, "There's a bottle of champagne that David Bowie gave me after we watched the Super Bowl together in the press room. I was also once chatting with Armin van Buuren in the press room when my cousin came over with some friends. He proudly told his friends that I was his aunt. People were just a bit jealous of me sometimes."
People were sometimes just a little jealous of meMaggie
Maggie's golden years
The Exhibition Halls saw many more great celebrities in those days.
Prince & Lenny Kravitz
In 1998, Prince performed at a sold-out Prince of Orange Hall. He performed with Lenny Kravitz that night. Before the performance, Prince and Maggie had spoken briefly and after the performance, their conversation continued, "He walked past the press room with Lenny and called out to me, "Come on young lady, off we go." In a big white limousine that pulled up, we drove to Tivoli, to the now world-famous afterparty."
AC/DC
In 2000, AC/DC also performed at the Prince of Orange Hall. "Like the band, I'm from Australia. Before their gig, a slightly nervous colleague came up to me: 'Maggie, Brian (Brian Johnson, singer) is not doing well. He wants a sheila.' The co-worker didn't know what that meant. Smiling, I walked along and said to Brian: 'Brian, here is your sheila.' Sheila is Australian for woman. Brian laughed in dismay."
KISS
KISS sold out the Prince of Orange Hall in 1999 and Maggie was there too. "Before the gig I had walked into the hall for a while; there were a lot of people but no one with black and white face paint. I asked one of the roadies what the KISS men looked like without the make-up. He replied: 'Just look around for the four most ugly men'. I looked around and saw a bunch of strikingly ugly guys standing, so that was KISS."
Megafestation
From 1993 to 2004, Jaarbeurs hosted the annual Megafestatie; an event for young people that included concerts by young up-and-coming talent. But big celebrities also performed, "For example, I saw Beyoncé and Take That with Robbie Williams there. What great times I had at Jaarbeurs," Maggie sighs with a big smile. She seems to imagine herself back in time.
