Why Noorderzon is the Groningeniest festival in the Netherlands.

Sometimes a gap falls in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It is one of those funny things that give Noorderzon its very own character, as the most Groningen-like of all summer festivals in our country.

There is more, of course. The city is different, the climate is more northern, the visitors blonder and the programme unexpectedly wilder than at comparably...