No, they didn't need to hold a multi-day audition marathon to make a good musical selection, tells Architecture, Building and Planning student Mieke Kools, who is helping to decorate the annual student festival. What the Plugged organizers did do, however, was listen to the most serious candidates. A good musical mix was a chief aim. But something the musical groups all have in common is that they are quite new and upcoming. “We really want to offer a stage to new talent,” points out Kools. “And especially to local talent,” adds co-organizer Bob van der Vleugel. Two names have already been announced: Mozes and the Firstborn, and Waltzburg. The other acts will be revealed on Facebook in the run-up to the festival.

Like last year, Plugged has two stages. Bands play sets lasting on average a half hour to an hour. As to the size of the audience they'll play to, that can vary, says Kools, from roughly a thousand to two thousand people - and depends in no small measure on the weather.