Darling Peter, we love you.
We’ve certainly all had these fantasies: work at some of Amsterdam’s hottest venues, become a globetrotting DJ, conceive and develop major events, or travel the seas with RuPaul on a big ass boat, haven’t we? Well, we sat down for a chat with Peter van Vught, AKA Darling Peter, who has done all of the above and then some. We wanted to know more about his amazing career and his latest path as a solo DJ — after 8 years as part of The G-Team. Darling Peter has emerged in 2019 with a fire and he’s not slowing down one bit.
Darling Peter has been the guy behind such concepts like Ball Amsterdam, Club NYX, Milkshake Festival, Superball, and Pride Amsterdam. Having spun at Wasteland, plus playing at Pride parties all over the world, he’s a fixture at Homomonument parties, Paradiso parties, Open Sea Cruise (deep breath), he’s never not busy.
The list is actually so long, it’s impossible to really imagine such an incredible career. And this darling is only 30 something! How did this all begin? “I was literally working on my family’s farm, driving tractors as a teenager. My family was pretty strict, but when I was 19 I moved out of the house and my life completely changed,” states Peter.
“It’s a funny story because it has to do with tickets. I was dating a guy who worked at Paradiso. Beth Hart, whom I’m obsessed with, was going to play there and he arranged for me to get free tickets to her show. A conversation with the woman who I had to pick the tickets up from lead to me landing an internship at Paradiso. And that’s how it all started.” His first job at Paradiso had him creating parties, booking artists and getting his start behind the decks DJing. “Back then there weren’t really budgets for anything, so a lot of people in the nightlife who were organizing parties started DJing themselves.”
Eight years ago Peter, together with Thijs Weijland, formed The G-Team. The DJ duo took Amsterdam by storm to headline Amsterdam’s 2016 EuroPride celebration, as well as Madrid Pride to crowds over 20,000. Today, Darling Peter is performing solo at festivals this summer with his new concept ‘Sweetie Darling’ — including Sziget Festival in the world famous Magic Mirror Room (right next door to the TicketSwap Music Box!), as well as Elrow in Amsterdam.
We asked Peter what his absolute favorite moment in his career has been, and interestingly, his answer was not playing to thousands. “Right after George Michael died, I found myself on a train and thinking — I need to do something to commemorate what he gave us as an artist.” Peter called his old pals at Paradiso and asked if he could voluntarily put on a tribute show in Michael’s honor. “ With a heavy heart I called all the artists to come and help me. Everyone volunteered and Paradiso made the event free to the public. I have never felt so emotional or fulfilled about any party or event I’ve organized,” exclaimed Peter.
So what’s the future look like? “Honestly, I feel that the next phase for me besides continuing to DJ all over the world is producing my own music.” Darling Peter’s first release is set for June 2019. We think Darling Peter is adorable and we are excited to see his journey continue, along with all the great parties he brings to the world.
