ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, the Netherlands.

The last day of the event (Saturday) is referred to as the Noorderslag festival and takes place in De Oosterpoort [nl].

[1] During the conference a meeting is held for the European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP), which was founded by Eurosonic Noorderslag.

Simultaneously free concerts are organized all over the city centre in pubs, bar dancings, art galleries.

[11][12] On 4 January 1986 the "Holland-Belgium festival" was organized in De Oosterpoort in Groningen as a battle between Dutch and Belgian pop bands.

[15] In November 1988 the EBU-festival "Eurorock", a three-day festival with European bands is held in De Oosterpoort.

[18][19] In 1990 a seminar for music industry professionals is added to the festival, making the event notable on a national level.

[27][28] In 2007 the first edition of "Grunnsonic" is organized, the festival is added to Eurosonic and Noorderslag to allow acts from Groningen to show themselves to a bigger audience.

[10] In 2009 the sixth edition of the European Border Breakers Awards is held at De Oosterpoort on the opening night of Eurosonic Noorderslag.

[1] In 2016 Eurosonic Air will take place in a tent for the first time, to make the atmosphere closer to the rest of the festival.

During Eurosonic Air, the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (Noord Nederlands Orkest) will play the program "What's on David Bowie's playlist?