Whilst living in Germany, we’ve developed a bucket list of things we’d like to do whilst here. One activity on our list was to go to a music festival in Germany to see what it is like and how it compares to those back home in the UK. The first step was choosing which music festival to attend this summer. Festival seasons tends to kick off around late May and continue in to September and during these months there are so many festivals to consider. Some range from two days to almost a full week if you wish to camp and turn it in to your main summer holiday.
Centre stage at Deichbrand PHOTO: Sarah E
We opted for Deichbrand, which is set in Cuxhaven, a town on the North Sea coast. It’s just over an hour’s drive from where we live, so it was ideal. We could pack the car up and have our temporary home set up on the campsite within hours. We anticipated a few extra hours sat in traffic waiting to get in to the site but no, we sailed through to the car park to our disbelief. Time we thought would be spent on the Autobahn, would now be extra time to soak up the atmosphere and get comfortable with our home for the next few days. No doubt this smooth sailing wasn’t pure luck but a bit of German efficiency at play.
I made many observations during our four days at Deichbrand, here are some of them along with info on five other German music festivals.
I was pleasantly surprised by the facilities on offer at the green campsite, a quieter (although that could be debated when you can clearly hear Zebrahead at 1am) and more environmental friendly area of the camp. I had prepared myself for a weekend of baby wipe showers, yes gross I know, but this is what I had come to expect from UK festivals. Luckily there were shower blocks that were separated for males and females. Of course, it was the German way though, leave your bathing suits at the door and be prepared for naked showers alongside your fellow campers. Despite this, the daily showers were decent and meant we could wash away the sun cream and dirt from the previous day. Germany, alongside most of Europe, is in the midst of a heatwave, which meant Deichbrand was a very dry, dusty and sweaty place.
It’s unbelievable what German people take camping with them at a festival. We had downsized everything we took, not wanting to exhaust ourselves with trips back and forth to the car to unload all our belongings. Surely that’s the beauty of camping, making do with what you have, not the everyday home comforts. Clearly not everyone in Germany thinks the same as they had turned up with Fußball tables, inflatable pools, and their own stage – who brings their own stage to a music festival. Bizarre!
There was a programme of activities on offer at Deichbrand, you could start the day with yoga (bier yoga came later in the day) or give slacklining or Parkour a trial in between watching bands. I think this is a really good addition to offer more than listening to music to your experience. At the UK festivals I’ve been to, it seems that the festival goers are more intent on drinking alcohol than getting in to a rounded festival spirit. It didn’t seem to be the case at this festival, thankfully.
Keeping refreshed at Deichbrand PHOTO: Sarah E
As with most festivals, there was a variety of food on offer. Yes, there was the usual Currywurst und Pommes (curried sausage and chips) to satisfy the German taste buds and soak up the numerous Jever Biere, however there was range of Mexican, Spanish, Greek, Indian and Italian food. As well as getting the chance to hear new bands, we could try out different food for relatively good prices.
The organisers of Deichbrand are hot on security and making sure the festival goers are safe. There were bag searches before we could set up the Zelt (tent) and then two further checks before getting in to the arena to see the music. In the past there have been some unfortunate incidents happen at German festivals which means security is very tight on where you enter and exit to avoid surges of people crushing one another, also what you can and can’t bring in. Note to self: don’t try to bring anti bacterial gel in to the arena, it will not pass due to the alcohol content.
In the past I’ve observed how much German people love dancing, any excuse and they’ll be on the dance floor, whether it’s at the Kohlfahrt or in the Bierhalle at Freimarkt. However, I was really surprised by the subdued crowds at Deichbrand. Speaking with those native to Germany, this was quite normal. The crowds really didn’t exude excitement, at times you could see it was a struggle for well known artists to get the audience pumped up.
The Killers headlining Deichbrand PHOTO: Sarah E
In addition to getting to see bands that I was familiar with such as The Hives, The Subways, Editors and Wolfmother, I got the chance to hear German artists, some which I have now become a fan of. One of my favourites, and one I have since been listening to, is Clueso, a young male singer, rapper and songwriter from Germany. I’ve found that it’s really easy listening and may help me improve my German language skills as I practice singing along.
The biggest music festivals in German you might be interested in
Lollapalooza, Berlin: Based in the capital, this two day festival will return on the 8th and 9th September. If you’ve heard of the name before, it might be the original festival you’re thinking of as it originates from the United States. Its debut in Germany was in 2014 so it’s a relatively new festival but still draws in the crowds who want to see heavy metal, punk rock and rap artists perform.
Hurricane Festival: It was a close call between going to Hurricane and Deichbrand this year but the dates just didn’t work out for us. In June each year this festival takes place not far from Bremen and often boasts popular acts like British favourites The Arctic Monkeys through to The Offspring. It’s growing to be a more mainstream festival looking at the programme, as once it appealed to those who prefer more alternative music.
Melt!: This electronic music festival takes place in an open air museum, Ferropolis, which is in Gräfenhainichen in Saxony-Anshalt. Despite being another relatively new festival, it had several international well known artists play this year, from Florence & The Machine to the The XX.
MS Dockville: Another festival that’s held in Northern Germany is MS Dockville. In a couple of weeks (17th to 19th August) Bonobo and Alt J will play Wilhelmsburg, a district of Hamburg, at this music and arts festival that’s celebrating its eleventh year. To be honest, I’ve only heard of this festival in recent weeks but the programme is really appealing to us, a shame we don’t have time to go along to our neighbouring city.
Rock Am Ring: This is Germany’s biggest and most iconic festival with crowds of up 150, 000 people attending in the past. I wouldn’t want to be in the toilet queues there! This year Gorillaz (a British band headed up by Damen Albarn of Blur), Muse and Foo Fighters headlined the festival that’s held at the Nürburgring in the June of each year.
We don’t have any further time this summer to go to another festival, unfortunately. We’ve been encouraged by the experience we had this year though and are already starting to think about which festival we’ll head to in 2019.
-Sarah E
I still remember when we went to the tiny Wacken Festival in the ´90s and it was on some farmers fields – nothing in comparison with the huge Heavy Metal festival that it is today – we very much enjoyed watching it live online last year, when Alice Cooper was playing, much better view in our living room then most people that were right there https://ok.ru/video/345603312239
– although I have to say the festival I miss the most is the Roskilde Festival in Denmark – well organized in every aspect (even well maintained water toilets) – helpers everywhere (different structure altogether). It is changing from year to year in what it offers besides music. Check it out (it tends to sell out quickly, even though the tickets are very expensive.)
Heidi