The Reeperbahn Festival takes place each September in Hamburg, Germany. Now in its 11th year the festival has grown to become not only Europe’s biggest club event, but the one of the most important music industry events worldwide.
In addition to some 450 concerts by international artists held in a wide variety of venues, the festival programme includes events in the fields of fine art, film, and literature. With over 38000 visitors this year, the four day event was an ideal platform for renowned artists to showcase their latest offerings. More importantly, it provided emerging artists an opportunity to gain exposure to the wider music industry and the record buying public.
The Festival conferences are designed for professionals active in the music and creative digital industries and features sessions, showcases, networking events, or awards ceremonies. Each year a country focus is selected by the festival organisers. This year saw the spotlight fall on the Netherlands and 2017 it is the turn of Canada.
This year also saw the inaugural Anchor Award which is an accolade for the best emerging talent and hopes to become a new standard for the international music scene. Over three days, eight nominees competed in front of the festival audience and an eclectic jury of music luminaries including long time David Bowie producer Toni Visconti, MTV legend Ray Cokes and James Minor, head of Music at South by Southwest Festival. This year the award was presented to Sweden’s Albin Lee Meldau.
My highlights included a young up and coming rock trio from Ulm, Germany by the name of Van Holzen. This may have been the biggest stage they have played to date, but they certainly didn’t show it. With raw energy and a solid sound they looked like seasoned performers.
Announced 24 hours before, Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro played the Docks venue on Friday night. As we walked along Hamburg’s famous Reeperbahn the guys told me they had only confirmed two weeks prior and had and had been asked to keep it secret. Now that the official announcement had been made via a giant billboard coving the side of an apartment block, the place was buzzing with anticipation. Ben Johnson, the bands drummer added “We have some great memories from previous trips to Hamburg, it’s a fantastic place to play”. As you would expect they gave a blistering performance that will be long in the memory of those who were there.
Having been on the road since May, touring the festival circuit in Europe, I can think of no better way to end the season. With it’s eclectic mix of music (new and older), art and networking opportunities, there is something here for everyone. If you happen to be in Germany around September I highly recommend you give it a look.
Here are some figures:
70+ venues, 700+ events, 370 artists, 450 concerts, 230 conference events, 50 art events, 38000 visitors, 4400 industry delegates, 40 nations represented
All photos by Spike Porteous
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