Hurricane Festival

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Hurricane Festival
Beatsteaks play on the Green Stage (2005)
Beatsteaks play on the Green Stage (2005)
General information
place Scheeßel
genre Rock , alternative , independent , electro
Period since 1997
Website www.hurricane.de

The Hurricane Festival has been a music festival that has been taking place since 1997 on the Eichenring motorcycle sand race track near Scheeßel ( Lower Saxony ), between Bremen and Hamburg . With more than 70,000 visitors (2016), it is one of the largest music festivals in Germany. At the same time as the “sister festival ” Southside , it is organized in June by FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH, MCT Agentur GmbH and KoKo Konstanz GmbH. Like many other big festivals , the Hurricane relies on a mixture of rock , alternative , pop and electro , with newcomers as well as established stars.

You can arrive from Thursday noon. Due to the location, you meet visitors from all over Germany as well as people from England , the Netherlands and the Nordic countries on the hurricane. However, due to the increasing popularity of this festival, it is also increasingly frequent to meet people from all over the world.

history

Previous festivals in 1973 and 1977

The first festival in Scheeßel took place on September 8th and 9th, 1973 under the title "It rocks in the heath" . It was a festival with many of the then well-known rock music greats (such as Chuck Berry , Jerry Lee Lewis , Chicago , Manfred Mann's Earth Band , Lou Reed ) and thanks to the enthusiasm of the bands it dragged on into the deep night of Monday.

At the First Rider Open Air from September 3rd to 4th, 1977 there was property damage of 1.5 million marks when the organizer, who realized in the course of the planning of the festival that he could not pay the bands, with the remainder of the festival budget burned out. The name First Rider Open Air referred to a newly introduced cigarette rolling tobacco from the Rider brand in blue jeans packaging. The Dutch tobacco manufacturer Douwe Egberts had sponsored the festival with 140,000 DM and negotiated that the name of the tobacco would be mentioned. Some of the announced bands, u. a. Nektar und die Byrds did not even come to Scheeßel because, on the one hand, the travel financing was not even secured until the end, and on the other hand, the completely inexperienced organizer, a 25-year-old bank employee, had already paid various bands in full in advance, which then, appropriately enough, no longer arrived at all.

It opened Long Tall Ernie & The Shakers from the Netherlands and Golden Earring ended with Radar Love the evening. Then the stage lights went out except for an emergency light. The Hells Angels , who were hired as stewards, had all ceased their duties long before they had received any wages. The music fans who felt cheated and the stewards who had been cheated of their wages soon set the stage and the organizers' caravans on fire. Equipment and instruments were destroyed. In addition to the aforementioned bands, Van der Graaf Generator , Colosseum II and the British prog rock group Camel also performed . The electronics musician Klaus Schulze was also present backstage for a performance. Originally announced were u. a. also Steppenwolf and Ray Manzarek , the pianist of the Doors . Some of the people were injured by parts of the steel scaffolding falling from the burning stage, who were immediately taken care of by the rescue service. At the instigation of the mayor at the time, the rock festivals in Scheeßel came to an end for the time being.

New start on the Eichenring in 1997

It was not until 1997 that the musical tradition of the place was continued under the direction of a new mayor with the first Hurricane Festival . With the help of a local entrepreneur, organizer Folkert Koopmans (FKP Scorpio) managed to convince the Scheeßel city administration. At the first Hurricane Festival on June 21 and 22, 1997 with the headliners Rammstein , INXS and Bad Religion around 20,000 visitors came, but no profit was made. Koopmanns had expected a breakeven with 12,000 visitors. 36 bands played on a large main stage and a small tent stage over two days. Since 9,000 of the spectators - much more than expected - wanted to spend the night on the site, further areas of the neighboring farmers were converted into campsites at short notice.

Increase in the number of visitors and enlargement of the site

In the second year alone, 40,000 visitors came, more than twice as many as at the premiere, and the number of visitors should continue to rise in the period that followed. In 2002, a new preliminary visitor record was set with 52,000 spectators. In the first few years - with the exception of the 2000 Festival - the bands played on two days (Saturday and Sunday), since 2003 the festival has taken place on three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

In 2004 a second open-air stage was set up for the first time, at that time they were still facing each other, which led to an unsightly mixture of sounds. That year David Bowie performed at the festival. After his appearance, Bowie complained of heart problems and was operated on in Hamburg that night. His appearance at the sister festival Southside was then canceled. The concert on the Hurricane was Bowie's last live appearance. Apart from a few guest appearances, he was no longer on stage until his death in January 2016.

In 2005 the festival was sold out with over 60,000 tickets sold; However, this caused criticism from some visitors, as both the campsite and the area itself were viewed as overcrowded. For this reason, in the following year (2006), the contingent, which had already been sold out two months before the start of the festival, was reduced to 50,000 tickets; for security reasons, crowd surfing was also banned. In 2006, about 90 minutes before the official end of the festival, the worst storm to date in the history of the Hurricane Festival occurred. Squalls with wind force eleven and precipitation of up to 30 liters per square meter caused damage to numerous tents and pavilions and forced the festival to be abandoned. Some of the tent sites were under water up to the knee, so that several thousand festival visitors had to be accommodated in the disco tent. Many cars got stuck and could only be freed from the sodden parking lot with the help of agricultural machinery from the local farmers.

In 2007, the quota was increased to 60,000 tickets by expanding the tent and stage area. The second stage (Blue Stage) was moved from the Eichenring, next to it there was a tent stage. The 2008 festival was sold out with 70,000 visitors shortly before the start of the festival.

Development since 2009

With 60,000 visitors, the 2009 Hurricane Festival was not sold out for the first time in a long time. The 13th edition was headlined by Kings of Leon , Faith No More and Die Ärzte on the Green Stage, as well as Kraftwerk , Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Nine Inch Nails on the Blue Stage. For one of the few performances of Faith No More in Europe some fans traveled from Greece, Great Britain and Australia.

A fourth stage, the White Stage , was built for the first time in 2010 , on which only acts from the electronic field performed.

The operator has been maintaining mobile phone apps ( Android , iOS ) since 2011, which provide information on the bands (schedule, stage, info) and news about the festival. SMS information is also possible. In 2011, a network operator is offering a mobile phone charging service as an advertising campaign, especially for currentless campers, in front of which long queues sometimes form. The problem is the occasionally high utilization of cell phone networks in the festival area, which is also due to the increase in smartphones , some of which regularly establish connections for data transfer. Even the Green camp was offered this year for the first time.

The Red Stage , introduced a few years earlier, was no longer a tent from 2012, but a third open-air stage. The festival was sold out since the beginning of May.

A new record was set in advance sales in 2013, with all 73,000 tickets sold out by the end of March. The Spanish artist Dani Blázquez has been designing a new artwork for the Hurricane Festival every year since 2013. In 2013 it was a pink owl, in 2014 a blue wolf, 2015 a green wild boar, 2016 a red fox, 2017 a blue bear, 2018 a pink lynx, 2019 a green raccoon and 2020 a purple eagle. The stylized animals differ in the color of their eyes from the corresponding artwork of the sister festival Southside. The artwork is used, among other things, on the canvases of the stages during the game-free times, as wallpaper for the Hurricane app and the website, as well as on banners in many places on the festival site for decoration.

After the festival in 2014 was also sold out prematurely with 73,000 combined tickets sold, the 2015 edition was not sold out for the first time in a long time, with around 65,000 visitors. According to the organizers, this is due to the strong festival competition this year and the resulting weaker headliner peak ( Placebo , Florence + the Machine , Marteria ). Also this year, an elaborate RFID payment system was used instead of cash payments on the festival site.

On February 23, 2016, the organizer announced the sale of all 73,000 combination tickets. On the first official day of the festival, the 2016 festival was interrupted for around two hours due to an acute storm warning. After the Rock am Ring festival ended prematurely, the organizers of the Hurricane were particularly sensitive. 71 people were injured there after being struck by lightning. On the second day of the festival, the opening of the event site was initially postponed, but then completely failed towards evening. So there were no performances on that day. On the night of June 25th to 26th, 2016, the organizer, together with several specialist groups from the THW , the fire brigade and its own staff, dried out large parts of the area, pumped off water and distributed straw and gravel. The site could then be opened regularly on Sunday.

On the evening of April 15, 2020, the festival for 2020 was canceled after the federal government and the heads of government of the federal states had decided in the afternoon as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that no major events may take place until August 31, 2020. On April 17, the state of Lower Saxony expanded the existing Lower Saxony ordinance to protect against new infections from the corona virus and thus implemented the aforementioned resolution. The ticket buyers were offered changes or credits. Parts of the original line-up have agreed for 2021, including all headliners.

facts and figures

year date Visitors Entrance fee Bands Headliners
1997 June 21-22 20,000 € 30.17 (DM 59) 36 INXS , Rammstein , Bad Religion , Midnight Oil
1998 June 20-21 40,000 € 40.39 (DM 79) 39 Beastie Boys , Björk , Iggy Pop , Garbage
1999 June 26-27 45,000 € 40.39 (DM 79) 38 Marilyn Manson , Massive Attack , Skunk Anansie , Blur , Bush
2000 June 24th to 25th 35,000 € 45.50 (DM 89) 44 Nine Inch Nails , Bush , Skunk Anansie
2001 June 23rd to 24th 40,000 € 60.84 (DM 119) 39 Die Toten Hosen , Placebo , Faithless
2002 June 22-23 52,000 € 72.50 39 Red Hot Chili Peppers , The Doctors , New Order
2003 June 20-22 45,000 € 79 49 Coldplay , Massive Attack , Björk , Radiohead
2004 June 25-27 40,000 € 79 46 David Bowie , The Cure , Placebo , The Fantastic Four
2005 June 10th to 12th 60,000 89 € 44 Die Ärzte , Rammstein , System of a Down , Nine Inch Nails
2006 June 23-25 50,000 89 € 64 The Strokes , Muse , Manu Chao
2007 June 22nd to 24th 55,000 € 109 61 Pearl Jam , Beastie Boys , Marilyn Manson
2008 June 20-22 70,000 € 99 to € 130 63 Radiohead , Foo Fighters , Beatsteaks
2009 June 19-21 60,000 from 99 € 64 The Doctors , Kings of Leon , Faith No More
2010 June 18-20 70,000 from 105 € 74 The Strokes , Beatsteaks , Billy Talent , Jack Johnson
2011 June 17th to 19th 70,000 from € 109 77 Foo Fighters , Incubus , Arcade Fire
2012 June 22nd to 24th 73,000 from € 109 96 The Doctors , The Cure , blink-182
2013 June 21-23 73,000 from € 109 98 Rammstein , Queens of the Stone Age , Arctic Monkeys
2014 June 20-22 73,000 from € 109 100 Arcade Fire , Volbeat , Macklemore & Ryan Lewis , Seeed
2015 June 19-21 65,000 from 125 € 104 Placebo , Florence + the Machine , Marteria
2016 June 24-26 73,000 from € 139 106 Rammstein , Mumford & Sons , The Prodigy
2017 June 23-25 78,000 from 159 € 103 Green Day , Linkin Park , Casper
2018 June 22nd to 24th 65,000 from 159 € The Prodigy , Arctic Monkeys , Arcade Fire , Billy Talent
2019 June 21-23 68,000 from 159 € 100 Foo Fighters , Mumford & Sons , Die Toten Hosen , The Cure , Macklemore , Tame Impala
2020 June 19-21 called off from 159 € planned were Seeed , Martin Garrix , The Killers , Deichkind , Twenty One Pilots , Kings of Leon , Rise Against

Line ups

Television broadcast

Until 2004, the Cologne music broadcaster VIVA had the exclusive rights to broadcast the stage shows. In 2004, the performances on the Center Stage were recorded in high definition in HDTV for the first time and broadcast exclusively on the first European HDTV channel Euro1080 (now HD-1 ). After Viacom took over the majority of VIVA , which is also owned by the (previously competing) music broadcaster MTV , MTV was a partner of the Hurricane Festival. In 2005 the performance of Die Ärzte was shown live on MTV; 2006 the three appearances of Mando Diao , The Hives and The Strokes in a row; 2008 a summary of Friday and Saturday and the appearance of Beatsteaks and Billy Talent . Furthermore, Arte has broadcast documentaries about the hurricane festivals since 2004. In 2011 VIVA and ZDFkultur took over the broadcast. In 2012, ZDFkultur had the sole broadcasting rights. In 2016, ARTE had the rights to broadcast.

Individual evidence

  1. Newspaper report: Chaos in the Eichenring Stadium: 20,000 visitors felt cheated.
  2. Esther Mai: The secret of your success - Folkert Koopmans from FKP Scorpio dreams of Rage Against The Machine. Wecab, accessed March 14, 2014 .
  3. a b c d Folkert Koopmans (Ed.): 20 years of the Hurricane Festival. 1997-2016. , FKP Scorpio, 2016.
  4. ^ Announcement by the organizer March 30, 2013
  5. Dani Blázquez's website. Retrieved June 23, 2014 .
  6. Sold out (announcement by organizer February 23, 2016)
  7. The organizer announced in a press conference: "(...) we are interrupting the event for two hours due to a severe storm and ask you to leave the area using the marked paths to your vehicles.
  8. Hurricane Festival brings heavy losses. Kreiszeitung.de, June 26, 2016, accessed on July 9, 2016 .
  9. Lower Saxony Law and Ordinance Gazette 10/2020 of April 17, 2020 with the Lower Saxony Ordinance on Protection against New Infections with the Corona Virus (from page 74) (PDF). Retrieved April 17, 2020 .
  10. Cf. Hurricane 2010 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on festivalguide.de. Retrieved March 2, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.festivalguide.de
  11. Hurricane: Rock spectacle of the quiet kind ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. NWZ Online @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nwzonline.de
  12. White Stage Timetable - Hurricane Festival 2018 ( Memento from June 19, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  13. Warm-Up Party - Hurricane Festival 2018 ( Memento from June 19, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ARTE: Hurricane. Retrieved June 23, 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Hurricane Festival  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Folkert Koopmans (Ed.): 20 Years Hurricane Festival. 1997-2016. , FKP Scorpio, 2016.

Coordinates: 53 ° 9 ′ 34 "  N , 9 ° 31 ′ 20.8"  E