festival summer 2022

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The last concert was actually on February 29th, 2020. Shortly before the madness around Big-C began, a madman set off. It is Thursday, February 27th, 2020. The desire to go to a concert prompted me to browse the event calendar - what is currently coming up. Then I noticed Lindemann with his solo tour. I quickly checked. The concert is on Saturday, that fits for now. Where? Ah well, Helsinki, yeah, that fits too. So I ordered the ticket, booked the flights and off we went. At 10 a.m. from Frankfurt Airport to Helsinki. A little stroll around the city and then off to the concert. Shortly before midnight it was over and I took the last bus back to the airport. Half a night's sleep later, the plane back to Frankfurt left at 6 a.m. Exactly, that's how it should be. I love such spontaneous and slightly crazy actions. I'm sure I'll think of something for the rest of the year. But then everything turned out completely different.

Now, it is early spring 2022, our elitist, supposed wannabe leaders are loosening their corona grip on the population and basic rights are slowly but surely being released again, albeit only partially, always with the sword of Damocles hanging in the background that they will close everything again at any time and continue to bully the population. In the meantime, a number of concert and festival events have accumulated from the years since 2019, 2020 and 2021 that we will hopefully be able to attend again this year. At this point, R.i.P. (Rock im Park), Rockharz, a Deichkind concert, a Rammstein concert, an Iron Maiden concert and also a Knorkator concert were already confirmed, but the latter was then completely cancelled.

While I was still on the Savalenrally, I met a nice girl at the reception in the hotel. She spoke to me because of my Dimmu Borgir hoodie and said that it was her favorite band. Well, who can blame them, Norwegians stick together. We spent the days in the hotel chatting and drinking a beer or two, and she asked me if I wanted to come to Oslo to see Tons of Rock. So it happened that while I was on one holiday in Norway, I already booked my next holiday in Norway. And then I had a ticket for Tons of Rock-Festival. I mean, the line-up was good, so the rest will definitely be great too.

As soon as I got back from Norway, I had to check the company's holiday calendar and speak to my boss. But he's very relaxed about it - when work is going well, you can take time off. Speaking of taking time off. In some funny newsletter for various concert events, I saw a festival line-up that I couldn't resist. And as if I hadn't planned enough already, I booked another festival - you'll find out which one later in the text.

Time flew by, the Knorkator concert had been cancelled in the meantime, as the guys from Berlin wanted to go on tour with a completely new show later in the year. And so the series didn't start until the beginning of June with Rock am Ring.

Rock im Park came to an end. But since the organizer changed and a lot of things seem to have gone wrong with the new organization and you have to pay even if you just want to pee, that's not the case anymore and it will probably be my last visit to this festival. There are other festivals where everything runs better and more smoothly.

But never mind, I still have a few more attempts this year. The next festival visit is just two weeks later.

Off to Oslo to Tons of Rock. The girl from the hotel who made the festival appealing to me unfortunately didn't get a vacation after all, tststs, if you only submit it at the last minute, it doesn't always work out. But it would be strange to be alone at a festival with almost 40,000 visitors.

But since I was already in Oslo the day before the festival because of the cheap flight prices, I didn't miss out on the other cultural part either. And so I looked at the Museum of Modern Art and went to the botanical garden. And I always enjoy going to Holmenkollen.

But then the time had come. Off to Ekeberg, where the party will take place. The organizers had set up a shuttle service and you come into contact with the first festival-goers while you are waiting in line. As I said, it is impossible to be alone.

During the four days in Oslo I had great weather. It was unusually hot for Oslo, with well over 30°C, but with a beer or two it was definitely bearable. On the first evening I went back into the city with my new friends, who, funnily enough, were staying in the hotel next to mine. So we sat down in the "Vaterland-Bar" in the evening and had a final beer together. We heard the reason for the never-ending sirens on the news the next day. A totally crazy guy shot people in a bar and killed and seriously injured several people. And all of this just 4 streets away from where we were sitting.

Many concerts later, the time in Oslo was over and I was able to make my way back to Germany. And even though I didn't meet the girl, I made some great contacts and spent a few even better days at a great festival.

And as if it was part of it. On the last day I still had some time and took a little walk through the city to Frogner and Vigeland Park. And just as I was on my way back I got wet. I couldn't find shelter as quickly as it started to rain. But it will dry again.

We can carry on right away. A week of work and then we'll head up north. I'm going to stay with my friends in Wolfsburg. From there we'll drive to Berlin for the Iron Maiden concert. First we'll meet up with a friend who doesn't have any tickets, but it's enough for a few beers in front of the Waldbühne.

A day's break, but not really a break. From Wolfsburg we'll head on to the Harz Mountains a day later - See you at the Devils Wall. Rockharz is the order of the day. A 1.5 hour journey is pretty relaxed. The queue at the entrance wasn't quite so relaxed. But what can I say. We had three pallets of beer in the car, fresh from the fridge, so we could start treating ourselves to one or two things. Vincent and I were the first to go and reserved the spot, Doro still has to work and will later pick up Meli at the train station, who is coming spontaneously from Switzerland to celebrate with us. It's going to be fun.

We've found some great neighbors, oh dear. But hey, when it's all about pork and gravy, and you can pick your nose a little too, then everything's great. Cheers!

The penultimate festival of the year also ended without any problems. Since I still had a 450km journey home the next day, we decided to pack up the tent and everything on Saturday and start the journey home to Wolfsburg in the evening after the last concert. We fell into bed shortly before two in the morning. I think we'll see our neighbors again soon. Next year at the latest, when it's 30 years of Rockharz.

Now we'll have a few weeks of peace and quiet before we head up back to Berlin. The Waldbühne again, but this time with Deichkind. I still had a ticket left that I wanted to get rid of. That didn't work out, but the party in front of the stage with the countless bruises after an evening in the pit is simply priceless.

And now, at the end of August, we've almost made it, the festival summer is coming to an end. Two events are still to come; RAMMSTEIN and another festival.

A friend and I bought the tickets for Rammstein at the beginning of 2019 and we wanted to meet for the concert. We met on the trip and my friend actually wanted to travel further, but thanks to Big-C that was no longer possible. So it happened that we both started from Germany and met in Mexico City at the end of September. Three planned concerts to conclude the North American tour were planned in the Foro-Sol. This is also where Formula 1 races. The arena itself holds 65,000 people, the interior another 40,000. Word should have gotten around by now that Rammstein is the most successful German band, and we were able to experience live that Mexicans are crazy about it.

A little damaged by the air conditioning everywhere, the cultural part in Mexico City turned out to be a little less than I had hoped. But we did visit the castle and the Anthropological Museum. And we also had a leisurely stroll through the town. And Coke and coffee are just awesome. It's a shame that they don't have it in Germany, but I packed two cans. Near the Zocalo, the main square of the town, we found a pizzeria that was amazing. The location was unremarkable from the outside, half dilapidated. Not much better from the inside, the top floor was cordoned off because it was in danger of collapsing, and part of the building had obviously already collapsed. But they didn't give up, they just built a skate park on the spot and ended up with an unbelievably great atmosphere for eating really great pizza.

Four days in one of the world's largest metropolitan centers come to an end just as quickly. On to the last festival, off to Sacramento - California, AFTERSHOCK Festival here I come. I had entered the USA during a stopover when I flew to Mexico, so I quickly got through customs and started looking for a rental car. Since I had a few days, I thought it would be best to be as flexible as possible so that I could do a bit of sightseeing while I was in the USA. But the distances are long, very long. And so it happened that, apart from a short stopover at the Golden Gate Bridge, I had no time for any games or other detours from San Francisco, so I drove straight to Sacramento, where I had rented a room.

In the evening I bought food for the next few days and a SIM card for my cell phone. And as I was sipping my after-work beer, the other residents of the building slowly arrived. The whole house was rented out and they were all there to go to the festival. That's great, we can organize carpools to the exhibition car park from where the shuttle buses go to the festival grounds. When I arrived at the festival grounds, I first had to get my festival wristband. I felt a bit strange because I had received an email two weeks earlier saying that the wristbands had been sent out. But it was no problem, I showed the booking confirmation and shortly afterwards I had my wristband. It worked really well. The festival grounds themselves were in a great location in Discovery Park. Four stages, lots of shade, the US military with all departments there to collect new recruits and otherwise very well organized. But nobody had expected the heat and the water stations were constantly overflowing. But the next day, the situation was remedied and five additional water filling stations were set up.

After four days, the last festival of the summer came to an end. What an experience. If only the beer hadn't been so expensive. But it's not just about drinking, at least there's more time to enjoy the music, and I was really good at that. I still have one more day before I have to go back to San Francisco for my flight home. Visiting one of the national parks is simply not possible, it's much too far. So I found out what there is in the immediate area. And lo and behold, Sacramento has a lot to offer. But since I had to vacate my room, I got in my rental car and headed straight into the city. The old town, the railway museum, the Tower Bridge, and before I knew it, the day was over. I stayed in a motel on the outskirts of town for the night. Finding a restaurant was a bit more difficult than I thought. Everything was closed, that can't be true. Luckily, the Indian restaurant next to the motel was still there. I wanted something else, but before there was nothing at all. It didn't taste particularly good either, but whatever. Brush your teeth, pee, and go to bed.

Today I'm driving back to San Francisco. The few kilometers were supposed to be relaxed. But like the drive to Sacramento, it just drags on unbelievably. And then I also picked a route that promised a bit of variety. I had the variety, including gigantic views towards San Jose from Mt. Hamilton, where there is still a large observatory. And at some point I almost panicked that I wouldn't have enough time to get to the airport on time.

In the end I made it to the airport on time. I didn't fill up the tank, even though I was supposed to return it with a full tank, but even after half a year no one has complained about that. And in the early evening my non-stop flight to Frankfurt took off.

After 12 days, something like a vacation, the 2022 festival summer will come to an end. It was exhausting at times, but I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it.

I hope you enjoyed reading it again and see you next time.

Best wishes

Your Ecki

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