Today I´m going to tell you something about Germany´s biggest music festival called Rock am Ring that took place last weekend at the Nürburgring. Due to its size it already might be familiar to some of you, but trotzdem (nevertheless) in my opinion it´s worth an article about German culture.

As every year the line up was amazing. Some bands that performed this year were  Thirty Seconds to Mars, Fettes Brot, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Bullet for My Valentine, The Prodigy, Beatsteaks, Green Day, Sportfreunde Stiller, Bad Religion…

The German band SEEED started on of the biggest Harlem Shakes ever I guess…take look:

The festival took place erstmals (for the first time) in 1985. Originally it was planned to be a one time show. But due to its big success (about 75.000 people showed up) the responsible persons decided to do it every year. In 1988 the visitor rates decreased. A two year break was the consequence.

But in 1991 the biggest rock festival in Germany came back with a revised concept. One of the main focuses was to introduce more newcomers to the crowd. Some of the bands and artist who were unbekannt (unknown) by that time are bin in business nowadays. For example INXS or Alanis Morisette performed at Rock am Ring in front of a big crowd.

In 1993 the parallel festival Rock in Vienna took place for the first time. The following year it moved to Munich (Rock in Riem) and in 1995 it finally became Rock im Park in Nürnberg (Nuremberg) that takes place at the same time as Rock am Ring since 1997. Normally the same bands perform at the twin festival but because of Terminschwierigkeiten (schedule difficulties) sometimes it happens that some bands could only be seen at one of them.

A major Bestandteil (component) of the festival is camping around the festival area. But the  character of camping at Rock am Ring has changed over the years. In the beginning only a few little Zelte (tents) and Vans were there. But meanwhile there are thousands of outdoor pavillons and Wohnmobile (Campers). Even big trucks with sofas and couches appeared.

In 2013 a sister festival called Rock´n´Heim is going to take place for the first time from August 16th to 18th. The Besetzung (line up) there is fantastic as well.

So if you missed Rock am Ring or Rock im Park, there´s still a chance to freak out in August!

Tell me something about the festivals in your countries. Are there big ones, famous ones or good ones? My favourite for example is the Sziget Festival in Budapest/Hungary… Let us know!

Some vocabulary to this post:
trotzdem – nevertheless
erstmals  – for the first time
unbekannt  -unknown
Nürnberg  -Nuremberg
die Terminschwierigkeiten – schedule difficulties
der Bestandteil – component
das Zelt – tent
das Wohnmobil – camper
die Besetzung – line up