No Editors And No Headlines

Stefan Reichmann believes his Haldern Festival in Germany may as well not bother stretching its budget for headline acts because the critics and crowd usually find something they enjoy much more further down the bill.

Apart from the U.K.’s Editors pulling out because of problems traveling back from a southern hemisphere run – which annoyed Reichmann because he thought he got a good price by booking early in the year before the second album– he said he’s fed up with having to find more and more money for bill-toppers.

He’s now reached the conclusion that he’d rather spend the money to raise the quality of the entire lineup

A review in the 360,000-circulation national daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung took the same view, praising the highly regarded niche festival’s ability to spot "new stuff" and detailing some stunning performances from "a lot of no-name acts."

Kate Nash, whose U.K. debut single "Foundations" only missed out on the No.1 slot by a handful of sales, stepped in to fill the gap left by Editors, although she couldn’t make the same headline slot.

Reichmann was also impressed by the crowd reaction to relative unknowns including Norway’s Serena Maneesh, Denmark’s Under Byen, the U.K.’s Maccabees and Canada’s Patrick Watson.

The other acts playing to a 7,500-capacity crowd on the picturesque Oak tree-laden meadows by the lower Rhine at Rees-Haldern August 2-4 were The Magic Numbers, Spiritualized, The Waterboys, An Pierle & White Velvet, The Electric Soft Parade, Architecture In Helsinki, Shout Out Louds, Two Gallants, The View, and Loney, Dear