Haldern’s 25th Happening

Haldern’s 25th anniversary attracted a lot of media attention and festival chief Stefan Reichman said he believes it was the best edition the German event has staged.

The small festival with a huge reputation as a trendsetter had ARD digital TV station broadcast live footage of The Guillemots, Kate Nash, Editors and Kula Shaker. National papers including Der Spiegel, Die Welt and the German version of Rolling Stone focused on how the 6,000-capacity event in the Lower Rhine area has achieved such kudos.

The big regional dailies also ran features celebrating the anniversary.

Since 1984 Bob Geldof, Belle & Sebastian, dEUS, Muse, Kaiser Chiefs, Sportfreunde Stiller, Travis, Franz Ferdinand, Starsailor, Mando Diao, The Cardigans, Mogwai, Paolo Nutini, and The Kooks are among those to opt for Haldern when they could have done bigger gigs elsewhere.

The acts helping the festival, which was started by 54 “shareholders,” celebrate a cool quarter century August 7-9 also included The Flaming Lips, Iron & Wine, Fettes Brot, Foals and Joan As Police Woman.