Melting In The Heat

Stefan Lehmkuhl’s award-winning Melt Festival nearly did just that as a 16,000-capacity sellout crowd experienced three days of blistering sunshine on the shores of the Gremminer See in Germany.

At times the heat at the Ferropolis site at Graefenhainichen – a former open-face coal mine – was a little too much, but Lehmkuhl reported that it didn’t seem to bother the fans.

“It ran smoothly, peacefully and without any notable disturbances,” Lehmkuhl told Pollstar, pointing out that fencing the camping area appears to have cut thefts and illegal ticket sales.

Melt is the holder of the German Live Entertainment Award for Festival Of The Year for 2009, which it won at this year’s ceremony in Hamburg. In 2007 the Ferropolis site won the award for best venue.

Its growing international reputation is shown by the fact that about 30 percent of this year’s crowd came from outside Germany, mainly from England, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.

The acts helping to melt the crowd July 16-18 included Massive Attack, Blood Red Shoes, Friendly Fires, Goldfrapp, Jamie Lidell, Kings Of Convenience, Johnossi and The xx. Melt 2011 is July 15-17.