Rock Am Records

Germany’s major festival season opened with Marek Lieberberg’s twinned Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park pulling record-breaking crowds and a welter of national and European coverage.

There were 88,000 at the Nürburgring Formula 1 racetrack in west Germany for Rock Am Ring June 1-3, while a further 76,500 showed up to Nuremberg in south Germany for Rock Im Park.

“It was fantastic and both were sold out way in advance,” Lieberberg told Pollstar, as the two gatherings beat the attendance records set in their 25th anniversary years in 2010.

The combined crowd of about 170,000, including bands, crews and guests, was more than 3,000 up on what the festivals pulled two years ago.

Germans who didn’t make it to the festival could still enjoy the show, as it was broadcast on two national TV channels and two national radio stations, plus various media outlets throughout Europe.

Globally, the festivals could be viewed in 132 countries.

Lieberberg was fulsome in his praise of headliners Linkin Park, Metallica and Die Toten Hosen, but also said there were some special performances further down the bill.

He cited troubled rocker Pete Doherty, “who turned up on time and did a great show,” and offbeat American rock duo Tenacious D.

“Tenacious D has its own brand of humour and it was wonderful how the audience got it,” Lieberberg explained. “They said they’d hang around after their set because they’d heard that acts like Metallica and Billy Talent have shown a lot of promise.”

The other acts setting what Lieberberg called “a new benchmark” for his twinned festivals included Soundgarden, Gossip, The Offspring, Kasabian, Deichkind, Keane, The Hives and Cypress Hill.