Highfield Enjoys Upswing

Last year Highfield and Scorpio’s Area 4 Festival, which both happened over the same August weekend, saw attendance fall by 20 percent.

This year Highfield recovered some ground as the crowd was up 3,000 to 23,000, while the Hamburg-based promoter decided to ditch Area 4.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Scorpio head of festivals Jasper Barendregt explained, pointing out that the Lüdinghausen event had always lost money. “To break even, there had to be at least 3.000 to 5.000 more visitors every year,” he said.

Last year’s final Area 4 did 16,000 per day.

This year visitors to Highfield had the bonus of a new beach on the Hohenfelden Reservoir near Erfurt.

The acts helping to up Highfield’s fortunes Aug. 16-18 included Die Arzte, Billy Talent, Deichkind, The Gaslight Anthem, Silbermond, NOFX, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, and The Lumineers.