Reeperbahn 2016: ‘An Investment In New Talent’

The producer legend was referring to the wealth of concerts (450-plus) that take place along Hamburg’s Reeperbahn each year. The day conference tackled the most pressing music industry issues. As far as live entertainment is concerned, those were weather and terrorism in Europe. Promoter Stephan Thanscheidt relived the stormy and rainy editions of Hurricane/Southside in a panel dubbed “Stress Test for Festivals.”

At Hurricane, firefighters had to pump out about 10 million liters of water “into forests that turned into lakes.” Overall damage at both festivals amounted to tens of millions of euros. On another panel (Epic Production) eps’s Ocan Tombulca pointed toward UK festivals Glastonbury and Download, which have always been muddy. “I’m not sure if it got worse. Rather more concentrated,” Tombulca said. “I think we’re just more sensible. We’re looking closer.”

Insurance broker Matthias Grischke said that premiums for weather insurance would probably increase by 20 to 30 percent. He also talked terrorism, and explained how an all-round insurance package would set promoters back substantial amounts. In times when particularly small promoters are struggling with tight margins, this is bad news. Pollstar’s Brij Gosai presented Pollstar’s mid-year figures to a packed room of venue operators, promoters and young professionals wanting to set foot in the business.

Eurosonic Noorderslaag’s Peter Smidt joined him on stage and encouraged venue owners in particular to submit their figures and make use of the opportunity and become visible to an international audience of live professionals.

The keynotes by John Giddings and Tony Visconti were well received.

Giddings relived some intense Isle of Wight moments while Visconti explained the differences in working with Marc Bolan and David Bowie, respectively. Reeperbahn Festival’s organizers including directors Alexander Schulz and Detlef Schwarte were happy with this year’s edition, describing it as a “jamboree, upon which we’re looking back proudly.”

The date for 2017 (Sept. 20-23) has already been set.