Karsten Jahnke Celebrates 10,000 Visitors At Amplifire Festival Premiere In Hamburg

Punk rockers Bad Religion brought the inaugural Amplifire Festival in Hamburg, Germany, to a close on Saturday, Aug. 8, with their only German performance in 2026.

Some 10,000 visitors enjoyed an international line-up of 30 bands spanning the genres of alternative rock, post-hardcore and punk rock at the MS Artville site in Hamburg’s harbor, according to Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion (KJ), promoter of the festival.

“The combination of a carefully curated and diverse program, the venue’s unrivaled atmosphere, and the festival’s commitment to taking a clear political stance proved a resounding success and was very well received,” a promoter résumé reads.

Alongside established names like Biffy Clyro (UK), Bad Religion (US), Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls (UK), The Get Up Kids (US), John Coffey (NL) and FJØRT (DE), bands such as Van Holzen (DE), High Vis (UK), ARXX (UK) and newcomers like Karen Dió (BR), Blood Command (NO), South Arcade (UK), SKIRT. (DE), The Hebridean Sheep (DE) and many more took the stage at the inaugural Amplifire Festival.

During their exclusive album shows as part of the Amplifire Festival, Turbostaat (DE) performed “Vormann Leiss”, whilst the British post-hardcore quartet Tribute To Nothing (GB) performed “How Many Times Did We Live?” in its entirety.

KJ already set dates for Amplifire Festival 2027, which will return to the MS Artville site on Hamburg’s harbor Aug. 6-7, 2027. The first round of super early bird tickets was already sold out at the time of this writing, while the second round of tickets was going fast.

Comments:

Thomas Harsman, Head of Booking Amplifire Festival, “When organizing a specialist festival like this in times such as these, all you can do is give it your all and hope for the best. But the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve received from bands, industry representatives and, above all, the audience, confirms that we were on the right track with our festival concept and spurs us on to step it up a gear next year.“

Bjoern Hansen, CEO KJ Projects, “When years of preparation culminate in an experience like last weekend, it is a wonderful validation of our passion and work. From now on we know that there is a need for “the real rock n roll experience” in Hamburg and we are on track now to further develop our new Festival brand. Bad Religion can come back whenever they like, but we also would like to establish Amplifire as a platform to discover exciting new acts and artists!”

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