Lolla Berlin Waking The Dead?

Ambassadors of 10 former Soviet states wrote a letter to Berlin’s mayor, asking him to have the German Lollapalooza moved to another location, because of a war memorial in Treptower Park dedicated to Soviet soldiers who died in World War II.

While a spokesperson of the district office in charge told Welt.de that the festival area wouldn’t include the memorial, the ambassadors maintain that it would “disturb the honor and memory of the fallen.” About 7,500 soldiers lie buried underneath the memorial, which, according to the ambassadors, rendered Treptower Park an “inappropriate and unacceptable” location for Lollapalooza. The festival, which is supposed to go down Sept. 10-11, already had to move once, as the site where it had premiered in 2015, the old airport Tempelhof, is currently offering shelter to refugees.

The district office’s spokesperson also told Welt.de that district officials were in talks with the festival’s promoters and ambassadors. The news site takes this as proof that an official permit to stage the event in Treptower Park hasn’t been granted yet. Hörstmann Unternehmensgruppe, the promoters of Lollapalooza Berlin, seem confident: the lineup for the second edition was completed. Acts like Lindsey Stirling, The Temper Trap and Tocotronic join Radiohead, Kings of Leon, and Major Lazer on the bill.