Rain On Sunrise Avenue

Steady rain that had fallen all day turned into a heavy downpour during Finnish rock act Sunrise Avenue’s Friday evening set, kicking off a weekend that saw Das Fest become another outdoor to suffer from a very wet European summer.

Apart from some festivals in southern Europe, central Europe, The Balkans and even some parts of eastern Germany that baked under near record temperatures, most of the rest of the continent has had the sort of weather that’s more suitable for building arks than going to outdoor live music shows.

"It started raining again after The Beatsteaks show on the Saturday and the audience went home early," said Das Fest booker Rolf Fluhrer.

The extremely popular free festival at Gunther Klotz Park, Karlsruhe, regularly pulls crowds of 100,000 per day but depends on the fans spending money on site.

When they shuffle off early it hits takings and Fluhrer expects Das Fest 2008 will make a smaller profit, although – wet as it was – he doesn’t think it was anywhere bad enough to lose profits.

The other acts helping Fluhrer weather the storm July 20-22 included Die Fantastischen Vier, Sugarplum Fairy, The Vengeance Clan, Nico Suave, The Killertunes and Pink Cream 69.