Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival has grown into a massive industry gathering with more than 200 workshops and panels and over 600 concerts, orchestrating no less than 450 musicians and bands and 5.000 delegates. While also selling a load of “civilian” tickets – more than 43.000 people attended this year. In the past, this had led to smash packed venues and stressed out security personnel trying to manage expectations and realities at the door in realtime.
This year’s festival felt a bit different and more relaxed and Team Poule believes it was largely due to the phenomenal and diverse lineup they put together: a broad range of genres and popularities that kind of naturally enabled the masses to distribute themselves more evenly among the 70+ mostly small to medium sized venues.
To relive the experience, make sure to listen to the official Poule d’Or playlist. A handful of bands from Korea really put their country and art into the spotlight, with Wah Wah Wah displaying a clean Gen Z cut of 90s brit pop while Lee Seung Yoon pushed boundaries, both physically and musically.
This year’s festival award Anchor went home with Mei Semones and her charming voice and tunes. She performed a marvelous set at Mojo and her previous work with Poule d’Or favorite Monster Rally also deserves a shout (Spotify)
Reeperbahn Festival really went all-in with their booking and collaborations this year. Great performances included Swiss crooners Soft Loft, the grand riffs and piercing vocals by Dry Cleaning and most strikingly Parisian composer and all around aura Leonie Pernet – catch her buzzing Paris-Brazzaville attached below.
A solid Poule d’Or favorites took shape in the form of Belgian-Portuguese supergroup Collignon. The mad group swung home one of the finest sets of this year’s festival and will be one not to miss in the coming months.
Another gem to keep an eye on are Montreal’s Bye Parula. They play a fine blend of indie pop and electronic vibes, driven by a pure sense for melodies and when to put their foot down. The group already played a few EU gigs and left with a promise for more. They have a phenomenal album lined up for release later this year.
For the past few years, the most standout performances of Reeperbahn Festival have been booked for the mighty Elbphilharmonie – Hamburg’s colossal opera house built on top an old brick port building with its main concert hall hanging inside a sparkly glass facade. This year, Pip Millett took on this broad stage in the center of steep seats and gave it all alongside her cool band, evidenced below.
Next up then, Swedish powerhouse Deki Alem partied hard on the main stage of Mojo, rapping over beats by a full live drum set which adds an amount of depth that is actually priceless. They released a great album this year and just imagine them going full speed over the cool hands of this drummer in the driver seat.
Self proclaimed “Turkish post punk” then came by way of Sinem. The trio played a packed and boiling Grüner Jäger location, leaving everything on stage. Another gem of good old fashioned Molotow vibes were performed by Australian indie rockers Teenage Dads – pure, simple, perfect.
Lastly then, Irish indie rockers Far Caspian did not hold back at the tall stage of Knust. Only to be followed up by Charif Megarbane playing his brilliant new album Hawalat with his absolutely mesmerizing riffs and full band – see below, a solid highlight and also worthy end to this year’s Reeperbahn Festival that felt like the richest and most rewarding edition of the last few iterations.
If you will have us, we will be back next year. Tickets are on sale, right now.
