Summer feeling with wicked beats

Pounding beats and rich techno sounds: for three days in July, the airport compound in Weeze transforms into a Mecca of electronic music. On three days, over 200,000 visitors make up the fictitious city of Parookaville, which has a town hall, bank, church and post office with its own currency, and where you can even get married. Anyone who needs to cool down from the hot rhythms can take a dip in the swimming pool; tattooists work in the ‘prison’. Stamina is required for beats by famous DJs. And most definitely a few clothing changes. Because it wouldn’t be an authentic Parookaville experience without mud fights.

One size smaller, but no less exciting: the Electrisize Festival in Erkelenz also offers electronic and dance music. On two days in August, around 40,000 visitors experience international stars of the scene on several stages. Dancing their feet off and feeling good.

The Haldern Pop Festival in Rees is a bit like a smaller, Lower Rhine version of Woodstock. Lots of atmosphere, well-arranged, a musical grab bag. Indeed, musical superstars like Bob Geldof, Patty Smith and Reamonn have made guest appearances in the rural idyll. The altar servers would certainly not have dreamed of this when, in a party mood, they conjured up the festival out of nothing in the early 80s.

Colourful variety on the Lower Rhine

Moers Festival at Whitsun is one of the oldest music festivals in Germany. Once established as the trendy meeting place for free jazz music, today it’s a melting pot of world music. Wonderful ambience, unadulterated atmosphere: the ‘Fantastival’ programme ranges from classical to rock and lasts for several days in the castle courtyard at the heart of Dinslaken’s old town.

‘Free and outdoors’ is the motto of EselRock Festival in Wesel, and as a family friendly rock music event with a beer garden, ‘Da ist was im Busch’ is known as the successor to the legendary Eier mit Speck Festival in Viersen on the last weekend in July. In August, ‘Folklorefest’ in the heart of the town of Krefeld is the place to be for world music, a wonderful meeting place of cultures.

The pace at the punk-rock festival ‘Sound of Suburbia’ in Mönchengladbach is considerably more rigorous. You can experience open-air flair at ‘Sommermusik an der Burg’ in Kempen or Rheydt Castle. However, you can also be a part of the Caribbean-style Street Beach Festival hosted by Neuss and Krefeld or gain a sense of colours at the Holi Festival of Colours in Neuss.

This is colourful variety on the Lower Rhine: as colourful as it is musical.