The admission-free music festival in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
was first held in the early 1970s and attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually. With the "MusicSommer" program in August 2000, the event achieved an entry in the 2002
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the "longest continuous music
open air
Open air, open-air or openair may refer to:
*''Open Air'', a BBC television program
*Open-air cinema or outdoor cinema
*Open-air concert, a concert taking place outside
*Open-air museum, a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of- ...
festival in the world".
Venue
The festival is held at the
Seebühne, which rises slightly to the west of the swimming pool in the lake of the Munich Olympic area. About 5,000 visitors can sit on the steps of the quarter-round
amphitheater
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
and the adjacent grass slopes, and can view the round concrete platform with a diameter of 20 meters and an area of 280 square meters. Due to the similar construction style of the
ancient Greek theaters, the stage and event also received their names.
History
The actual initiator of the music event was Jürgen Birr aka "Anurakta", on his part a
Sannyasa
''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' As ...
-follower, who already in the summer 1973, one year after the
12. Olympic summer games, sporadically brought musicians to the sea stage in the Olympiapark for the first time. The audience therefore, for a long time, came from the
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
and
Bhagvan movement. In 1974, Birr organized the first open-air "Theatron" concert with Artur Silber, a drummer of a band called Sonnenschiff and later in Central Park, together with the Jugendkulturwerk München and Einberg Musik Motor on 23 June with the band Sahara.
Development
The first concerts were still performed on the empty concrete surface. Over the years, a mobile stage system for the artists with a roof was added and the equipment became more professional. In addition to the interpreters, who mostly came from the regional area, often also young talents, the "Theatron" presents more and more known celebrities, some of which were originally relatively unknown when they first performed there. Some of the best known performers of the "Theatron" include
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
,
Eisbrecher
Eisbrecher (; German for "icebreaker") are a German Neue Deutsche Härte band that consists primarily of Alexander Wesselsky (vocals) and Noel Pix (lead guitar/ programming), with live support from Jürgen Plangger (guitar), Rupert Keplinger ...
,
Sportfreunde Stiller
Sportfreunde Stiller () is a German indie rock band from Germering near Munich, Bavaria.
History
The band was founded by Peter Brugger (guitar, vocals), Florian "Flo" Weber (drums), and Andi Erhard (bass). They initially wanted to name themsel ...
,
Culcha Candela
Culcha Candela is a dancehall, hip hop, house and reggae group from Berlin, Germany. Sources say they formed at different times but in the range of 2001–2003. Their lyrics range from political issues, such as "Una Cosa" or "Schöne, neue Welt" ...
,
Mic,
Etta Scollo
Etta Scollo (born 27 May 1958) is an Italian singer and songwriter.
Her music combines traditional Sicilian music, pop and jazz.
Biography
Born in Catania, Italy, she moved to Turin to study Architecture. She abandoned her studies to devote he ...
, Bananafishbones,
Megaherz
Megaherz (English "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone " megahertz") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Eichenau in 1993.
Megaherz has gone through many changes in musical style since their founding. Their early works are a fair ...
,
Fury in the Slaughterhouse
Fury in the Slaughterhouse is a German rock band from Hanover, founded in 1987. Their hits include "Time to Wonder", "Every Generation Got Its Own Disease", "Won't Forget These Days", "Radio Orchid", "Dancing in the Sunshine of the Dark", "Mil ...
, Christoph Weiherer,
Passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
,
Emil Bulls
Emil Bulls is a German rock band that was formed in 1995 in Munich, Bavaria. The group consists of two guitarists, a bass guitar player, a drummer and a vocalist/guitarist.
History
In 1995, Christoph "Christ" von Freydorf (vocals) and Stefan ...
, Pussybox ,
Ougenweide
Ougenweide was a German progressive rock band. They are notable for being pioneers of the medieval folk rock subgenre. (In German) The name comes from Middle High German ''ougenweide'' (Augenweide - ''feast for the eyes'').
Band history The b ...
and
Killerpilze
The Killerpilze (German for "Killer Mushrooms") is a German pop rock/pop punk band from Dillingen an der Donau, Germany. Recently, the band has also scheduled a show in Russia alongside another German band called " Panik".
History
Killerpilze w ...
. In 2004, Artur Silber handed over the event management to today's organizers Judith Becker and Antonio Seidemann, founder of EurArt.
As early as the beginning of the 1990s, the Theatron concerts, still known as "Theatron Rocksommer", took place all-day on Sunday. Through the changes in concept and the renaming to "Theatron MusikSommer" that all changed. The "Theatron" today is organized by the ARGE Theatron MusikSommer, which, in addition to the EurArt Festiviteitung, which takes place in alternating compilations of various free-lancers, commercial and communal organizers, including the Kulturreferat, the Youth Office, the Streetworkers, the Celebration Society, the Rock House Association and the Media Center Munich of the JFF Institute. In addition to the support of the
Munich Olympiapark GmbH, the event is also supported by other sponsors.
The audience of the "Theatron" has long been composed of all population groups and age groups. Many visitors still bring their own beverages and food, even though mobile beer vendors accompany the event. For
noise reasons the music events end at 10 pm and the
average sound level on the
mixing console
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic inst ...
is 90 dB(A).
At the Musiksommer 2015, for security reasons, the 60 centimeter raised dance floor in front of the stage was blocked off.
Theatron MusikSommer
Probably since 1996 the actual series of events has been called "Theatron MusicSommer". The event takes place relatively simultaneously to the adjacent impark summer festival. For about a month, bands or singers of different musical genres and other artists perform every evening. Short films and other cultural programs also fill the stage program.
Theatron PfingstFestival
The three-day
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
festival has supplemented the summer event since the year 2000. In 2007 it was supported for the first time by the
BR-Jugend- und Szenemagazin Zündfunk and belonged to the Bavarian Open, which were then replaced by on3 (since 2013 pulse). In 2014, the event took place from 23 to 25 May, ie around 14 days before the Pentecost weekend. Among the participants were Gin Ga, Aloa Input, Matteo Capreoli, Farewell Dear Ghost, and Jesper Munk, who had already performed at the MusikSommer 2013.
References
External links
Official WebsiteBill archive starting in 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theatron
Music festivals in Germany
Festivals in Munich