The Freilichtbühne Loreley (Loreley Open-Air Theatre) is an
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) 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 ('), meani ...
located on top of the
Lorelei rock in
St. Goarshausen, Germany. Designed by
Hermann Senf, it was built between 1934 and 1939 as one of the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
''
Thingplätze'' and is one of the best known of these. It has been used continuously since World War II, initially mainly for theatrical performances and since 1976, mainly for rock concerts.
Third Reich
The arena was designed by Hermann Senf, who referred to the Loreley rock as a "kind of shrine".
[Étienne François and Hagen Schulze, eds., ''Deutsche Erinnerungsorte'', Volume 3, Munich: Beck, 2001, ]
p. 497
It is one of the best known of the ''Thingspielplätze'', which were built by the Nazi regime for cultural events.
Construction lasted from 1934 to 1939, and the opening took place on 21 June with a performance of
Schiller's ''
Wilhelm Tell''.
[Loreley - History]
Loreley Aktuell, Touristinfo Loreley-Burgenstrasse
1 June 2011 at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
Post-war
After World War II, the facility was the site of an international camp for European youth in the summer of 1951, and was then used for the presentation of classic drama from 1952 to 1967. In 1968, it began to be used for both orchestral and pop concerts, and since 1976, when
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
played there, it has been used mainly for rock concerts, but also for films and religious services.
[ Other rock performers who have appeared there include the ]Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...
, Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
, the Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...
, Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
, Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as
"Feelin' Alright ...
, Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
, the Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
, Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer and songwriter. He was previously the lead vocalist of the rhythm and blues, R&B and Rock music, rock band The Animals and the funk band War (band), War. He is regarded as one of the Br ...
, Marillion
Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...
, Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
,[ ]R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
, and Muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
. Since 1981, it has been a frequent location for Westdeutscher Rundfunk
(; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...
's '' Rockpalast''[ and from 1981 to 1985, it hosted the affiliated Loreley Open Air Festivals. Since 2006, the annual ]Night of the Prog
Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of su ...
music festival has been held there, with the exception of 2020, when it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
The Loreley theatre holds 5,000 seats[ and has a capacity of about 15,000.][Ray Waddell]
"SMG Inks Deal To Manage Germany's Loreley Venue"
''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', 9 June 2004. Formerly managed by SMG Europe,[ the venue is now run by Loreley Venue Management GmbH, which was registered in 2010.Loreley Venue Management GmbH]
, GermanCompanies.net, retrieved 2 May 2013. Since 2000, non-event visits to the arena have been permitted.[
]
References
External links
*
* Geoff Walden
Third Reich in Ruins: photographs from the 1930s and 1940s
Night of the Prog official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freilichtbuhne Loreley
Music venues in Germany
Loreley