Festivals “There’s multiple angles as to why the festival is significant” - Celebrating 20 years of Reeperbahn Festival

What inspired you to start the event? Was it a trip to SXSW Festival that first planted the idea in your mind?
Alex: That’s the honest answer, yes; we were both there for in the same year, in the year 2000. It was maybe three main topics [that inspired us]; the quality of the music being performed, the very different genres that were presented, even at that time, 25 years ago. And of course, the whole idea behind it, [of] checking out new talents from all these different genres at a high quality level, in one venue next to another. Because if you check out new talents, you must support the chance to say, ‘no, that’s not my music, I’m going to go next door’.
We didn’t have the chance to behave like we behave on the internet now - every second when we are listening to music - so it was like a physical skipping. You test out a talent on stage and you drop in next door, check out the next one. That’s what all of us are doing right now on the phone using Spotify, but at that time, [we couldn’t] do it like that.

Frehn: I played with my band and we even got a little mention in the Austin Chronicle for playing one of the loudest shows, so that was good!
What kind of really jumped into mind was this similarity between Sixth Street and those environments, and St. Pauli and the club denseness; everything’s in walking distance, everything’s kind of nearby. People know it as an area where they go to watch bands or where the music happens. So that was kind of a similarity. [Alex] said that to me and I said, ‘yeah, good luck’, because we had a similar thing in Hamburg already called Night of the Clubs, which was mostly presenting local talent. I think that went for a couple of years, but it was a bit on its last legs. I said, ‘you better get that kind of thing out to bring in the proper new stuff’. Also, it was that the Germans weren’t too used to the entire concept of a showcase festival at first, so we had to kind of develop that. But the funny thing is, after our conversation, five years later, we were sitting in the office with Karsten [Jahnke, promoter] talking about the first kind of steps of Reeperbahn Festival.

What did the first edition of Reeperbahn look like back in 2006? Was it a much smaller affair, or because you’d been planning for a long time, did it end up bigger?
Alex: Actually, we went in too big! You know, we were working on an idea for five or six years. You have to step beside yourself and see it from above; I had attended SXSW several times before we did our first edition and I was like, ‘oh yeah, of course we can make it’, but we did that first edition too large. It’s like Frehn said, the strongest headliner in this concept is the brand because you’re presenting new talents, and you cannot count on the editions from years before, if it’s your first edition. You have to persuade the audience and the industry to use this new platform because it’s going to be a good one. We knew that we had to lead people into the concept, and we did place some more prominent acts, but that was not enough. There were not many people believing in the concept. That year, we only recouped half the budget. We started with 25 venues and we could have done it in 10 or 12 venues, and that would’ve been enough for the interest that we caused. And that’s what we did in the second year!

Frehn: What was significant in that first year was that we kept adding genres, like jazz and whatnot, and it was a bit too all over the shop. But what was a winning formula was, behind the scenes, everybody in Hamburg realised that this was a chance to present their acts to the public. So everyone was working to make Reeperbahn Festival happen. Everybody was contributing and that was really unseen before.

Over the years have there been any stand-out artists that you’ve had perform at Reeperbahn? Any particularly fond memories of acts before they became big names?
Alex: I have two stories: Ed Sheeran and Bon Iver. [The latter] was 2008 or 2009, and it was one of Bon Iver’s first European shows in a little, 500 capacity venue. The really interesting point is that at that time it was still possible to agree and negotiate one-off deals directly with the concert promoter or management. We met them in Austin at SXSW and just asked them, ‘what do you think about coming over to Hamburg in September?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, maybe!’ Then., with Ed Sheeran, he was signed to Warner Music and he was in an 800 capacity club. He was only there with his guitar and he was very fresh; that was 2011, I guess.

Frehn: We had Rag’n’Bone Man play a tiny show in Hamburg before he really took off. Then, when we had the first edition of our music prize, the Anchor Award, we had Shame in the first year, and we had Yard Act as a winner in 2018, so there’s quite the track record there. Once people realised that Reeperbahn is a good presentation platform, things really fell into place because everyone realised that this is the gateway into Germany.

What sort of lasting impact do you think the festival has had on the city of Hamburg itself?
Frehn: In the long run, our festival has helped the city to understand how super important it is to keep the club landscape alive and how to maintain it, and not like in other cities, such as London or New York, [who have] let the investors reign, but really kind of [looking after it]. That’s why, for instance, they helped [independent venue] Molotow three times to find a new premises. There’s multiple angles as to why the festival is significant and what we’ve made happen over the years.

Reeperbahn Festival has also been a key player in PRS Foundation’s Keychange campaign; why has line-up diversity been so important to the festival over the years?
Frehn: There was always this idea to present talents that are not just catering to the actual need, but also challenging the audiences and educating them a bit in terms of, ‘did you know that this is also happening’ or ‘did you know that there’s a whole range of artists who you’ve probably never heard about that are as good’ and stuff like that.

Alex: It was also about telling the industry,  ‘your audience - whether you’re a record distributor, record label, or a festival promoter - is expecting a gender equal and diverse lineup or catalogue or whatever you put in the shop. If you would follow our recommendation, you will be stronger in the market than your competitor’. That’s the recommendation we give here, and that’s why our lineup is like it is. I mean, Keychange is not just a threat to the industry, it gives a hand and asks the industry to follow, because from what we hear, even from the younger audience, is they expect it.

Frehn: Even more[so] in these years, with the current trend of all the diversity programmes having been cut back throughout America; it becomes even more important. There’s a young generation coming after and they just expect it. And you can’t take that away, no matter how much you cut back on certain diversity programmes. I think that makes it more important to still keep going and even push it out a little bit more.

Reeperbahn Festival will take place from 17th-20th September in various venues across Hamburg - including Molotow Club, where DIY will be hosting our very own stage on Wednesday (17th). Find out more and nab tickets at reeperbahnfestival.com.

Tags: Features, Festivals, Reeperbahn Festival