Update on Open-Air Season

Patti Smith – new date in 2022

New Corona strains, a third wave… just when hopes were high that there might be a light at the end of the open-air live music ‘tunnel’ decisions have had to be made and shows postponed yet again. Top local promoter Ernst Ludwig Hartz is having what must be one of the greatest headaches of his long and successful career in trying to move dates and keep top stars on the local appearance list.

Here is an update of what is, what isn’t, and what will hopefully be this Summer…

ELH Promotions has now announced that all open-air concerts on Grafenwerth Island will be postponed until 2022. That means the appearances of Albert Hammond (June 3, 2021), Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets (June 5, 2021), Andreas Vollenweider & Friends (June 6, 2021) and Patti Smith (June 7, 2021). Some good news at least here is that a re-schedule for the Smith concert has already been set, Hartz reported. It is now to take place on June 6, 2022.

Patti Smith (now 74) will have extra reason for attending as she is due to receive The International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Poverty Alleviation and Inclusion. Initiated by Torsten Schreiber and Andreas Loesch, the prize, which includes an endowment of 10,000 Euros alongside the ‘Evolute’ trophy itself, will be awarded for the sixth time.

There are also implications for the KunstRasen open-air series in Bonn and at Roncalliplatz in Cologne. One definite victim of the seemingly endless postponements is Brian Ferry’s Roncalliplatz concert scheduled for 30 July for which no replacement date has been possible. Tickets sold are refundable.

World star Lionel Richie was originally set to play Kunstrasen in 2020 but is still determined to go out on his “Hello” summer tour. a new concert date has now been announced: Thursday, June 30, 2022. All tickets remain valid.

There is still hope for a purely Germanic Kunstrasen Festival this year in Gronau. With this in mind, and in the hope that vaccinations and time will prove to be on his side, Hartz has moved the original dates for German musicians to appear at the Festival to August as follows: