Major Bonn concerts at the Kunstrasen have been complemented by further top musicians on the tiny island of Grafenwerth in recent years, and top Bonn promoter E.L. Hartz has decided not just to continue this trend but to expand on it in 2022. At a press conference today Bad Honnef Mayor Otto Neuhoff, Sonja Schwalbe (Tourist Promotion) and Hartz announced the plans and the musicians we can enjoy in June/July next year.

 

For those not so familiar with Bonn’s geography, Grafenwerth is one of two small islands in the Rhine next to Bad Honnef, with a stunning view of the Siebengebirge hills in the distance. A large part of it is parkland, and Joan Baez was one of the musicians to grace it in 2019 as a part of her farewell tour. The shows there in 2019 were so successful that more were planned in 2020 – then came Covid. Again in 2021, Covid meant complete cancellation. Ernst-Ludwig Hartz doesn’t give up though – and here we are with the plans for 2022.

 

First some bad news. Due to health reasons, Albert Hammond has cancelled tour activities for 2022, which includes his planned June Bonn show. That leaves six shows between 3 June and 2 July all of which are well worth a visit.

 

Former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth will be pairing up with the Cologne Symphony Orchestra to present a World Premiere multi-media show ‘The Alpha Experience’ including lasers, dancers and video installations. Guitar fans will want to see the neo-classic Metal superstar play one of his signature Sky guitars for sure – and at over 30,000 Dollars a time for the current top model the admission price is a significant saving on buying one to listen to it. Quite a spectrum.  Certainly a musical duel between Roth’s Sky guitar and Nigel Kennedy‘s violin alone should be worth the entrance fee to both Classical and Rock fans!

Andreas Vollenweider is also a groundbreaking musician with his own instrument – a modified electro-acoustic harp. The New York Times once described his sound thus: “Vollenweider’s music is like the folk music of a mysterious tribe of an unknown country on a continent not yet discovered”.
Certainly, his innovative and unmistakable music enjoys worldwide acclaim to this day. In 2012 he received a Swiss Music Award for outstanding achievement – and continues to innovate, including providing special music to stimulate and calm the brain activity of prematurely born babies with the aim of preventing brain damage. On that basis it almost seems superfluous to say he has played at venues like Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall and the London Palladium. Simply put: with his harp, Andreas Vollenweider has created his own instrument, his own style, an unmistakable musical vocabulary, the music world agrees. It all began in the early 80s with a trio. This was followed by almost forty years in which Andreas Vollenweider lived out his baroque side uninhibitedly, up to and including large symphonic projects. Now he has found his way back to the powerful simplicity of the trio formation. Together with the percussionist Walter Keiser and the young cellist Isabel Gehweiler. Andreas Vollenweider is once again embarking on “sound journeys” and his concert on 5 June 2022 on the island of Grafenwerth is an exclusive event for Germany in 2022 and the first concert after a break of more than ten years. 

When Patti Smith and her band perform on the island of Grafenwerth on 6 June 2022, the audience will be able to experience another step in the iconic artist’s transformation from a punk icon to a wise, yet still wild, sometimes explicitly angry, militant shaman in the face of circumstances. At the age of 75, Smith continues to be a major force, not just in rock music, but also of literature, her exciting stage shows continuing to trigger enthusiasm across all generations.
Patti Smith and the Beethoven Prize:
On the day of the concert, Patti Smith will receive the 6th International Beethoven Prize. The award ceremony was originally scheduled for 2020. The International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Poverty Alleviation and Inclusion, initiated by Torsten Schreiber and Andreas Loesch, is endowed with 10,000 euros. Sponsor is the Cologne-based auditing and tax consulting firm Solidaris.

ZAZ released her fifth album, “Isa”, in October of this year. The voice of France will embark on an extensive world tour in early 2022. ZAZ, who was born Isabelle Geffroy in Tours, France, is constantly compared to names like Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald and celebrated around the world with her lively songs. A graduate of the Jazz Conservatory, she moved to Paris as a teenager – the beginning of a unique journey. Since launching her career in 2010 with the groundbreaking hit “Je veux”, ZAZ has won a multitude of awards, including the ECHO in 2015 in the category “Best Artist International Rock/Pop”, and has released four albums to date, which have gold status or more in twelve countries. She has played over 500 arena concerts on five continents and has proven time and again that music is boundless. The audience on Grafenwerth Island can expect a rare, energetic show, positive and generous. ZAZ, a unique personality.

Famous as a founding member of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason launched Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets in 2018. The project, consists of Nick Mason, Gary Kemp, Guy Pratt, Lee Harris and Dom Beken. Together they played their first acclaimed live shows in 2018 at venues including Dingwalls London, The Half Moon in Putney and six dates in Germany. These were Mason’s first live performances since Pink Floyd’s “DivisionBell Tour” in 1994. The show at Dingwalls was also his first concert since Pink Floyd performed at the 2005 “Live 8” concert in London. Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets have since played to sold-out venues around the world, such as London’s Roundhouse, where Pink Floyd once performed their acclaimed shows in the 1960s. On the 2022 tour, the band will continue to expand its repertoire but also play songs from Pink Floyd’s early albums, up to the 1972 album “Obscured by Clouds”.
In addition to his indoor concerts, Nick Mason will come to Grafenwerth Island for a one-off open-air concert on 2 July.

Dates Grafenwerth Island 2022

Classical Music Evening
Friday, 3 June 2022 – 7.00 pm

Uli Jon Roth – The Alpha Experience
Saturday, 4 June 2022 – 8.00 pm
Tickets from 46,20 to 110,00 € including advance booking fee

Andreas Vollenweider & Friends
Sunday, 5 June 2022 – 8.00 pm
Tickets from 33,50 to 70,00 € including advance booking fee

Patti Smith & Band
Monday, 6 June 2022 – 8.00 pm
Tickets from 44,25 to 72,00 € including advance booking fee

ZAZ
“Organique Tour 2022”
Friday, 1 July 2022 – 8.00 pm
Tickets from 40,50 to 75,50 € including advance booking fee

Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
“More Games for May” Tour 2022
Saturday, 2 July 2022 – 9.00 pm
Tickets from €43.50 to €76.50 including advance booking fees

Tickets via http://www.Bonnticket.de and http://www.ticketmaster.de as well as at the known advance booking offices