Wave goodbye to seeing Zaz in Bonn this year. With seeming Inevitability, the Grafenwerth concerts planned for July have met with the same fate as those in June. Planned appearances by ex-Pink Floyd member Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets and the popular french star will now take place in Cologne. ZAZ will perform on 1 July 2022, at 8 pm at the Palladium with special guest Estrela Gomes and Nick Mason ́s Saucerful of Secrets will perform at E-Werk on 2 July at 9 pm.
Concert promoter Ernst Ludwig Hartz: “It is with a heavy heart that I have made this decision in the interest of the artists, and especially the audience traveling to the concerts.
Planning security is of great importance for everyone.”
Ultimately, it seems that compliance with the nature conservation regulations themselves is not in itself the problem, it is more that the risk of renewed legal proceedings (Eilverfahren) and the ensuing requirements being delivered with only a few days notice again as happened with the June concerts is too great.
Bad Honnef Mayor Otto Neuhoff remains confident however that Culture and Nature can exist together on the island: “We can understand the organizer’s decision although we very much regret that we will have to do without the Open Airs in the very special atmosphere of Grafenwerth Island. However, we are pleased that Ernst Ludwig Hartz has succeeded in finding alternative venues in the short time available. For the future, we must create stable conditions for the realization of open-air concerts on the island of Grafenwerth”.
What this all means to Bonn concert-goers in the area is a further feeling of unreliability after all the Covid shifted concerts of the last two years regarding the tickets they buy, uncertainty as to how far they will have to travel to get to shows, or even (if the replacement show has a different date) if they can get to the shows they book for at all.
It is also a further stab in the back for the Bonn music scene. Ultimately, there is no alternative indoor hall here that can accommodate performers who attract 1000+ attendances.
So, Where major concerts are concerned, is Bonn in danger of becoming a suburb of Cologne? Thankfully, all is far from lost. We are approaching the opening of a Kunst!Rasen Season that will feature major international stars including Sting and Deep Purple. There are major stars too scheduled for the Hofgarten including Robbie Williams and Kraftwerk. One can only hope, for the sake of live music in this City, that these shows will be allowed to go on without complaint and show that Bonn still has a name where major concerts are concerned.