After the last Kunst!Rasen Season is before the next Kunst!Rasen Season for Ernst-Ludwig Hartz, Katrin Wurm and Martin Nötzel. To the point where press conferences for the next year get earlier and earlier. This week plans were unveiled for July/August 2027 and it’s only mid-October.
So dear reader, what and who can you expect to find when you walk under the giant, inflated K!R arch next Summer? 3songsbonn reveals all. Well, all that is currently revealable anyway…
The 2027 Season will be the 15th Kunst!Rasen. Running between 4 July to 29 August, it is also set to be the longest so far, with around 30 evenings of music planned. Almost half of those evenings have been booked so far, which is pretty amazing since the trend these days is, says promoter Ernst-Ludwig Hartz, for bands to play less shows to the same amount of people. Making use of large arenas, and arranging the whole venture as seperate ‘bundles’ for various continents. Making your fans come to you is the game it seems. Touring = lots of travelling = lots of petrol of course, and consequently rising energy costs will be blamed for the rising ticket prices. For the fans that means tickets will be more expensive and then add in travelling further to see the shows and overnight hotel costs…
REFRESHMENT ORDERS VIA CELLPHONE
It might be argued that top-tier rock and pop concerts are gradually pricing themselves out of their original market – the Rock ‘n’ Roll ground-base of working class fans and students. Which might even explain Martin Nötzel’s observation during the press conference that wine and sect sales outstripped beer sales at events in 2026. There was good news though for anyone who has spent what seemed like half a concert queuing for drinks – next year will see the introduction of ‘Remote Cash’ whereby orders can be made and paid for in advance via cellphone, leaving the thirsty orderer only the ‘quick’ job of collecting. It’s one step closer to having the drinks personally delivered to where you stand in the crowd (we can dream!). Ordering at the bar with cash/card will also still be possible thankfully. Is this the start of cashless concert-going? As a word of warning, I do remember Nick Cave’s merchandise booth having huge connectivity problems with their card-reader machines this year. There is also the conundrum that whilst many bands want you to leave your phones in your pocket, venues want you to order drinks from your place in the audience. Not sure I want to hear that going on next to me all evening. As they say in Germany – “Lass uns überraschen!”
So, your drink is ordered at the bar. Who will you be watching onstage? Three top international artists are already on the list: Bryan Adams (6 July), Simply Red (7 July) and Toto (12 July). With ticket prices higher, having three acts who attract a similar audience within a week might be a gamble. It could well pay off though. As Martin Nötzel noted – there are a lot of visitors from overseas who come to Bonn for several days. Maybe for a Bryan Adams/Simply Red break?. Around 100 Euros minimum per person, per ticket, per show. Nötzel pointed out that the camping site at the Rheinaue always sells out around concert times – so book early to avoid hotel costs.
WHO’S COMING?
As already mentioned there are still many acts to be announced, but international stars already booked include Bryan Adams, Simply Red and Toto. Rock fans might want to book one of those camping places for 18 July. On this date the popular Classic Rocknacht will take place. No names confirmed at the time of going to press – but expect some high-class visitors from The United States…
Tickets for Rapper Marteria (25 July) will be slightly more affordable, starting at around 75 Euros. A safe bet for a full house too since he played to 12,000 fans recently in the Cologne Arena. Even better value would be the ever-popular Fantastichen Vier except that the concert is already sold out.
If the rising prices are making you think twice about live music then fear not, you can still get something high quality for free as the Season is due to begin on 4 July with the ever popular Klassik!Piknick featuring the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn. As always picknickers can bring their own refreshments and a blanket. They can also book VIP tables, beergarden trestle tables or simply book a seat in the stand for 20 Euros + charges. What picknickers should not do though is leave it to the last minute to arrive at the Kunstrasen as the evening is now so popular that space is limited. Indeed, KR Managing Director Katrin Wurm remembered that on one occasion the gates had to closed.
MORE VOLUME INSIDE- LESS VOLUME OUTSIDE
It turns out that smaller speakers set in controlled directions, together with further improvements to the sound barriers, means that the sound has now proven to be louder in the Kunst!Rasen but conversely quieter away from the venue than before. It was successfully tested at the 2026 concert by Moby. In fact, the new arrangements proved so successful that two of the concerts given special sound-level concessions (Sondergenehmigungen) actually didn’t need the concession.
PERMANENT FACILITIES AND MAYBE THE RETURN OF KUNSTGARTEN?
A further concern for the Kunst!Rasen organizers is the spiralling cost of having to build everything from scratch and then take it all back down again each year, at a cost of around one million Euro each Season. Here too, positive things might be happening. Some permanent facilities would be welcome and Kunst!Rasen would happily put them into use – everything is dependent though on getting permission from Bonn City to do so. A meeting in November will hopefully bring good news here. Permanent facilities might even mean the return of a Kunst!Garden stage as in former years. Certainly The City of Bonn seems to be open for meetings nowadays. A definite improvement on being fined for going over the sound limit for a minute in 2025 with Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was good to hear too that the nationwide Initiative Musik supported the Festival with 217,000 Euros from its ‘Bundesschallschutzprogramm’. Particularly since popular venues like Kunst!Rasen and Harmonie recieve no financial support from money made available for Bonner Bühnen.
That’s a brief overview of some of the musical highlights already coming to you in 2027. If you live in Bonn though you will know the Kunst!Rasen has a problem with – say it quietely – noise… It’s been an ongoing challenge almost since the first Season in 2012 when Lou Reed and Bob Dylan made themselves heard over the speakers. It’s a problem that has cost the Festival some top acts. We missed out on Judas Priest for example because of sound limits. On this subject there is good news, and it’s all down to Roland Kaiser! Following his sold-out appearance this year there were requests to situate additional speakers further back in the arena. What MORE speakers you cry. MORE volume! and you would be wrong…
So there you are. A mixed bag of news from this weeks Kunst!Rasen press conference. Rising ticket prices but better sound. What are your thoughts about the current situation for live popular music in Bonn? Who will you be buying tickets for? Who do you hope to see added to the current list of bands? Are you in favour of ordering via cellphone?