All good things must, as they say, come to an end. The Stadtgarten Concert Season did so last Saturday in real style with a double-fluted attack on the senses from Top French duo RoSaWay and local heroes Jin Jim. Even the sun stayed out all evening to celebrate. That green verge opposite the Alter Zoll Beer Garden is going to look gloomily empty until next Summer when the only sound will be the gentle tap of Petanque balls rolling across the dusty ground. But first, let’s enjoy a last evening of music in the sunshine…

The light show from Friday’s concert by Schiller brought the 2024 Kunst!Rasen Season to a colorful end and already a round half-dozen concerts are announced for 2025, the most recent being Fury in the Slaughterhouse.

JazzTube 2024 is now underway. The first three bands in this year’s friendly competition were to be heard last Friday entertaining travelers and Jazz fans alike. Daniel Manrique-Smith was to be found as a part of the duo Flautronika (with Frank Brempel) at Universität/Markt. If you enjoyed (or missed!) his flute playing then you should head for Stadtgarten on 31 August where Daniel will be fronting the band Jin Jim and joined by another Flute-powered duo: Rosaway from France.

This Friday’s JazzTube:

Details on the remaining JazzTube concerts, and how to vote HERE

Always one of the most interesting of the Stadtgarten evenings, PopCamp on Saturday didn’t disappoint.  Thought-provoking songs from Nicholas Müller, Retro Variete/Jazz with Magdalena Ganter and bang up-to-date with Indie-Pop from Juli Gilde who, following  two well received EP’s, is just now working on her debut full release.

Saturday (10 August) was presented by popNRW with musicNRWwomen and designated a day when the Ladies would get their chance to shine at the Stadtgarten. Organizer HaJo made the point when introducing the bands that women don’t get the opportunities that male-fronted bands do in the music business. If that’s true then it is certainly at odds with the very top of our current music scene where the ladies seem to be more than well represented with the likes of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Adele ruling the current pop charts. There’s always room for more if the quality is good though, and this evening’s two bands set around Cologne’s Annelu and Duisburg’s Stina Holmquist both proved deserving of a place in the spotlight.

Stadtmusiktag, to give it its proper German title, has been a popular event in Bonn for some years now.  It’s a pleasant way to bring life to the often rather soulless streets in the City.  This year the Market Square, Duisdorf’s pedestrian area, and the alcove outside of Bad Godesberg’s Stadthalle were the chosen locations, with a finishing concert at Stadtgarten by the Alter Zoll.  3songsbonn and folk club regulars will be interested to hear what Daniel Bongart is up to these days.  Well, I am pleased to say, Daniel is still busy making good music as my review from Bad Godesberg reveals.

Stadtgarten went Pop on Saturday in the best possible sense. A double bill spearheaded by Cologne songstress Lucie Licht followed up by songwriter Fabian Kuhn who came to us with that most modern and also most debatable measure of musical prowess – over a million YouTube clicks. Can a million people be wrong? Well whichever way it goes – it’s a beautiful evening again down by the Alten Zoll, and many a picnic blanket is already laid on the grassy embankment from which a svelt young lady in loose fitting trousers that flare wide even from the waist is already winning over the audience with her smile, and she hasn’t even sung a note yet.