With most of next year’s programme already booked, Kunst!Rasen 2026 is already very much in the starting blocks as this week’s press conference made clear.  After last year’s  20,000 Euro fine for exceeding the sound limit by a decibel, it was also nice to see that the K!R Team is not despondent – instead they were proudly flying the banner ‘A Little too loud! – a little too cool!’.  More on that theme later. Good to hear though that lots of cool things will be happening in July/August 2026 – from concerts to take up the gap left by the likes of the ‘Panama Festival’,  to a regular Podcast series capturing behind the scenes life at Bonn’s top outdoor venue.

Ian Paice has published the following statement refgarding his cancelled shows with Purpendicular (including Harmonie Bonn 29 October)…

British synth pop band OMD will be performing in Bonn for the first time when they take to the Kunst!Rasen stage on August 14, 2026. With over 40 million records sold and a career spanning more than four decades, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are among the defining pioneers of synth-pop and in the summer of 2026, Bonn will be one of only eight concerts by the British synth-pop band in Germany. Under the title ‘OMD’s Summer of Hits’ next year’s tour will be set around their greatest classics like ‘Enola Gay’ as well as celebrating the band’s current work.

Legendary Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice’s concert at Bonn Harmonie has been moved from 29 October to 3 March next year.

It’s not often you get the chance to see an iconic Rock drummer up close and in a small venue, so it will be worth the wait I’m sure. All tickets bought are valid for the new date.

Bad Godesberg as a Blues Capital? Well okay, maybe it’s not up there with Chicago – but we do have Bill Baum with his shop and his Bluesbenders of course. We Have Folk Club custodian John Harrison, and we also have an ex-Bad Godesbergian Blueser in Richard Bargel. The latter made his second appearance here in recent times last wekend, playing an intimate house concert in Friesdorferstrasse at the request of Eliane LaGrange. As a Bad Godesberg Blueser myself, I couldn’t miss out of course…

In 2026, Ruf Records’ popular Blues Caravan live revue is going on the road for the 20^th time, with a date at Bonn’s Harmonie on 27th January. The list of artists who have been a part of the Caravan’s history and appeared on the Harmonie stage includes many of today’s most celebrated blues musicians: Ana Popovic, Samantha Fish, Aynsley Lister and Joanne Shaw Taylor, to name just a few.

This year will see appearances by Laura Chavez, Matthew Curry and Elise Frank.

In keeping with the BC formula 2026 offers the combination of experience, big emotion and youthful exuberance. So let’s introduce the ‘Class of 2026’…

More news is continuing to come in regarding the Kunst!Rasen 2026 season. A welcome new addition to next year’s list of shows is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on 25 August.

There are also a number of popular returns including Brings (3 July), Zaz (15 July), Wincent Weiss (17 July) and Amy MacDonald (19 August). German star Roland Kaiser is sure to pull in a big crowd on 15 August, and although the crowd is likely to be more negligible, an appearance by Brit Rockers Marillion (remember ‘Kayleigh’?) on 5 July should be interesting.

So, I was chatting to Richard Münchhoff after his appearance as drummer at Unter der Zeder a few weeks back with Yassmo and the Soulfisticated People. He mentioned a new project – A Rock band with Richard on guitar. One of the best young jazz drummers around shredding guitar licks? I was intrigued. Saturday saw the band – Munchy Bunch – on only it’s second live outing at the RPZ in Bad Godesberg. Has Richard gone from being the next Billy Cobham to the next Richie Blackmore? Read on…