Back to Kunstrasen’s ‘Klein aber Fein’ Vsecond Stage. Roxanne de Bastion and Daniel Bongart were on the bill on a day when all the threat of rain during Sunday’s VIP lounge concert arrived with a vengeance from early afternoon on Tuesday evening. An hour before the music was due to start there were regular peals of thunder from the Rheinaue direction. A wise man would have stayed home. I set out – with a raincoat and strong umbrella. Well, there was an English lady waiting for me. Waiting for an audience of any sort I suspect as the lightning lit up the early evening sky.
So many top names have surely never before been booked so long in advance. This must be a record for compiling a top-notch concert calendar in the Cologne-Bonn region. With the addition of the Hofgarten, top local promoter Ernst-Ludwig Hartz now has even more top locations at his disposal from which to offer major musical stars, and it’s reflected in the big names coming Bonn and Cologne’s ways next year.
Lionel Richie will be saying ‘Hello’ to Bonn
The biggest showground of all will be the Hofgarten Wiese in Bonn. Vividly remembered by local residents for the many student demonstrations that took place there, it will attract big crowds for very different reasons in 2020. 25,000 people will be able to see German Electro-Pop legends Kraftwerk in action on 15 May. The day before will see a simultaneous concert by the Bonn and Vienna Orchestras.
Kunst!rasen will see Sting (already sold out) and Lionel Richie deliver concerts down by the Rhine in Bonn, whilst down by the Cathedral in Cologne stars will include Brian Ferry on 28th July. The ‘trial’ concert by Joan Baez at Insel Grafenwerth was a roaring success, with the result that more shows are being planned down by the Rhine there too – Albert Hammond, who delivered a wonderfully eclectic show from his long and successful career as both singer and songwriter will be playing on 6th June.
Purple’s legendary vocalist Ian Gillan at Kunstrasen in 2013
“We all went down to Gronau. On the River Rhine shoreline…”
Legendary Rockers Deep Purple will be bringing hits like ‘Child In Time’ and ‘Woman From Tokyo’ to the Kunstrasen stage on 10 July 2020.
Not many bands can boast the power of Ian Gillan and Co after over 50 years in the business. The band’s show in 2013 saw a guest appearance from Warren Haynes on a little rock ditty you may have heard of – Smoke on the Water.
