Arts & Culture

2016 - Autumn Moon Festival

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Second Autumn Moon Festival in Hameln

With concerts on four stages and a Halloween market, this year's Autumn Moon Festival in Hameln was a treat for the eyes and ears. In addition to the great bands, the ambience was great: especially the Rattenfängerhalle - the largest of the venues - was decorated with great attention to detail. This ranged from "trees" next to the stage to a ghost ship manned by skeletons in the middle of the hall. The paths between the four venues (Rattenfängerhalle, Sumpfblume, the ship, and the pub Papa Hemingway) mostly led through the Halloween market, which was also beautifully laid out, so that changing venues was not a chore, but a welcome opportunity to fortify oneself with mead, fruit wine or some food. All in all, the festival had a pleasant 'family' allure, which was also helped by the very friendly staff at the entry, bar and security.
The fact that "Zombie Boy", who was supposed to be the headliner, was musically more dead than undead and managed to empty the Rattenfängerhalle in no time at all, has already been covered in detail in other reviews. Photographically, the band was still quite fruitful and since there was no shortage of good bands, you could just move on.

My personal highlights included the usual suspects on the one hand:
'Das Ich' once again fascinated me musically, but even more so with their incredibly charismatic characters. On the other hand, I was also taken with bands I hadn't heard of before, such as 'Eisfabrik' with their varied (and delightfully crazy) stage show and 'The Dolmen', who got the totally overcrowded pub boiling, jumping... and sweating.

 ‘End of Green’ impressed me above all with their vocals and with “Circus of Fools” it was their presence on stage. A bonus prize goes to Sarah Lesch, who, coming from the singer-songwriter genre, didn't seem to fit in with the overall picture. On top of that, she performed in low light, right in front of the bright windows of the ship. Which photographically was quite a bit of a challenge. However, she still managed to connect with the audience through her lyrics and charisma and to inspire them to think.

What made it even more special for me was that I had managed to get an accreditation, so - for the first time ever - I was allowed to hang out in the photographer's pit right in front of the stage (at least in the Rattenfängerhalle, there was none in the other venues). You're limited to the first few songs there, but for once, there's no one two heads taller in front of you, and there are no smartphones being held right into the picture.