The city council has cleared the way for a major concert by the band Rammstein on New Year’s Eve. The representatives of the SPD and CSU voted for the planned appearance in front of 145,000 visitors on the Theresienwiese and thus outvoted the Greens, ÖDP and Left. Now it is up to the organizer Klaus Leutgeb and his team to submit an approvable concept to the responsible district administration department (KVR). Only if that succeeds will Rammstein be able to perform on December 31st. The city council only decided on Wednesday to make the Theresienwiese available.
During the debate, the SPD and CSU emphasized that Munich would look good on such a major event on New Year’s Eve. The announcement of Rammstein’s plans for a New Year’s Eve concert alone triggered “huge enthusiasm”, said CSU parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl. The city can send a signal of “coolness, relaxation and cosmopolitanism”. He was surprised that the Greens presented themselves “as the spearhead of prevention”. “Maybe green is the new stuffy after all.”
The SPD is approaching the concert issue “openly” and wants to see what is possible, said parliamentary group leader Anne Hübner. Munich is not a village, would like to be a big city, sometimes even a cosmopolitan city. With such a request, it is important “not always to bring up 1000 concerns, but also to see the opportunities”. The organizer should not give any tickets to the advance sale before the performance of the concert is secured. Munich is strong in “permanence”, there may also be a change. Otherwise, New Year’s is not a “Silent Night”. Rammstein would sing in a song about disturbance of the peace, for one day a year Munich could tolerate such a thing.
The Greens rejected the concert and referred above all to the criticism of the security authorities on the planned New Year’s Eve concert. The city council is being forced to make an “insane hasty shot,” said parliamentary group leader Mona Fuchs. The draft resolution by the economics officer responsible for the Theresienwiese left the parliamentary group “at a loss”. Many question marks remained, a particularly large one when it came to security. There is not even the idea of a concept for it, the same applies to traffic.
The KVR warns of “huge pressure” on the security authorities
Fuchs also referred to the security authorities’ criticism of the organizer Leutgeb, who, according to the police, had not presented a satisfactory security concept at the large concert by Andreas Gabalier at the Riem exhibition center, which he also organized. In addition, she cited the concerns of the Winter Tollwood, which will also take place on the Theresienwiese, and raised concerns about the volume. Overall, the approval is “dubious, if not negligent,” precisely because of security.
The district administration department (KVR) and the police repeated their major concerns, which they had previously submitted in written statements. They consider the four and a half months of preparation time that remain until New Year’s Eve to be much too short. KVR boss Hanna Sammüller-Gradl gave the example of the large concerts in the Riem trade fair, which are organized by the same organizer. These are a good standard of comparison, because a large number of visitors also came together there for the first time for a major concert. “We had eleven months there,” she said, and more would have been needed.
Sammüller-Gradl pointed out that there could be “huge pressure” on the security authorities. If fans were to buy tickets, book hotel rooms and possibly organize their vacation differently, it would be extremely difficult to cancel two weeks before the concert and there would be a risk of lawsuits. The police also referred to the already stressful New Year’s Eve for their employees. “We are absolutely reaching the limits,” said senior police director Gerhard Bayer.
The left criticized the commercialization of the Theresienwiese and the short-term nature of the proposal. Economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) makes the city council “a jumping jack,” said spokesman Stephan Jagel. In an interjection, he accused Baumgärtner of “specialism” with the organizer Leutgeb. The economics officer called this unacceptable defamation and announced that legal action would be taken against Jagel. The ÖDP finds it “nonsense” to compete with the city’s Olympic Stadium with the Theresienwiese. If there should be a New Year’s Eve concert with Rammstein, then only there, said spokesman Tobias Ruff.