Around the Roger Waters concert, there was once again a heated discussion about which musicians are officially welcome in Munich. Despite his anti-Israel statements, which were unwelcome by many people, the city was able to see the appearance of the Pink Floyd– co-founders not even prevent on their own grounds, due to a lack of legal basis and the order of the Olympiapark GmbH to make a profit. Things are different on the Königsplatz. There, the city can also choose the artists themselves according to moral criteria. Because the guidelines for events on public transport land state that the concert and cinema events “must do justice to the special historical interests of the square (…).” This means above all that the National Socialists misused the square designed by Ludwig I as a classical center of his Isar-Athens for their propaganda, for example for a so-called honorary temple or a book burning.
Organizers can therefore apply for three concert weekends with two events each, and the district administration department then makes the selection. The KVR reports that there are “individual decisions”, fixed criteria are “not expedient”, other departments may be involved (years ago the cultural department was asked whether a DJ like Paul Kalkbrenner should be classified as an artist at all).
Bow to the Löwenbräu beer: Mötley Crüe.
(Photo: Live Nation)
Peter Gabriel’s appearance on the first concert weekend should not have triggered any inquiries. The British musician is considered a role model for honesty. He has co-founded human rights organizations such as Witness and the influential world music festival Womad, and in 2006 received the Man of Peace honor from Nobel laureates. The 73-year-old is generally committed to people and the environment. His research into the musicality of monkeys is legendary.
Yes, everything is one, this message also holds his album “I/O” together, which stands for “Input/Output”. Twelve years after “New Blood” released the former genesis-singers again – and the song after song for each phase of the moon, each in different mixes to honor the artistry of the sound engineers. There is always a “Bight Side” version for full moon and a “Dark Side” version for new moon. The title track “I/O” is a very friendly late work about the fact that people are not islands but connected to everything: “I walk with my dog and I whistle with a bird /Stuff coming out, stuff going in / I’m just a part of everything”, he sings. And you can imagine this being a wonderful peaceful open air song on his first European tour in almost ten years.
Hubert von Goisern is already playing his third concert on the Königsplatz on June 16th.
(Photo: Konrad Fersterer)
It takes him back to Königsplatz, where he gave one of his always fantastically staged concerts in Munich in 2002 as part of the Virgin Records birthday festival – by the way, like his Austrian colleague Hubert von Goisern, who is also devoted to world music and humanism and who this year after 2015 has been since third big open-air concert is playing here (June 16). In any case, during a later performance, Peter Gabriel tap-danced upside down on the ceiling of the Olympic Hall, and that in turn connects him with the Motley Cruewho this year are performing the open-air dance at Königsplatz in a double concert Def Leppard open.
Because the Crüe drummer Tommy Lee – famous for his amateur sex video with his ex Pamela Anderson, now his own Netflix series – has even been turned upside down in concerts with drums over the heads of the fans. It was a reminiscence of the wild, heyday of the Californian Supermacker band in the eighties, when everything in glam and hard rock had to be more and more spectacular, steeper, hotter. For the British colleague of Def Leppard Unfortunately, the drums were a sad story: Rick Allen had to amputate an arm after a car accident. Together with Nasa, an electronic drum set was developed for him – the band, which celebrated great success in the USA with “Hysteria” and songs like “Rock of Ages”, always remained loyal to him.
Well kept: The British rockers Def Leppard (“Rock of Ages”) started in 1977 as a school band.
(Photo: Ross Halfin/dpa)
She was that nice Motley Crue (the heavy metal umlauts are said to be a reminiscence of their favorite Löwenbräu beer) not always to each other, as can be seen in the band biography “The Dirt”, which is funny and written separately (since 2019 also on Netflix): They loved and separated again and again because of drugs, women, cars, jets, hairstyles. Currently, founding guitarist Mick Mars is at odds over whether he’s still a part of the band after he quit touring due to a long-standing back condition. “The main function of the band is to tour,” the rest then said through a lawyer, which is also interesting because the band already put on a rather sluggish performance in Munich’s Zenith in 2015 on their alleged farewell tour.
Only real with this tongue: Gene Simmons (left) and Paul Stanley in the classic “Kiss” outfit.
(Photo: Bernd Thissen/dpa)
That connects them with the smart glam rock legend kiss (“I Was Made For Loving You”), who were already on a farewell tour, in 2019 and again on Königsplatz by the way. Their costume and make-up shows, designed from the start to create added value and myths, have influenced countless bands. Certainly too slipknot, who are making their Königsplatz debut this year. The Iowa metal underworld gods’ sound and masks are far more monstrous, which has earned them accusations of complicity in school shootings like the one in Erfurt. That was demonstrably not true, the band also prayed for the victims and made it clear: “We are a glimmer of hope for the young people, not a scapegoat for massacres of this kind.”
To be on the safe side, the district youth council for its “topless” open air, which has a permanent place on the Königsplatz, will also be there BHZ from Berlin and Ennio from Munich prefer hip-hop and pop favorites from here to perform.
Concerts on Königsplatz: Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard, Sat., May 27; Peter Gabriel, Sun., May 28; Hubert von Goisern, Friday, June 16; Kiss, Sat., June 17; Slipknot, Sat., June 24; Topless Open-Air, Saturday, July 22nd