Deep down, the Wacken man just wants to be loved. He just can’t show it like that. But if he left his habit in the closet and moved flowery, colorful and carefree, he would have been able to experience the alternative in the south just a few weeks after the metal event in the north of the republic. He would have been welcomed with open arms at Superbloom even if he wasn’t in the target audience. Because the festival in the Olympic Park puts diversity at the center of its service description, together with mindfulness, prudence and the mutual attention of the people on the site, which is often also emphasized through announcements.
Instead of the phalanx of Munich breweries, you will find pop-up bars and catering from all over the world, filling stations for open water and plenty of play areas where children and youngsters can let off steam. Reflection is required in the Your Planet area, where you can follow panels on issues such as media use or inclusion and reflect on your commitment to the world. Fine art and dance can be found on the premises, again and again stilt walkers, impulse drummers and scrap robots make the rounds.
The concept works, Superbloom sold out in its first year with around 50,000 visitors, and the sequel was announced for the first weekend in September 2023. “Fun is incredibly important,” said Fruzsina Szép, festival director of the Superbloom, and also pointed out that despite all the euphoria of success, there was still a lot to improve. Topic number one was the control of the flow of people, in new German “crowd management”. Because the festival area had bottlenecks where the crowds concentrated. For example, the decision to only open the Olympic Stadium from one side may have been due to the post-epidemic shortage of staff. It meant trouble for the audience, from waiting times and crowds to the headlining concerts, especially on Saturdays, which not everyone could see.
60 concerts in two days – like streaming as a real experience
There were also limitations in the program. While people were celebrating their party in front of the big stages, just a few handfuls of people gathered to watch the spectacular dance performances, some of which were rich in images, on the spectacular podium in the Olympiasee. The message of diversity was clear, but secretly it led to an overabundance of enjoyment options. Everything at once, a lot of things instagrammable, 60 concerts in two days in one place, the bottom line can be consumed across the board, that was a bit like streaming as a real experience without any qualitative preliminary decisions for the audience, apart from being in front of the stadium gate in time if you could still get in wanted to.
The result was extremely peaceful, colorful people flocked, you hardly saw anyone with a list and the medical staff seemed comparatively relaxed. But there was also little that deviated from the mainstream of Wokeness. And that was especially true for the music. There was hardly any rock, Kraftklub was already exotic under these circumstances. Cabaret on the big stage got its chance with Kurt Krömer and Kaya Yanar, blustering to sharp-tongued, not always understandable because the Olympic Hall remains an acoustic mystery. A lot was electro-pop plus/minus hip-hop, optionally indie, artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Rita Ora, Anne-Marie.
And the men? Also very diverse. The ravishing favorite baritone of German pop music, Henning May, with stadium-size sensitivity. Alan Walker, Calvin Harris, Macklemore, format figures of the streaming world with potential for confusion suitable for celebrations. David Guetta, a pyrotechnician and light magician at the DJ desk with superlative clubbing. Ultimately, Stromae brought everything to the point. He not only slipped into the costume role of an androgynous fantasy pop page, but also created an avatar for himself on the big screen in the background who commented on what was happening. He seemed approachable, charming, like a prototype of the festival idea. And like a target for the coming year, with seriousness and a wink.