The start of Oktoberfest 2022 was not easy for Peter Reichert. The long-standing landlord of the beauty queen at the Oidn Wiesn took over the new Bräusrosl this year under the management of the Paulaner brewery. But only three days after the start of the Wiesn, there was some massive criticism on the Internet. The band around Kapellmeister Josef Menzl was hit particularly hard. This plays boring brass music, there is no mood, the quoted first picture-Newspaper disappointed guests.
On Wednesday afternoon, Hacker-Pschorr managing director Andreas Steinfatt announced the consequences in the presence of the host couple Franziska and Peter Reichert and the conductor Menzl. In the future, the band “Erwin und die Heckflossen” will play from 8 p.m., a cover band that also has a lot of party music in their repertoire. The band are friends of Menzl, who took care of the quick replacement himself.
“But we at the Paulaner brewery stand behind Sepp Menzl and his band, who are excellent musicians. That’s why they will continue to play in the Bräusrosl during the day,” says Steinfatt. It was probably underestimated that the audience in the big tents was much more in a party mood than at the Oidn Wiesn. “Guests who would like to hear brass band music can still do so during the day,” says Steinfatt.
Menzl himself expressed his regret that the Wiesn had degenerated into a party event. “I think you should have more backbone and show that brass music is part of the Bavarian beer tent tradition,” says Menzl. Of course, he supports the decision to change the band in the evening.
Those responsible also commented on the other points of criticism from the festival tent visitors. After a two-year break, Steinfatt explained that they had to coordinate a completely new tent with a new team. “It is clear that not everything is running smoothly there, but things are not running smoothly in other tents either.” He did not want to confirm that the waitresses should also be dissatisfied because they were supposedly assigned arbitrarily. “I’ve only had positive feedback so far,” says Steinfatt. Peter Reichert added: “It’s up to the landlord and the tent management to arrange the waiters. We did this to the best of our knowledge and with great care.”
It cannot be confirmed that the criticism harmed the Bräusrosl and that as a result fewer guests came. “Overall there are of course fewer guests than in previous years. But that’s the case in all tents, and we also expected that after the pandemic,” says Hacker-Pschorr Managing Director Steinfatt.