Puls Open Air will take place in 2023 with a new organizer – Munich

If that got lost in all the long-Covid confusion in culture with its cancellations and postponements of events, then let it be made clear again: the termination of the “Puls Open Airs” in June 2022 was an earthquake that affected the entire rock has shaken up and alarmed the industry in the long term. Moritz Rügamer, who is responsible for the festival together with Andi Barsekow on the part of the Puls editorial team and Bayerischer Rundfunk, remembers the weekend when he didn’t sleep for 50 hours at a time.

On Thursday, 4,000 of the expected 11,000 guests had already arrived at Kaltenberg Castle in the Landsberg district, set up their tents or celebrated during the warm-up program; But the alarm went off behind the scenes: far too few of the 150 required security forces had reported for duty, and despite all the emergency calls and contacts in the network, a “number in the high double-digit range” had not appeared until the very end. The crisis team made up of authorities, the organizer and the BR decided “with a heavy heart”: demolition, on Friday morning everyone had to vacate the festival site, the camping and caravan site.

The withdrawal was disciplined and without major protests, for the moment everything went well again. But the effects of the concertus interuptus are still preoccupying those responsible today. From the repayment of the tickets to the question of how and whether a “Puls Open Air” could be held again. At least the last question has now been answered: This exciting festival is scheduled to take place again in 2023, from June 8th to 10th. Even on a larger site, with “even more to discover” and a new organizer. Puls editor-in-chief Nadine Ulrich is pleased to have the host Heinrich Prince of Bavaria himself and his knights’ tournament Kaltenberg Veranstaltungs-GmbH “as competent and friendly partners” at their side from now on.

Deduction: On the Friday of the festival, the campers had to clear the open-air area.

(Photo: Löb Daniel/dpa)

For this you have to briefly explain the structure of the festival, which is called “Puls Open Air”, but which, unlike the Puls Indoor Festival, has an external organizer in its own BR studios. So far, that was Amont Gastro GmbH from Chieming. She was responsible for event production (including security) and ticket sales. Jugendwelle Puls gives its name, handles communication and advises an external booker on a program “that suits us”, as Moritz Rügamer says: So diverse, gender-appropriate, with exciting newcomers, but also established numbers like 2022 Juju and Casper . This is how it should continue in 2023, the contracts are currently being signed, but it cannot yet be said with whom.

The best news for ticket holders from 2022 is already out: They can all come back in 2023, free of charge at the invitation of Bayerischer Rundfunk. The big shitstorm didn’t happen, says Rügamer. But “outwardly it seems as if the festival is ours”. So before the demolition and the still ongoing reversal by the organizer scratches the image of the BR, a decision has been made up to the management level for this “one-off marketing measure”. It is expected that 70 to 80 percent of the owners of the 120 euro tickets will accept the offer, so only a few tickets will go on sale in advance.

Newcomer Festival: Plenty of space: the arena of Kaltenberg Castle is the center of the "Pulse Open Airs".  In June 2023 it will be played again.

Plenty of space: the arena of Kaltenberg Castle is the center of the “Puls Open Air”. In June 2023 it will be played again.

(Photo: Löb Daniel/dpa)

Mind you: The Open Air 2023 is not a replacement for 2022, but a completely new event from a legal point of view – a “clear cut in order to be able to act,” says Rügamer. Irrespective of the invitation, those affected by the demolition in 2022 can also claim their entrance fee back. To date, the previous organizer, Amont Gastro GmbH, and the insurance company are still in negotiations. The festival industry is eagerly awaiting the outcome: Who will pay for the cancellations and how will this affect future premium payments? Managing Director Alexander Wolf explains the status in his case: It is agreed that the organizer is not to blame for the absence of the security people and therefore not for the cancellation. That’s where the insurance comes in. Now it’s about the details, but unfortunately we won’t be able to solve them this year. “We also imagined that it would be quicker,” asserts Wolff, “it’s our turn, we very much regret that.”

Wolff, who also organizes the even larger “Brass Wiesn” near Eching, is also disappointed to have to give up the “Puls Open Air”. “It came suddenly, we invested a lot of work and time to build it up and worked together in a friendly and incredibly good way for seven years,” he says. He knows: “This year the dog was in it”, but also sees himself as a victim of the circumstances, such as the shortage of staff in the event area due to the Corona crisis.

The “media partner” and “curator” Puls does not blame Amont Gastro for this either. Irrespective of the demolition, after the cooperation agreement expired in 2022, the cooperation “would have been reassessed anyway,” says Rügamer. In any case, they now want a complete restart with new decorations, larger grounds, and so they want to go into the future with a new “organizer who is very well positioned in this place”. Feedback from the festival community was also taken into account. The jousting tournament organizers also see themselves as the ideal cast for their own rock open air: “No one knows the terrain and its incredible possibilities better than we do. The role of organizer of the Puls Open Air is therefore a logical step for us,” says Spokesman Markus Wiegand. As with previous events, they want to focus on sustainability and offer “a well-established team in the areas of security, technology, logistics and gastronomy”.

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