40 years of Rock am Ring: How Germany's first super festival has evolved

The 40th edition of the "Rock am Ring" festival has begun. Kicking off the festival's anniversary edition on Friday afternoon on the Utopia Stage at the Nürburgring is Electric Callboy – the band from Castrop-Rauxel, who were still called Eskimo Callboy in 2022 and were denied their chance at the Eurovision Song Contest due to their song's alleged lack of radio appeal. They kick things off with this song – "Pump It": "I wanna feel it day and night / my workout, my delight..." Until singer Nico Sallach and his band took to the main stage, no one knew they were participating. The festival schedule simply stated: "very special guest."

Fans' speculations were wild, ranging from the Toten Hosen and the Donots to hip-hop acts like Alligatoah and Kraftklub. Nu-metal heroes Linkin Park, who are also currently touring, had reportedly canceled. The second act was also "top secret" until the start of the performance: Roy Bianco & Die Abbrunzati Boys, the Bavarians who will deliver parody-tinged Italian hits, the kind they've already performed at Tollwood and on the ZDF New Year's Eve show.

"Baby, press the accelerator / I want to swim with you in the Adriatic," their set begins with "Brenner Autobahn." "Rock am Ring, are you okay?" asks Roy. The Ring crowd also embraces these surprise guests.

Very special guest Electric Callboy – here Kevin Ratajczak – performs on the Utopia Stage at the opening of the Rock am Ring open-air festival.

Source: Sascha Ditscher/dpa

More than 100 bands will play on four stages for 90,000 people until Whitsun Sunday. Friday afternoon will be windy, and there's a 75 percent chance of rain from 10 p.m. onwards. Saturday and Sunday will probably have to rock out the Ring.

At the debut of "Rock am Ring" 40 years ago, however, the sun was blazing. And at first glance, the pit lane at the Nürburgring looked like a crowded outdoor swimming pool, a Südwestfunk reporter recalled on "Deutschlandfunk" on Friday morning. Music fans from all over (West) Germany had traveled to the Eifel region for the weekend of May 25 and 26.

People put on their bathing suits and sunbathed under towels they'd brought with them. It was decades before the Bataclan attack, when people were still allowed to go to concerts with heavy luggage instead of carrying bags no bigger than A4-sized, and when set-up breaks seemed to last forever. Despite all the professional planning, the event had a subtle hippie feel.

Dress code at the lake: Music fans at the first "Rock am Ring" in 1985 took their swimwear out of their backpacks in midsummer temperatures.

Source: picture alliance / Martin Athenstädt

The organizers were also inspired by Woodstock, which – peaceful, free, and free of charge – became the benchmark for festivals and, despite the notoriously bad weather, still enjoys a mythical reputation as the musical pinnacle of the hippie era. The organizers of Mama Concerts – Marek Lieberberg and Marcel Avram – wanted to bring this US mega-festival culture to Germany.

At Woodstock, the three-day music festival on a dairy farm's pastures in upstate New York, 32 acts performed in 1969 in front of approximately 400,000 people. At the 1985 Ring der Rennfahrer (Race Drivers' Ring), 17 bands performed over two days in front of 70,000 people. Tickets cost 49 marks. Nevertheless, something this big had never been seen in West Germany before. Michael Sadler, singer of the Canadian progressive rock band Saga, was also overwhelmed by the "sea of ​​people" as he stepped onto the – very high – stage.

Rock, folk, and folk-rock, of course, still separated the generations at the time of Woodstock. And the festival grounds near the small town of Bethel hosted many stars and bands that were at the forefront of the young counterculture. Newcomers like Santana and Joe Cocker also rose to prominence there. By the mid-1980s, however, rock and pop had conquered German radio, dethroning the hit songs that had previously dominated the stations.

The headliner of the first Saturday of the Ring Festival wouldn't stand a chance today, when rock, punk, and hip-hop dominate the festival. It was, believe it or not, Chris de Burgh. The Irish songwriter had evolved from the languishing, second-tier romantic folkie he had been in the 1970s to a darling of the average pop listener with rock-infused pop songs like "The Getaway" and "High on Emotion."

On Whit Sunday, Foreigner were the main act – the British-American group had also completed their transformation into a mainstream band with their 1984 album “Agent Provocateur” – ballads such as “I Want to Know What Love Is” and “Waiting for A Girl Like You” had brought them mass appeal.

By 2025, Rock am Ring will be firmly in strong hands. The headliners on the main stage (there are four stages at the Ring) – the first day of the festival will end on Friday with the former deathcore band Bring Me The Horizon from Sheffield, Slipknot will close Saturday, and Korn will perform on Whitsun Sunday.

The crowd favorite in 1985 was U2, who performed on the first day in front of Chris de Burgh. With their Martin Luther King Jr. homage "Pride," the Irish band were just taking the first steps toward becoming a superband, but they were still part of the indie scene that had blossomed in the wake of the punk revolution of 1976/77. When Bono danced with a fan on stage, the remaining 69,999 fans cheered enthusiastically.

Other young names were also represented: for example, Lone Justice, the promising Americana band around Maria McKee, or The Alarm, the Welsh alternative rockers around singer Mike Peters, who died a month ago, whose “Sixty-Eight Guns” brought together respectable ring choirs.

The living link to Woodstock was Joe Cocker, who performed at both festivals. His comeback began in 1982 with the film duet "Up Where We Belong" (from "An Officer and a Gentleman"), but wouldn't fully unfold until the year after Rock am Ring with the album "Cocker." As in 1969, he concluded his performance with his gospel-inspired cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends."

Marius Müller-Westernhagen, ranked third on the Whitsun festival posters - behind Foreigner and Saga - was at that time in a career slump and still a good four years away from the album "Hallelujah", the Stones homage "Sexy" and Super Marius status.

The stylistic spectrum was enormous – it ranged from the raucous Italian rocker Gianna Nannini to the Anglo-Scottish Genesis epigones Marillion to the rock 'n' soul all-rounders Mink DeVille, led by eccentric singer Willy DeVille. Popular R&B rocker Huey Lewis also performed with his band The News, delivering his upcoming biggest hit, "The Power of Love," as the fifth of his twelve songs in his set. Lewis released the single for the film "Back to the Future" only three weeks after "Rock am Ring."

"I can't hear you!": Marius Müller-Westernhagen sang "Mit Pfefferminz bin ich dein Prinz" (With Peppermint I'm Your Prince). Four years after his performance at "Rock am Ring," he became a superstar with the album "Hallelujah," which soon sold out stadiums on its own.

Source: picture alliance/United Archives

Never before in Germany had so much rock been heard at once (and never before had so many sunburns been seen at once). The festival was intended to be a one-off, but due to its huge success it continued, with more bands and more stages – to this day. In 1985, however, the festival first expanded. A large portion of the Saturday Rock am Ring staff played at the one-day "Rock in Stuttgart" on Whit Sunday. There were spin-offs the following week such as "Rock in St. Gallen" (May 27), "Rock in Basel" (June 1), "Rock in Munich" (June 2), and also "Rock in Nuremberg" (June 1). In 1995, the southern offshoot "Rock im Park" started in Munich, the twin festival, which then moved to Nuremberg in 1997.

Other major German rock festivals were added: in 1990, the “Wacken Open Air”, which later became the world meeting place for metal, started, in 1997 the “Hurricane” festival in Scheeßel, and in 2000 its sister festival “Southside”.

Just over a month and a half after "Rock am Ring," on July 13, 1985, "Live Aid" set the standard for charity festivals, becoming the second major rock festival in history after Woodstock. From Rock am Ring, only middle-of-the-road rockers REO Speedwagon and U2 participated. According to singer Bono, U2 owed their participation solely to the song "Pride." Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof loved it, and, as the U2 singer recently revealed in the documentary "Bono: Stories of Surrender," even forgave Bono for his mullet.

Rock am Ring takes place from June 6 to 8 at the Nürburgring in the Eifel region. With 90,000 visitors, the festival is sold out. 100 bands will play on four stages. The twin festival, Rock im Park, will take place concurrently in Nuremberg.