From last Thursday to Saturday, after the Corona break and the cancellation last year, the Puls Open Air Festival took place on the grounds of Kaltenberg Castle near Geltendorf. With a new organiser, expanded grounds and more stages, this time it was all at the beginning. Nevertheless, the event of the young BR content network again focused on a diverse program with many newcomers.
“Our goal was always to come back with the Puls Open Air,” emphasizes Moritz Rügamer, communications strategist at Puls, in an interview with spot on news. Last year, the event had to be canceled prematurely after one day due to the short-term absence of a large number of law enforcement officers. With Kaltenberg Castle not only as a location, but also as the new organizer, “there was the opportunity to start the festival again as a completely new event,” explains Rügamer.
The demolition last year was a bad experience for all visitors “and so we as BR didn’t want to say goodbye to our audience”. The BR made a one-off marketing effort this year to invite last year’s visitors free of charge. “We are really happy that almost 8,000 people accepted the offer and gave us this leap of faith. We believe that we can have a good time here again!” When asked how the ticket refund from last year is progressing, Rügamer explains: “We as BR no longer have any insight into the ticket refund because it is up to the former organizer. Our status is that it is being clarified.” The free redemption of tickets for 2023 has nothing to do with the refund of tickets for 2022.
The new beginning with around 11,000 visitors was duly heralded: At the start on Thursday evening, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra gave a 45-minute concert. The first festival visitors accepted the unusual classical excursion well and warmed up with dancing in the mosh pit. The orchestra then joined forces with the electronic duo Etna and gave all visitors an atmospheric first evening, which got even louder with the Gießen hip-hop band OK Kid.
Various music genres continued on Friday. The Bavarian indie rock band Kaffkiez heated up in the special setting of the knight’s tournament arena, later Edwin Rosen (25) from Stuttgart provided softer sounds there. The indie brothers duo Bruckner remains loyal to the Puls Open Air and later in the evening celebrated a special comeback on the castle stage, they were one of the few acts that were able to perform last year. The Dresden rap crew 01099 got the most out of their performance with La Ola waves through the arena.
Apart from the musical diversity, there was still more to discover. Whether a wooden cat mask with blinking eyes on the stage, glowing mushroom figures in the middle of the forest or colorfully illuminated lampshades distributed throughout the festival: especially at night, visitors could marvel at the detailed decoration on the grounds of Castle Kaltenberg.
The third and final day of the festival got off to a leisurely start with a reading by Sebastian Hotz, known as “El Hotzo”. With the entertaining stories about his first festival visits, this was one of the highlights of the supporting program. A colorful program ranging from meditation to live podcast recordings took place on the extended part of the site, the future forge.
In the sunshine in the afternoon, the Austrian band Sharktank spread a good mood in the arena. The electronic indie group Zimmer90 also had relaxed dancing and singing on the castle stage. In the evening, chart topper Ski Aggu heated up the audience with loud bass and his “Friesenjung” before the festival and its headliner Nina Chuba (24) came to an end. Of course, in her first appearance as a festival headliner, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to perform her summer hit “Wildberry Lillet” to jubilation. In addition to rapper Nura (34), singer Luna (20) and female DJanes, Chuba ensured a balanced line-up with around 100 acts, more than 50 percent of which consisted of female artists.
After the restart, which was obviously more than successful, the future of the festival is secured for the time being: The Puls Open Air will take place next year from June 6th to 8th, 2024.
