Festival in Bonn All you need to know about Green Juice 2018
Neu-Villich · A peaceful open air in the middle of a residential area - that’s Green Juice for you. The festival is taking place in its 11th year on August 17 and 18 in Bonn-Beuel. Here’s all you need to know.
For Julian Reininger the weather is not a subject for casual small talk. The co-founder and manager of the Green Juice Festival knows what he is talking about. While himself and his team were spoiled by sunshine for years, the anniversary year of all years literally drowned. Strong rains forced bands off the festival grounds into the Brückenforum in Neu-Villich - helpers had organised a smaller event indoors quickly.
A visit to Julian Reininger in the new Green Juice headquarters in Villich-Rheindorf. The sun is beaming down, the heat is stuck in the roads, the thermometer shows 36 degrees Celsius. Finest festival conditions, eh? Reininger smiles and pours a glass of water for his sweating visitor.
„Yeah, true, but actually, optimal conditions are 25 degrees and slightly cloudy“, says the young promoter, who just came home from university. „But at least it’s dry, the summer could stay.“ Unlike many of his colleagues he does not constantly check his smartphone for the latest weather prognosis.
But he and his colleagues in the inner Green Juice circle are sensitised, see last year: „For ten years we were afraid of getting drowned. And then we did.“
Born in 2008
What started as a teeny tiny concert organised by Reininger and his brother Simon when they were still in school in 2008, grew into proper festival size soon. The festival site, a field in Beuel (Neu-Villich), can cater for 5,000 fans.
The eleventh edition of the event will take place on August 17 and 18 with 13 bands from various genres like Indie, Alternative and Punk rock. Headliners are The Subways from Great Britain, Zebrahead from California, and the Germans Bands Donots from Ibbenbüren and Von Wegen Lisbeth from Berlin.
„The Friday is a bit harder music-wise, the Saturday a bit softer“, says Reininger. „Our line-up has never been more international“, he says, and he is thrilled. And delivers the next superlative immediately: „We have never booked a band as early as Leonide.“ The Indierock band from the North of Germany, who also bring Blues and Dance into its music, he found via Spotify. Two Bonn bands are on the list as well this year: Attic and Elia.
During the 12 stage changes it won’t be boring or quiet. Six DJs are on their own stage and will keep everyone dancing throughout the breaks.
For the second time the Green Juice festival offers a warm-up during the week leading up to the main event. 14 bands and solo artists are playing on seven evenings from Friday, August 10, until Thursday, August 16, in seven locations in Bonn. Kult 41 is amongst those locations, as well as the Namenlos at the Stadtgaus, the Woki at the Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz and the Pantheon Theater in Beuel.
Admission is free everywhere. „We want to do something for the young music culture in the region,” says event organiser Reininger. „Newcomers should be allowed to present their music in front of a big audience.“
Pre-sale rather slow
A festival without camping is like beer without carbon dioxide. So finally this year, there’s a camp site near the festival. „For many fans coming from further away, this is a make or break decision“, says Reininger. „Camping and festivals simply belong together.“ As there is no space in the immediate surrounding, the camp site for about 800 people is about eight minutes away. On foot. There’s parking, toilets, drinking water. To cool down and for a shower, there’s the nearby Ennertbad with which the organisers have struck a special deal for festival-campers.
Amidst all looking forward to the eleventh edition of the Green Juice, the seven-strong organiser team is worried when it looks at the pre-sale numbers. „To be straight: The Green Juice 2018 will definitely happen“, emphasises Julian Reininger. „But if the numbers don’t pick up, that’s it then.“
In comparison to last year, the pre-sale numbers decreased by one quarter. „The development seems to be that people want to keep all their options open and only buy tickets on short-notice“, he explains. „One waits to hear from friends, others want to check out the weather. But we can’t plan like this.“
And this is still happening despite a major marketing campaign: „We never advertised so much before, the posters are hanging everywhere in North-Rhine Westphalia.“
Tickets for the festival are available on the homepage of the promoters and here. The tickets are 22.20 Euro per day and 29.90 Euro for both days. A combined festival plus camping ticket is 60 Euro.
INFO
- Green Juice 2018
- Friday and Saturday, August 17 and 18
- Open Air area at the Maria-Montessori-Allee in Neu-Vilich, Bonn-Beuel
- Line-Up Friday: Attic (3.30pm), 8Kids (4.40pm), FjØrt (6.15pm), Zebrahead (7.55pm), Donots (9.40pm)
- Line-Up Saturday: Elia (12.30pm), An Early Cascade (1.25pm), Abramowicz (2.20pm), KMPFSPRT (3.25pm), Van Holzen (4.40pm), Leoniden (6.15pm), Von Wegen Lisbeth (7.55pm), The Subways (9.4pm)- Green Juice Warm-Up: Friday, August 10 until Thursday, August 16 with Sunday Morning Sex (Sixties), The Fat Cat (Rock), Milene & Band (Soul Pop), Lucie Licht (Indie Pop), Trust In Harmony (Folk Pop), Frau Winzig (Singer/Songwriter), Like Snow (Folk Pop), Dan O’Clock (Singer/Songwriter), Kompass (Pop Rock), Karlsson (Indie), Indianageflüster (Indie Rap), Sauce Frites (Garage Rock)
- More details: www.warmup.green-juice.de
(Original text: Hagen Haas, Translation: Mareike Graepel)
