The Freilichtbühne Loreley (Loreley Open-Air Theatre) is an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

located on top of the

Lorelei The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...

rock in St. Goarshausen, Germany. Designed by Hermann Senf, it was built between 1934 and 1939 as one of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

'' Thingplätze'' and is one of the best known of these. It has been used continuously since World War II, initially mainly for theatrical performances and since 1976, mainly for rock concerts.

Third Reich

The arena was designed by Hermann Senf, who referred to the Loreley rock as a "kind of shrine".Étienne François and Hagen Schulze, eds., ''Deutsche Erinnerungsorte'', Volume 3, Munich: Beck, 2001,
p. 497
It is one of the best known of the ''Thingspielplätze'', which were built by the Nazi regime for cultural events. Construction lasted from 1934 to 1939, and the opening took place on 21 June with a performance of

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

's ''

Wilhelm Tell William Tell (german: Wilhelm Tell, ; french: Guillaume Tell; it, Guglielmo Tell; rm, Guglielm Tell) is a folk hero of Switzerland. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Al ...

''.Loreley - History
Loreley Aktuell, Touristinfo Loreley-Burgenstrasse

1 June 2011 at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Post-war

After World War II, the facility was the site of an international camp for European youth in the summer of 1951, and was then used for the presentation of classic drama from 1952 to 1967. In 1968, it began to be used for both orchestral and pop concerts, and since 1976, when

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

played there, it has been used mainly for rock concerts, but also for films and religious services. Other rock performers who have appeared there include the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United St ...

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

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's Rainbow,

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Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, pow ...

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Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fus ...

, R.E.M., and

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

. Since 1981, it has been a frequent location for

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

's ''

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and ja ...

'' and from 1981 to 1985, it hosted the affiliated Loreley Open Air Festivals. Since 2006, the annual Night of the Prog music festival has been held there, with the exception of 2020, when it was cancelled due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Loreley theatre holds 5,000 seats and has a capacity of about 15,000.Ray Waddell
"SMG Inks Deal To Manage Germany's Loreley Venue"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'', 9 June 2004. Formerly managed by SMG Europe, the venue is now run by Loreley Venue Management GmbH, which was registered in 2010.Loreley Venue Management GmbH
, GermanCompanies.net, retrieved 2 May 2013. Since 2000, non-event visits to the arena have been permitted.

References

External links

* * Geoff Walden

Third Reich in Ruins: photographs from the 1930s and 1940s
Night of the Prog official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freilichtbuhne Loreley Music venues in Germany Loreley