Southside Festival

The Southside Festival (simply known as Southside) is an annual music festival that takes place near Tuttlingen, Germany, usually every June. The festival as well as its artists and audiences are generally associated within the alternative part of popular music.

The Hurricane Festival, often referred to as the "sister" of Southside, takes place on the same three days in the very north of Germany (contrary to Southside, which is in the very south).

General Information

The name Southside derives from the English "south side" and refers to Southern Germany where the festival takes place. Festival organizers are FKP Scorpio and KOKO & DTK Entertainment. The festival site consists of 800,000 square meters of former military and airport precincts and features four stages. The festival first took place on the former military airport of Neubiberg (Munich) with approximately 15,000 visitors. In 2002, the number of visitors had risen to 30,000 and kept rising up to 60,000. The revenue for one festival weekend, according to the organizers, amounts to between five and ten million euros.Vera Romeu (vr): ''Musik-Festival kommt auf den Flugplatz. Gespräch zwischen Veranstalter und den Gemeinden laufen – Grobes Konzept ist entworfen''. In: ''Schwäbische Zeitung'' 22 December 2011. The paramedic service is provided by the Malteser Hilfsdienst, the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (regional association Bodensee-OberschwabenJulia Ebner: ''Rund 2500 Mal Dienst am Nächsten.'' In: ''Südkurier'' 19 June 2009.) and the German Red Cross.Hermann-Peter Steinmüller (hps): ''Southside: Nasse Sachen und fröhliche Menschen.'' In: ''Südkurier'' 20 June 2011. Throughout the entire weekend, around 400 helpers do approximately 12,000 hours of work.Ulrike Ebner: ''"400 Helfer sind hier im Einsatz".'' In: ''Südkurier'' 20 June 2011. Crowd surfing is strictly against the festival's safety policy.

History

The Southside festival first took place in 1999 as a counterpart to Hurricane festival. In 2000, it was moved to Neuhausen ob Eck. Recurring musical acts included:

* Queens of the Stone Age (1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013)
* Flogging Molly (2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017)
* The Sounds (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014)
* Billy Talent (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2018)
* Beatsteaks (2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010)
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (2002, 2004, 2008, 2015, 2018)
* NOFX (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018)

2007 (storm incident)

On the Thursday evening preceding the start of the festival, a storm demolished the tent stage and hurled large and heavy poles through the air. One such pole went through the roof of a paramedic van parked near the stage, killing one occupant and seriously injuring the other. The tent stage acts had to be canceled as a consequence. Festival organizers considered canceling the festival, but decided against it on advice of police, local authorities and even the paramedics team. The two main stages also suffered damage but were sufficiently repaired in time.

2008

In 2008, the festival took place from 20 June to 22 June. It sold out at around 50,000 tickets and registered a new visitor record. The number of visitors and the hot weather led to a water shortage on Sunday at 11 am.

Musical acts on all three stages consisted of:

: Apoptygma Berzerk, Bat for Lashes, Beatsteaks, Bell X1, Biffy Clyro, Billy Talent, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, British Sea Power, Calexico, Deichkind, Die Mannequin, Digitalism, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Donots, Elbow, Enter Shikari, Flogging Molly, Foals, Foo Fighters, Jaguar Love, Jan Delay & Disko No 1, Jason Mraz, Jennifer Rostock, Johnny Foreigner, Kaiser Chiefs, Kettcar, Krieger, Madsen, Maxïmo Park, Millencolin, Monster Magnet, Nada Surf, NOFX, Oceansize, Operator Please, Panic! at the Disco, Panteón Rococó, Patrice, Paul Heaton, Radiohead, Razorlight, Rise Against, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, Shy Guy At The Show, Sigur Rós, Slut, Tegan and Sara, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Beautiful Girls, The Chemical Brothers, The Cribs, The Enemy, The Flyer, The Kooks, The Notwist, The Pigeon Detectives, The Subways, The Weakerthans, The Wombats, Tocotronic, Turbostaat, Wrongkong, Xavier Rudd.

In addition, the quarterfinals of the UEFA Euro 2008 were broadcast on the big screen.

2009

In 2009, the Southside Festival took place from 19 June to 21 June. After increasing the capacity to 55,000 visitors, the festival was not sold out with 50,000 visitors. The headliners were Die Ärzte, Kings of Leon and Faith No More.

2010

The Southside Festival 2010, which took place from 18 June to 20 June, was sold out with 50,000 visitors.Hermann-Peter Steinmüller (hps): ''Festivalfans trotzen miesem Wetter''. In: ''Südkurier'' 21 June 2010. According to the organizer, it would have been possible to sell 100,000 tickets – two times more visitors than the terrain could hold. 9For the first time a fourth stage, called "White Stage", got introduced. This tent complemented the main stage ("Green Stage"), the side stage ("Blue Stage") and the second tent ("Red Stage"). In the late afternoon, Electro music was played in this tent. The motto of the second, new tent was "Electric Circus". Headliner of the 2010 festival were Billy Talent, The Strokes, Massive Attack, Mando Diao, The Prodigy, Deichkind and Beatsteaks. With a big screen, the organizer made a broadcast of the FIFA World Cup possible. Due to continuous rain the entire camping and festival terrain turned into mud. In the night of 17 to 18 June, an event of heavy rain (precipitation: 80 L/m²) required an array of workers, iron sheets, over 500m² of wood chips and several semi-trailers of hay, as well as heavy technical equipment to make both entries to the festival terrain passable again.

In addition, the period reached cold temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius. For this reason, the community opened the Homburghalle, and many residents provided private accommodation and showers.Hermann-Peter Steinmüller (hps): ''Die Fans gehen, der Müll bleibt''. In: ''Südkurier'' 22 June 2010. On the day of departure, many vehicles got stuck in the mud and had to be salvaged by farmers with their tractors. Furthermore, the Bundesstraße 311 was so slippery from the mud, which the cars brought from the meadow to the roadway, that it had to be cleaned again and again with special machines. A total of 1800 employees were employed on the grounds during the festival, including 420 paramedics and doctors, around 400 security guards and stewards, as well as stage technicians and other helpers. At the end of the events, 450 mobile toilets had to be emptied and 80,000 rubbish sacks had to be disposed of. The amount of rubbish was immense due to the weather in 2010.Hermann-Peter Steinmüller (hps): ''Werbung ist wichtiger als Müll''. In: ''Südkurier'' 8 July 2010. Since the festival visitors had left more rubbish behind this year than usual, but it sank into the mud and became solid again, some areas had to be ploughed or dug up, levelled, filled up and reseeded. The festival's visitors had to be able to use the waste for the first time in their lives.

2011

Neuhausen ob Eck was the venue of the Southside Festival for the twelfth time from 17 to 19 June 2011. Two days before the line-up began, the festival was sold out with more than 50,000 visitors. For the festival 81 artists were engaged: Also in 2011, there were four stages - two open-air stages and two tent stages. On the fourth stage, called the white stage, which was usually reserved for electric acts,Jeremias Heppeler: ''50 000 Fans waten in Schlammside 2.0''. In: ''Südkurier'' 20 June 2011. there were additional shows consisting out of acrobatics underlined with electronic music. Newly introduced measurements to protect the environment were, "Green Camping", reduction due to new ways of arriving at the festival and avoidance of creating paper waste. The manager of the estate park outlined at the Southside festival in 2011, that it would be the last one for the time being. Reason for that was the weather. The previous 3 years have been rainy which resulted in the ground being completely sodden, so there was a possibility of the festival not being held for the next 2 to 3 years so the ground could regenerate. The consequences of the mud in 2010, were that the grass only could spear sparsely which is why the soil was then even more in danger. The wood chips which were spread out in front of all the stages also massively acidifies the soil. Als Vorkehrung gegen eine Verschlammung wurden an vielen Stellen Plastikmatten ausgelegt.Michael Hochheuser (hoc): ''Top: Southside startet mit Sonne statt Schlamm. 50 000 Fans haben zum Auftakt des Festivals ihren Spaß – und die Helfer viel zu tun''. In: ''Schwäbische Zeitung'' 18 June 2011. As a measurement against siltation, some places of the festival area were carpeted with plastic mats. 1As the festival 2011 was still going on the promoter already announced on 19 June, that even though they have been having mud problems in the years of 2010 and 2011 there is again going to be a festival in ''Neuhausen ob Eck'' in 2012, no matter the weather. For this purpose a five-year contract was closed.(klw):
Southside bleibt in Neuhausen – und bringt „Die Ärzte" und „Blink 182"
'' In: ''Schwäbische Zeitung'' 20 June 2011 (retrieved 19 June 2011)

2012

Long before the festival two headliners for the festival in 2012 were confirmed: blinks-182, which were already supposed to perform in 2011 and Die Ärtzte who already ready performed on the southside festival in the years of 2002, 2005 and 2009. Due to the siltation problem, six digit-figure sums of money were invested into the preparation of the ground. A lot of the lawns were supposed to be gravelled.

2013

The Southside Festival 2013 took place from 21 to 23 June. It was sold out, totalling 60 000 visitors.

2014

The Southside Festival 2014 started on Friday 20 June and ended on Sunday the 22nd.

2015

The Southside Festival 2015 took place from 19 to 21 June. Line-Up:

:Placebo, Florence + the Machine, Farin Urlaub Racing Team, Paul Kalkbrenner, Deadmau5, Marteria, Alt-J, Jan Delay & Disko No. 1, Cro, Madsen, The Gaslight Anthem, Katzenjammer, Milky Chance, LaBrassBanda, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Parov Stelar Band, Of Monsters and Men, George Ezra, NOFX, Die Antwoord, Angus & Julia Stone, Death Cab for Cutie, Alligatoah, Frittenbude, Death from Above 1979, 257ers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Irie Révoltés, Suicidal Tendencies, Future Islands, The Notwist, Counting Crows, SDP, The Cat Empire, Backyard Babies, Danko Jones