Rock am Ring 2011

[Squig]

Bands so far:

Beatsteaks

Coldplay

In Flames

Kings Of Leon

Mando Diao

Volbeat

Next Monday (11-29) the third headliner will be announced, and it is supposed to be more Hard Rock. SOAD is a strong rumour. That's also when tickets (150€ untill mid-January) will go on sale.

These are the informations from 2010, I'll update them in the coming weeks

First band that was confirmed is Rammstein, tickets are 140€ until 1.1.2010 (which is surrisingly close to 140 pounds this year).

The FAQ:

Rock Am Ring - FAQ for British Festival-goers

Compiled by Chris12345 for RaR 2008 on efestivals!

This is a guide only, don't treat it as gospel! But hopefully it will offer some good information!

Thanks to:

Apu

Lenore

JoshBosh

Moistvelvet

Squig

Doley

+anyone else who contributed

Contents:

1- General

1.1 What is Rock Am Ring?

1.2 What is Rock Im Park then?

1.3 when does Rock Am Ring take place?

2- Tickets

2.1 How much?

2.2 How do I buy a ticket from the UK?

--2.2.1 TPP only seems to accept Mastercard, Visa and American Express? I don't have that? What do I do?

--2.2.2 My UK address wouldn't fit in the form? Will it be ok?

--2.2.3 How are they sent? Will I have to sign?!

2.3 What is a souvineer/computer ticket?

2.4 What is a Nordschleife Ticket?

2.5 How long does RAR usually take to sell out?

2.6 I didn't buy a ticket in time? How should I go about getting one?

2.7 Wristbands?

3- Food and Drink

3.1 Can I take food and drink into the campsite?

3.2 Can I take food and drink into the arena?

3.3 What sort of food/drink can I buy in the campsite?

3.4 What sort of food/drink can I buy in the arena?

3.5 Where is the nearest supermarket to RAR?

--3.5.1 What are German prices like

--3.5.2 I'm going via Koblenz, where're the supermarkets there?

4- Camping

4.1In general, what is camping at RAR like?

4.2 What is forbidden on the campsite?

4.3 I like sleep? Where should I camp?

4.4 I like a 24 hour party! Where should I camp?

4.5 Where can I find info on the shuttle buses? How much? What times?

4.6 What to do on thursday?

5- Flying to RAR

5.1 I was drunk and Ryanair misled me into thinking Frankfurt Hahn might've actually been in Frankfurt?! How the crap do I get to RAR?

--5.1.2 Getting to RAR from Hahn via bus

--5.1.3 Hiring a car at Hahn

--5.1.4 Taking a taxi from Hahn

5.2 Flying to Frankfurt city

5.3 flying to other German airports

6- Driving to RAR

6.1 Route please!

7- Bands/Stages

7.1 How many/how big are the stages?

7.2 Where's the lineup?! How many bands?! Are XXXXXX playing?!

1- General

1.1

What is Rock Am Ring?

Rock am Ring is a German rock music festival, it takes place at the Nurbergring in south-western Germany every year, on the first August of June. It is attended by approximately 70000 people every year (similar scale to Leeds and Reading).

The name means 'Rock at the Ring', so therefore 'Rock am' as an abbrevation will hurt every German speaking person's eyes (who'd call a festival 'Rock at the'?), so please don't do that. Use RaR instead.

1.2

What is Rock Im Park then?

Rock Im Park is RAR's 'sister' festival, it takes place near Nuremburg (think of it like Leeds and Reading, same lineup, different days!). This guide relates to RAR. For the purposes of this guide, I'm gonna pretend that Rock Im Park doesn't exist.

1.3

When does Rock Am Ring take place?

It is scheduled for first weekend in June (5th to the 7th).

2- Tickets

2.1

How much?

The earlier you buy your ticket, the cheaper it is, for 2010 the prices are:

- until the 1st of January -140 €

- from the 2nd of January to the the 30th of March - We don't know yet.

(more to come when information is available)

Your ticket includes camping, as well as a 5 Euro refundable "Trash bonus". At the end of the festival, you hand in a bin liner full of rubbish and the trash diposit ticket you got when you handed in your ticket for the wristband or when you drove on the parking lot and receive 5 Euros in return

2.2

How do I buy a ticket from the UK?

You can order via the internet from www.ticketsperpost.de (the German equivalent of something like seetickets). You should expect to pay around 15/20 Euros for postage to a UK address.

2.2.1

TPP only seems to accept Mastercard, Visa and American Express? I don't have that? What do I do?

Borrow a card or something... (better answer needed )

2.2.2

My UK address wouldn't fit in the form? Will it be ok?

Enter it as best you can and you should be ok (put the postcode in the town box or something). My address was back to front and upside down, but my tickets still arrived ok! If you are worried, you can contact TTP (at this address insert@email.com) with your confirmation number and correct address and they will fix it for you. I have not dealt with them myself, but I'm told their English is great and they are very helpful!

2.2.3

How are they sent? Will I have to sign?!

I didn't personally have to sign... but thats not to mean that someone else in my house didn't! (better answer needed)

2.3

What is a souvineer/computer ticket?

The souvenir tickets are your standard gig tickets printed on thin cardboard and they look pretty cool ! Souvenir tickets are sold exclusively through ticketsperpost. Any other retailer will send you computer tickets.

The souvenir tickets won't be printed (and therefor send out) until some time in spring. This means even if you pay for it now, you won't get it for a few months. But you will still only pay the Frühbucher (early buyer) price of 140€

Computer tickets are just like booking flights with ryanair,just a bog standard piece of papaer with everyones info on it.ie not one piece of paper per ticket.

2.4

What is a Nordschleife Ticket?

The Nordschleife (Northern loop) is a historic part of the racing track. Nowadays, at least F1 doesn't race there anymore. For RaR you can buy tickets (also at TPP) for it for 15€ (last year prices, may change). On there you are allowed to camp next to your car. It has the reputation to be the madest part of the camping, where people bring massive trucks with a wall of a loudspeakers and even more furniture than usual.

2.5

How long does RAR usually take to sell out?

Expect 2010 to sell out earlier than last years due to 3 sold out years in a row and the 20th annyversary this year.

In 2008 it had officially 'sold out' on the 15thish of March.

2007 was the first year for the festival to be sold out (also for Rock im Park). In 2007 it was sold out on May 10th or something, Rock im Park two weeks later (check needed).

2009 it sold out some time in March.

2.5

I didn't buy a ticket in time? How should I go about getting one?

Ebay.de could help.

2.6

Wristbands?

Tickets have to be exchanged for a wristband starting Wednesday before the festival. Without a wristband you won't be allowed to enter neither camping grounds nor festival grounds.

If you arrive there before wednesday you can go on the camping ground showing your ticket, though.

3- Food and Drink

3.1

Can I take food and drink into the campsite?

Yes. Concerning food and drinks everything is allowed.

3.2

Can I take food and drink into the arena?

Drink- One 1-Liter-PET (Tetra Pack) carton per person is OK.

Food- Allowed :-)

3.3

What sort of food/drink can I buy in the campsite?

There are no stores of any kind at the campsites. Ask your friendly neighbours for help in case you forgot someting really important.

3.4

What sort of food/drink can I buy in the arena?

(Almost) Anything you can think of. Fries, Currywurst, Hamburgers, Pizza, Pastas, German Seafoodsnacks, Asian Noodles, Mexican food,

Beer, Cocktails, Jack Daniels(?), Softdrinks, Water.

3.5

Where is the nearest supermarket to RAR?

There are mobile supermarkets all over the place but usually they are all very expensive. The next real supermarket should be located in Adenau, 10 km away. If you don't wanna walk that far, the yellow shuttle bus route stop 9 is the closest you can get on transport!

This is the url for the Lidl at Adenau http://www.lidl.de/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_de/hs...etail=extensive and for those lucky enough to have a Car and SAT NAV the address is 53518

3.5.1

What are German prices like

I would say a little cheaper than in Britain.

A .4 beer should be around 4 Euros. There's usually a 1 Euro refund that you have to pay and you'll get back when you hand the cup back in (after the last drink).

Anybody know the prices for sure from last year?

3.5.2

I'm going via Koblenz, where're the supermarkets there?

The map Lenore found didn't work anymore. Can anybody draw one?

Near the station in koblenz is a lidl, just walk out the station and head right, you'll pass a McDonalds und the Deutsche Post, just 50 more meters and there is a lidl. The green x is the Lidl, Hauptbahnhof is the station in Koblenz and ZOB is the bus-station

Below is the link to a Gogle earth Placemark:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.ph...vc=#Post1127700

4- Camping

4.1

In general, what is camping at RAR like?

Very unproblematic

People are peaceful and theft happens very rarely. People sit together round a campfire, listen to music, scream, sing, play weird games etc...

The campsites are usually quite far away so a 15-20 minute walk (one way) is necessary to reach the festival grounds. Campsites close to the festival grounds are overcrowded by Wednesday.

The campsites officialy open on wednesday, but some Germans arrive as early as the friday before just to party a few days before the bands start playing.

4.2

What is forbidden on the campsite?

Weapons, truck loads of furniture^^

A massive Open fire is usually not allowed. Having a barbecue should be fine though.

4.3

I like sleep? Where should I camp?

At home! ;-)

Really, there's madness 24 hours a day at the campsites. There will always be someone with a huge stereo. Bring earplugs for some sleep.

4.4

I like a 24 hour party! Where should I camp?

Anywhere you like. There are always many many people around who like doing that, too. (If you do want to get some sleep though, don't mid using earplugs)

4.5

Where can I find info on the shuttle buses? How much? What times?

- coming in spring -

4.6

What to do on thursday?

First option: stay at the camping site, socialize with your neighbours and enjoy the booze.

Second and best option: There's a warm up party at the party tent with a few acts playing. Everybody's welcome.

5- Flying to RAR

Closest airports are: Köln-Bonn (Cologne), Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Frankfurt Hahn, Frankfurt International

Besides Hahn every airport has a good connection to the German rail system.

5.1

I was drunk and Ryanair misled me into thinking Frankfurt Hahn might've actually been in Frankfurt?! How the crap do I get to RAR?

The airport is an old converted military base in the arse end of nowhere... it consists of a coffee shop, and not much else, there is no nearby towns or anything and...

THERE IS NO TRAIN STATION

To get to RAR, you must either take the bus (5.1.2), hire a car (5.1.3) or take a taxi (5.1.4)

5.1.2

Getting to RAR from Hahn via bus

This is the cheapest option. Buses to the city of Koblenz (the German equivalent of somewhere like Stoke; big, but nothing really to write home about, there're shops and hotels and stuff) run every 2 hours from Hahn (TIMETABLE) and takes about an hour.

The coach from Hahn to Koblenz costs 12 euros (not including shuttle bus to the ring)

Upon reaching Hahn, you should can stock up on food and drink at the nearby supermarket (Chris- Map/check)

You then must get the shuttle bus to RAR from Koblenz bus station, this journey takes about an hour.

The shuttle bus from the Koblenz station to the Ring is not free! It costs 10 Euros for a return ticket. So don't lose your ticket unless you don't want to pay again on the way back.

Remember: The place where the busses leave after the festival is a different one than the one where they arrive. It is near campsite D9 (1km from the main entrance).

5.1.3

Hiring a car at Hahn

Information about car hire from Hahn can be found here: http://www.hahn-airport.de/default.aspx?me...l_car&cc=en

5.1.4

Taking a taxi from Hahn

If you google "Frankfurt Hahn taxi" it brings up several pages where you can get quotes and book minicabs

Taxi from Hahn to the ring costs approximately €100 by taxi, takes 1 and a half hours and is 70 km

5.2

Flying to Frankfurt city

We're flying into Frankfurt City airport from Manchester with Lufthansa. It cost about 80 quid each and the plan is to get a train to Koblenz, go to Lidl (see 3.5.2) then get a taxi to the ring. Information about travel to and from Frankfurt City airport can be found here:

http://www.airportcity-frankfurt.com/cms/d...ing_to_from.htm

Tickets cost between 20 and 26 euros each way and the journey takes between approx 1 hr 10 minutes and 1 hr 40 depending on changes. Train info can be found in English here:

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

5.3

Other airports

If you arrive at different airports (Köln-Bonn [Cologne], Dortmund and Stuttgart are doable), just travel by rail to Koblenz and follow the descriptions from 5.1.2. German rail travel is not that cheap, but reliable and fast. You can look up prices at www.db.de

A second option is to rent a car and follow the description from point 6.

The guys from EUfest organize coaches that travel from Frankfurt Hahn and Köln/Bonn to Rock am Ring:

More information can be found at http://www.eufest.com/rock/transport

6- Driving to RAR

6.1

Anybody has other routes?

If you have Sat Nav, the address is '53520 Nürburg'

Coming from the Northwest (IE UK; NL, Belgium), head first towards Cologne (Köln) and then towards Koblenz. This map should help:

Nürburgring is shown on the signs on the Autobahn when you exit.

7- Bands/Stages

7.1

How many/how big are the stages?

There is the Center Stage, the Alternastage and the Club tent.

Center Stage can hold the most people, approximately 60000.

Alternastage can hold app. 35000.

The Club can hold 1500-2000 people. So if you want to see your favorite band in the Club Tent be early. Last year many frustrated people could not get inside on time.

7.2

Where's the lineup?! How many bands?! Are XXXXXX playing?!

The line up for 2010 as of the 9th of December 2009 is:

We don't know who else will play as of now. About 90 bands will be playing. Check out the Ringrocker rumour section for current rumours.

Discussion about RaR 2007: /index.php?showtopic=71608">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=71608

Discussion about RaR 2008: /index.php?showtopic=89960">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=89960

Discussion about RaR 2009: /index.php?showtopic=111178">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.p...howtopic=111178

Discussion in English at ringrocker.com: http://www.ringrocker.com/modules.php?op=m...um&forum=36

[beards]

Really hope system are playing! I was caught completely off guard by the coldplay announcement, I never saw that coming. Would you recommend buying tickets from www.getgo.de? According to that website they have tickets on sale already, I thought tickets weren't on sale until the end of this month... I got mine from eventim this year but the tickets were a horrible looking green and white thing, where as there were other people with the lovely looking red and black ones (I know the tickets not of paramount importance but it matters to me!)

I've decided to drive over this time, we had to leave before rammstein to make sure we definitely got our flight which was gutting. I'm well up for it, June can't come quick enough!

[Squig]

It won't sell out until a few months before the festival if you look at the last years. Order them at Tickets-per-post.de and ask for Harttickets (Souvenir tickets). If you order via getgo or eventim you just get generic tickets from those companies, which are valid of course but look aweful. Eventim is selling them already via Sat.de (new automotive sponsor)

[tricho]

+ System of a Down !!!

[luckysalt]

If you didn't know System of A Down, Hurts and Gaslight Anthem are new additions

[beards]

System are officially confirmed! That's all the convincing I need to get my ticket

[sloaney007]

Squig, any rumours on fourth headliner/2nd stage headliners yet?? saw that blink 182 are doing hurricane/southside the week after RaR so might be a possible?

[Squig]

Squig, any rumours on fourth headliner/2nd stage headliners yet?? saw that blink 182 are doing hurricane/southside the week after RaR so might be a possible?

[beards]

Are the announcements going to be fairly regular now?

I'm feeling pretty impatient now tickets are ordered

[Squig]

Are the announcements going to be fairly regular now?

I'm feeling pretty impatient now tickets are ordered

[beards]

Awesome. I'm hoping for some heavier or at least livelier bands after kings of leon and coldplay. Really looking forward to being back in Germany!

[beards]

Slipknot have announced they're gonna do European dates in 2011... Any chance they could be at rock am ring?

[gembolya]

I'm going for the first time this year!!

And I'm wondering if anyone on here has either gone by train from London before or gone to RAR with the coach package that's advertised on the english fansite? (I'm being cautious - don't want to get conned)

[alexmole]

I'm going for the first time this year!!

And I'm wondering if anyone on here has either gone by train from London before or gone to RAR with the coach package that's advertised on the english fansite? (I'm being cautious - don't want to get conned)

[alexmole]

I'm going for the first time this year!!

And I'm wondering if anyone on here has either gone by train from London before or gone to RAR with the coach package that's advertised on the english fansite? (I'm being cautious - don't want to get conned)

[beards]

The normal feedback on tyhe coach is great on the way out, less so on the way back when all you want is to wash and go to bed. Do you mean passenger train of car train? Passenger train to me looks like London - Paris - Frankfurt - Koblenz + Shuttle bus, which I guess takes a while. Car train however is very good:-)

[TheA-Bomb]

we drive down every year , dover to dunkirk on norfolk line ferrys as its closer than calais ,

although only by a bit , norfolk line is also alot cheaper

we usually leave the weekend b4 and stay in bruges for a couple days b4 then driving down into germany.

I couldnt recomend this festival anymore , british festivals such as reading/leeds and download dont come anywhere close to it

[beards]

Agreed! This year I did rock am ring, glastonbury and reading, rock am ring was definitely the highlight! I loved everything about it except the journey home. It has to be said that the Germans are awesome people, all the ones we met seemed to go well out of their way to make us feel comfortable, the guys camping next to us were even cooking food on their bbq for us and giving us beer. It wouldn't happen at reading!

[alexmole]

What's the car train? We're driving over this year, driving from Devon to Dover, ferry to Calais then drive to the ring but if there's an easier way of doing it that you know of, it'd be good to know

[alexmole]

we usually leave the weekend b4 and stay in bruges for a couple days b4 then driving down into germany.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

just finished watching jay-z on the ol' box

completely out of curiosity, what's the stand thing on the side of the crowd and what's in it?!

[Squig]

The ring in Rock am Ring refers to the Nürburgring, a legendary racing track in Germany (you can find it in better racing games like Gran Tourismo). The stand thing at the side are just buildings next to the track, as well as pits (which can be accessed from both sides and are therefore perfect for exit/entries).

Is that what you were talking about? If not make a screenshot of the video you saw, plz.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

The ring in Rock am Ring refers to the Nürburgring, a legendary racing track in Germany (you can find it in better racing games like Gran Tourismo). The stand thing at the side are just buildings next to the track, as well as pits (which can be accessed from both sides and are therefore perfect for exit/entries).

Is that what you were talking about? If not make a screenshot of the video you saw, plz.

[Squig]

Yeah cheers thats it, just wondered if much happened in them

[TheA-Bomb]

the main arena/stage is behind the pit garages of the racing track and above the garages are the hospitality suites