Welcome to INDOOR SUMMER FESTIVAL 2022 in Hamburg, Germany! The team at CGCM Rock Radio was on hand for the event…and it wasn’t just the resident travelling psycho/festival whore Rich “The Meister” Dillon! We also had one of our writing contributors, Krysti “Kryfar” Farnam at the event. Here’s their account, thoughts, stories, and comments all compiled into these joint daily blogs of which this is the first. Also included are Rich “The Meister” Dillon‘s photographs throughout and in galleries below. He’s new at photography, so bear with some of the not-so-good ones. Unfortunately, not every band is mentioned as even with two of us, some sets were missed. Enjoy and please reach out if you were there also and/or are wanting to attend next year! We’re always happy to chat and offer advice and a friendly face if you’re a solo attendee!
Kryfar At Indoor Summer 2022
The flyers for Indoor Summer were everywhere on the last days of my 2020 Monsters Of Rock Cruise. I remember thinking how much I’d love to attend, but it was overseas and I wasn’t ready to travel that far…yet! Fast forward a few months and that virus came and took away shows, fests, and everything fun. I promised myself that when things opened up, I would go to every show I could! During the planning of a trip to England, I then was reminded of this dream lineup in Hamburg, so I extended my trip a few days to join my friends at Indoor Summer Festival. I purchased the VIP Experience with hotel option and was very happy I did.
VIP (Kryfar)
From word go, I could tell this was going to be great. The hotel got us in early on Thursday for some much-needed RnR, before things kicked off on Friday.
VIP check-in went smoothly. I was handed a drawstring back that held so many goodies, including a voucher for an event t-shirt, a bar of wonderful smelling soap, a commemorative metal plate, a cd, plenty of drink tickets and snacks, and of course the all-important lanyard with running times on it. Additional perks for VIPs were a private show, a shuttle, breakfast at the hotel, and a buffet-style dinner at the venue.
Meister’s Indoor Summer 2022
The Indoor Summer Festival in Hamburg Germany was a hit! And I for one am already looking at returning next year in 2023. In fact, I’ve already secured a hotel room. But first, here’s a bit about my time there this year.
Meister Arrives at Markthalle
The venue was easy to find and quite near the train station, so a great location. Climbing the stairs into the venue, the staff greeted us and we secured our wristbands. We were also handed a VIP Goodie bag. Cool, I bought these tickets so long ago I didn’t even remember what I bought! Inside the bag were 10 drink tickets, a festival tee shirt voucher, and a whole assortment of other treats.
Up another set of stairs led us into a small open-air patio in the brilliant sunshine. Hardly had we moved before the smiling faces of friends from around the world greeted us with massive hugs. So very many friends all in one place and many I’d not seen for a long time. It was already exciting being here and the energy was absolutely electric. Everyone could feel it. Inside that actual venue from the patio, we first had an area with a few tables and a bar. Of course, also the merch booth, and I opted to cash in my tee shirt voucher straight away. Hey, I’ve been at these things where sizes run out quick before!
Further on, the room with the stage. On the sides and back of the room were graduated steps. This afforded great vantage points from pretty much anywhere to the stage, even for short people like me! The only other thing quickly noticeable was, like everywhere over here, no air conditioning nor even for that matter and air circulation. It was swelteringly hot and stuffy.
Degreed (Kryfar)
Friday night was VIP only and had a wonderful mix of fantastic artists playing acoustic & electric sets just for us. The very talented Marc Jurs started out the night with his acoustic set.
Degreed followed with their 1st of 2 sets for the weekend. I loved their sound instantly and they quickly jumped into my favourites list. Degreed is a four-piece band from Stockholm Sweden. Their songs are catchy and melodic. The kind that has you singing along, right away. Their acoustic set was great and I couldn’t wait for their full electric set.
Friday (Meister)
Making my way to the front of the stage and the photo pit for the first band of the day. This first “VIP Night” was limited to only about half capacity so there was lots of room to move about. It also featured several acoustic performances, which as you may know are not really my bag. First victim was Marc Jürs. Then it was Degreed doing acoustic and then at 18:00, it was time to plug in for Radiant.
Radiant / Age Of Reflection (Meister)
Now here we go, this is more Meister-style! Radiant rocked the crowd showcasing vocalist Herbie Langhans (Firewind) with a punch-in-the-face energy after the previous acoustic.
Age of Reflection hit the stage next. It was so great to see this band once again on stage. Great show including two new songs and great people. Again I apologized for the interview incident I had with them pre-covid. (Another story for another time….lol).
Shiraz Lane (Kryfar)
Shiraz Lane was a huge draw for me. They are one of the reasons I bought tickets. And they definitely did not disappoint. They have such a unique sound and Hannes Kett has a stunning voice with huge range. The whole band gives off this marvellous vibe and they are incredibly talented. Live, Shiraz Lane feeds off the crowd and shares their energy with everyone in the room. Their show was so perfect, I was sad to see it end!
Shiraz (Meister)
Shiraz Lane are really getting some attention lately and their latest album was just released. You can read CGCM‘s review here: Shiraz Lane – Forgotten Shades Of Life.
Getting Age of Reflection to sign my newly purchased at merch booth A New Dawn album on vinyl almost made me late for photoing Ronnie Atkins!
Ronnie Atkins (Meister)
As a long-time Pretty Maids fan, Ronnie Atkins‘ distinctive voice is like an old friend in itself. With Ronnie as a cancer survivor and releasing two fantastic melodic rock albums, it was a veritable thrill to see his announcement at Indoor Summer 2022. And….I’d already travelled to Sweden to see him for two shows back in May! Read about that adventure here: Ronnie Atkins – Stockholm/Gothenburg.
As I expected, Ronnie and company delivered a great set even though it was semi-acoustic. His charisma and that of a fantastic set of musicians beside him can’t help but captivate you. There were some great jokes on stage surrounding missing bass player Pontus who was completing a required covid quarantine. The band members high-fived the “air” where he would be standing normally during the band introductions. We were assured that Pontus would be on stage for Sunday’s electric set.
Ronnie Atkins (Kryfar)
Ronnie Atkins’ acoustic set was next. I wasn’t sure what to expect but WOW! What a show! They sounded fantastic. I was bummed that I’d have to miss the electric set on Sunday.
David Reece (Meister)
I count David Reece among one of the best vocalists. I absolutely love much of his work. From his excellent solo albums of late to things like Tango Down, Wicked Sensation, Bonfire and Sainted Sinners albums. Also on the horizon is his new collaboration with Herman Frank and the forthcoming album from Iron Allies. Of course, one of the most-loved Reece outputs is the excellent Bangalore Choir and the On Target album from 1992.
I was pretty certain that we would not be hearing any tunes from those aforementioned bands tonight, but it was publicized as Reece doing the Bangalore Choir album. Excellent! In my first time seeing David Reece live and to have him weigh the setlist heavy on such a great album was one helluva treat! What I did not expect by any means was that we’d be hearing some Accept! For those not knowing, Reece provided vocals for the German band Accept after the split with Udo for one album. That was 1989’s Eat The Heat record. The song “Generation Clash” is one of my all-time faves and when they (surprisingly to me) launched into it, I about choked on my beer! But that wasn’t all as we also got “Hellhammer” off the same record! Wow, what a treat that had me dancing away in the back corner of the room, sloshing my beer around all the while. Absolutely fantastic finish to day one at Indoor Summer 2022!
The After (Kryfar)
After the show, we headed back to the hotel bar to have a few drinks and socialize with some of the bands. I loved this part of the night. What a blast. It was that extra special detail that Oliver Lange and Team for the Show added that made this a complete VIP experience. It was like the promoters put themselves in the fan’s shoes and asked what we would want. Then made that happen! It is that extra mile that made this one of the best festivals that I have attended. It’s also the reason I’ll be back next year! It was about 4am when we finally headed to our rooms, excited to wake up and do it all over again.
After The Show (Meister)
As David Reece completed his set my friend Mike and I made our way toward the exit. No mistaking things, we were tired as hell. Happy as hell, but tired from the previous week still. We chatted and laughed as we left Markthalle walking towards the Hamburg train station (which is spitting distance). All of a sudden as we were waiting at the light to cross the street we hear “Hey you stupid Canadians!” I turned to Mike asking, “is that Nathan?” “Yes it is,” he replied. “I guess we aren’t going home just yet!” Our friend (also Canadian) had been unable to attend Friday’s festivities and was just now hitting Hamburg in preparation for tomorrow. Well, it would be rude not to have a beer with the young lad, right?
TEAM FOR THE SHOW OFFICIAL WEBSITE / LaSy GbR Promotions FACEBOOK / INDOOR SUMMER 2022 FACEBOOK EVENT
