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Country Music Meeting 2012
at the Fontane-Haus in Berlin-Reinickendorf
3 days of "Weekend Jamboree"
with good friends and best Country Music
After the big Country Event finally found
its way back to his "old" home Berlin-Reinickendorf
in the beginning of 2011, the owner of the American Western
Saloon - Frank M. Lange - is now inviting everyone to the
Country Music Meeting from Feb. 3rd til Feb. 5th 2012. Again
the "swinging doors" of the Fontane-Haus will be
opened for the annual highlight of many friends and fans at
the usual place with cosy atmosphere. The ambience of this
venue with its big exhibition spaces and music halls is maybe
the biggest attraction to lead the fans of American Country
Music to the northern part of Berlin.
There are good reasons to keep the maximum
amount of visitors lower than in the past. Visitors of earlier
Country Events might remember that sometimes there was no
chance to get from one entertainment point to the other. Of
course we want everybody to have as much fun as possible,
but we also want to guarantee your safety. That's why there
will only a amount of 3000 per Day tickets available for the
Country Music Meeting 2012.
At the Country Music Meeting ticket
office on the event weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
you can get single day tickets and weekend tickets.
You can reach the Fontane Haus
from all directions without passing or going through the Berlin
emission zone.
Infos for musicans: audiorecording_offer.pdf
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No
weapons and spurs allowed on the Country Music Meeting
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Floor
Plan upper and lower floor as PDF
The Country Music Meeting at the Fontane
Haus 2012
Berlin - the capital of Country Music
by Günther Chalupa, dpa / translation
by Marion Freier
Berlin. For a long weekend
Berlin is turning into the capital of Country Music. When
a colourful crowd of cowboys, can-can-dancers, US cavalry
officers or well-fed ifantry officers of the union and the
confederate troops make their way through the streets it's
not a sign of a fashion show behind schedule. Then the time
for the stars of Country Music (and those who want to be)
has come, which will be celebrated nearly around the clock
at 2 parallel events from February 3rd til February 5th.
"Why does it have to
be Nashville" is the fundamental idea, just as Germanys
longest existing Country band Truck Stop once sang. Either
Bluegrass, Cajun, Hillbillie or Country Rock - the american,
european and german scene offers everything the Country heart
wants - far away from the Country Music capital Nashville.
Dozens of vendors from all over Europe make this a perfect
picture. You can get nearly everything from a T-shirt to a
stetson hat.
The "Country Music
Meeting" at the Fontane-Haus in Reinickendorf might be
the smaller event with 42 bands and solo acts from 11 nations
on 2 stages, but according to the musicians and fans you'll
get the better music here. Just the sunday shows of the country
bard Larry Schuba ("Auf der Autobahn") and the band
Truck Stop ("Ich möcht' so gern Dave Dudley hör'n")
proof the opinion that you'll get "quality instead of
quantity" by event manager Frank Lange at the Fontane-Haus
directly next to the American Western Saloon. "It was
a long and hard way, but it was worthwhile" - so the
comment of the obviously pleased Mr. Lange about the deal
with Truck Stop. "This will be a high class Meeting."
But he's already thinking one year ahead and tells a first
little secret about his 2013 plans: "Deals with first
row Nashville artists are already on the case."
Hot sounds are guaranteed.
For the first time after the split of Western Union you can
see Larry Schuba with a new band - "very fine pickin'
and singing" is the promise to his fans about the Combo
Acoustic Thunder. And when the irish artist "Tiny"
McNeela starts singing his would-be love song "She broke
my heart" the fans can hardly wait to hear the second
line "And I broke her jaw".
At the "Kick Off"
at the American Western Saloon you can already see the Texan
Cody Jinks ("Lost highway") on thursday night, followed
by a dutch marked Friday After Show Party and a "Kraut
Saturday" with german bands, some from the Berlin scene.
And if you don't know the bands or their songs - never mind,
nearly everybody offers "some" Johnny Cash.
At the "Country Music
Messe" at the Postbahnhof 120 bands and solo acts from
12 nations share the mics. The line-up offers the Grammy-Award-winner
Billy Yates as well as the newcomer Mitch Keller from Teltow.
"It is a meeting point of the scene at the beginning
of the year" says event manager Kai Ulatowski. But with
the high amount of musicians it's hard to judge the quality:
"Some are difficult to classify, some I don't even know
at all." But this event is concepted as a fair, where
musicians can present themselves to get some gigs.
Why 2 events at the same
time? The former friends and business partners Lange and Ulatowski,
who used to present the Country Music Messe together, split
in anger a few years ago. Now they are both trying to make
"their own thing". The country fans just have to
hazard the consequences: long travel routes through Berlin.
Only a few bands are performing
at both events. "Who chooses to play at Frank Lange's
event, does not have to play at mine, I can choose my own
program" says Ulatowski. Some artists have to suffer.
"Sad, but true" is the opinion of the band Nashfield
from Bielefeld. According to their webpage they were forced
to make their choice: either Messe or Meeting. Finally they
decided to perform at the Country Music Meeting at the Fontane-Haus.
The Berlin bands The Krusingers or Bluegrass Breakdown ("Fascination
Expired") use their home field advantage and perform
at both events. "We use the forum at both venues"
says Bluegrass Breakdown bass player Reinhard Arndt. The band
does not want to get involved in the dispute of the 2 event
managers. But he mentions: "For us as musicians this
is quite stupid, because the Country scene is rather small."
The next Country Music
Meetings:
February – 8 to 10 - 2013, February – 7 to 9 - 2014,
February – 6 to 8 - 2015
http://www.country-music-meeting.de
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