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[Squig]

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 2009 the prices are:
- until the 31th of January -125 €
- from the 1st of February to the the 30th of March -135€
(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 125€

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 2009 to sell out earlier than last years due to 2 sold out years in a row and a reduced capacity of 80 000 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).

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.c...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-airp...e...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.airportci...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/i.../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 2009 as of the 10th of March 2009 is:

2raumwohnung
Alexisonfire
All That Remains
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Basement Jaxx
Biffy Clyro
Billy Talent
Black Stone Cherry
Bloc Party
Bring Me The Horizon
Chester French
Chris Cornell
Dir En Grey
DragonForce
Dredg
Enter Shikari
Esser
Expatriate
Five Finger Death Punch
Flogging Molly
Gallows
Guano Apes
Ich Bin Bunt
Jan Delay & Disko No. 1
Juliette Lewis
Kettcar
Kilians
Killswitch Engage
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Korn
Limp Bizkit
Little Man Tate
Machine Head
Madina Lake
Madness
Mando Diao
Marilyn Manson
MIA.
Middle Class Rut
New Found Glory
Pain
Papa Roach
Peter Fox
Peter, Björn & John
Phoenix
Placebo
Polarkreis 18
Razorlight
Reamonn
Scouting For Girls
Selig
Sevendust
Shinedown
Slipknot
Steadlür
Sugarplum Fairy
The All American Rejects
The Crave
The Gaslight Anthem
The Killers
The Kooks
The Prodigy
The Rifles
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (OEOC)
The Script
The Subways
Tomte
Trivium
Volbeat
White Lies
Volbeat

We don't know who's gonna headline and whether to expect bigger bands or not. KoRn and Marylin Manson are scheduled to play on the Alternastage (2nd stage), Limp Bizkit, The Killers and Placebo seem like the biggest bands so far. The price increase in March gets hopes up for another one or two bands who could be headlining the main stage.

About 90 bands will be playing. Check out the Ringrocker rumour section for current rumours.

Discussion about RaR 2007: http://www.efestival...showtopic=71608
Discussion about RaR 2008: http://www.efestival...showtopic=89960

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

Edited by Squig, 11 March 2009 - 12:35 PM.

[Squig]

Allright, here it is. Let's try to get the number of posts even higher than 08!

[wilcox]

Thanks for this...now all i have to do is convince my mates to come!!!

[Irishrocker]

Its pretty quite around here

Last years thread was a monster, it will be hard to beat.

[Squig]

Just wait until the first bands are announced.

[wilcox]

 Squig, on Oct 11 2008, 03:10 PM, said:

Just wait until the first bands are announced.

When can we expect that! Starting to get the itch for bands to be announced!

[Squig]

 wilcox, on Oct 11 2008, 04:44 PM, said:

When can we expect that! Starting to get the itch for bands to be announced!

Last year it was the beginning of December, the year before that later. 15th of January is likely, albeit being late.

[OMR3]

Who do people reckon will headline/play at RaR 2009?

[Squig]

 OMR3, on Oct 12 2008, 01:30 PM, said:

Who do people reckon will headline/play at RaR 2009?

Nobody knows for certain, as all the other festivals who could/should be indicators (Pinkpop, Download, Hurricane in a negative sense) haven't announced any bands neither so far.
Depeche Mode possibly, as they also tour Germany with MLK (RaR's organizers) and have no gigs scheduled for the RaR/RiP weekend. At the other hand they do a massive Germany tour with big gigs, a RaR gig would possibly bring them into trouble for selling out their other shows. The only band that could be named a serious rumour so far, though.
There's gonna be one band that i massive amoung young Germans (the last two years Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen took that role). The only bands that are likely for that are the Beatsteaks and possibly the Killers (even though I think they shouldn't be bigger than Alternastage head).
Other than that the usual suspects: Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Pearl Jam should all be possible. Possibly Guns and Roses.

Keep in mind that the big heads that do festivals in june are split between Hurricane and Rock am Ring. The last Years the heads were:

------Hurricane-------Rock am Ring
08---Radiohead------Metallica
------Foo Fighters----Rage against the Machine
------Beatsteaks-----Die Toten Hosen
07---Pearl Jam-------Smashing Pumkins
------Beastie Boys---Linkin Park
------Marylin Manson--Die Ärzte
06---Muse-----------Metallica
------Manu Chao----Tool
------The Strokes---Depeche Mode

But there were some big bands (well, big in the UK) that weren't headliners, for example Quotsa (H 07 and rar 08), Muse (Rar 07), Chemical brothers (H 08), Prodigy (RaR 08), Guns 'n Roses (RaR 06), Kaiser Chiefs (RaR 06 & 07, H 08),...

Edited by Squig, 12 October 2008 - 12:48 PM.

[JoshBosh]

i have my ticket booked, lets see how sexy they are in feb when they arrive

ok squig, if i arrive on tuesday next year, what can i do for parking? will the parking facilities be open? i can't imagine it will be to hard to get in the camp sites, just worried about parking!

Edited by JoshBosh, 03 February 2009 - 08:16 PM.

[Squig]

Parking wasn't an issue when I arrived this year, and I never heard of anybody having it made an issue. Parking facilities for the camping grounds that are open will be open as well.

What you should think about is how to get your stuff from your car if it really is gonna be a bigger one this year and how to get the poles' tend set up. Otherwise you should be good :-)

[JoshBosh]

i was not going to go HUGE, just a party tent really, and my tent. i know the camp facilities open wednesday, but what about tuesday? i wont do the german thing and arrive the weekend before, thats just too much drinking!

[Squig]

No I meant: They allow you to pitch your tent there = you can put your car on the parking lot next to it (in the case of the one we were on last year tuesday).

Toilets and so on are officially not open. Dunno about 'dixies'

[alexmole]

might get a few more hits now ive put the link on the bottom of the 2008 thread:-)

Tix arriving in Feb, that sounds optimistic, id put my money on April

Re FAQ and driving, id avoid koblenz at all cost as thats where everybody else will be, cologne is good for the close in camp sites.

But i normally come in from Cochem as its quiet as you head to the further away south camp sites.

Re bands, love them or hate them i think Oasis have a good chance based on the fact their UK Stadium tour has gaps in it for RAR, Glasto and Reading/Leeds, though people after Rammstein etc probably have more chances of seeing girls aloud!

You wouldn't bet against metallica again, GnR seems to be floating around, but after 2006 shambes i may be elsewhere, and AC/DC stands a reasonable shout. WOuld not bet against more dance rock crossover stuff after the success of Pendulum and the Prodigy, equally expect a couple of mass market drivel bands making up the numbers!

Edited by alexmole, 20 October 2008 - 08:15 PM.

[r0w]

 alexmole, on Oct 20 2008, 09:05 PM, said:

might get a few more hits now ive put the link on the bottom of the 2008 thread:-)


Re bands, love them or hate them i think Oasis have a good chance based on the fact their UK Stadium tour has gaps in it for RAR, Glasto and Reading/Leeds, though people after Rammstein etc probably have more chances of seeing girls aloud!

Thankfully i doubt oasis will play now as theyr playing in Manchester on the Saturday & sunday of RaR.....just hoping they dont do the friday then! they wud cost a fortune anyway which wud reduce the chances of ACDC

[Irishrocker]

 r0w, on Oct 21 2008, 07:34 PM, said:

Thankfully i doubt oasis will play now as theyr playing in Manchester on the Saturday & sunday of RaR.....just hoping they dont do the friday then! they wud cost a fortune anyway which wud reduce the chances of ACDC

I agree, I want AC/DC & Guns n Roses, but id settle for AC/DC.

[alexmole]

 Irishrocker, on Oct 22 2008, 12:18 PM, said:

I agree, I want AC/DC & Guns n Roses, but id settle for AC/DC.

yep, liking the new AC/DC album, GnR single may take a while to grow, but only heard it once.

Edited by alexmole, 23 October 2008 - 06:00 PM.

[Irishrocker]

 alexmole, on Oct 23 2008, 07:00 PM, said:

yep, liking the new AC/DC album, GnR single may take a while to grow, but only heard it once.

GNR will be huge again between now & the summer. Ive heard most of the album leaks and they are great. Ticketmaster has also got the rights to selling GNR concert tickets so they will be touring.

I predict a USA tour after the album drops and hopefully they will hit Europe for the festivals during the summer.

In Ireland there is a huge gig called Slane and in the past huge bands have played there. I was convinced AC/DC would play there this year but they have got Oasis instead. The rumour is AC/DC are to expensive to book so I dont know if that would rule them out of Rock AM Ring. The tickets will prob sell out whoever is playing there so I dont see why they would need to shell out a huge fee to get AC/DC when tickets will prob sell out anyway.

I hope im wrong tho.

Edited by Irishrocker, 27 October 2008 - 02:06 PM.

[mt96djc]

Just got my tickets

Now crossing my fingers for:

Guns N Roses
AC/DC
Green Day

I'm sure we won't get all 3 but at least 1 would be good (especially the top one...)

[Zakk Wylde]

I'm crossing my finger's for G'N'R, Mötley Crüe and AC/DC in 09. That would have been awesome, and of course Turbonergro

And there's no way i'm camping at C1 or wtf the place was called this time, too long to walk. got so drunk getting to the ring area, i missed half the bands i wanted to see