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30+ Festivals, One Weekend
The first weekend of September is the open-air season's last deep breath — and this year it comes out louder than usual. Between Friday and Sunday, Germany hosts more than 30 festivals with roughly 490 performances: from the Elbe down to the Austrian border, from a medieval encampment with 73 slots to a youth centre with ten bands and free entry.
Look at the map and the real picture appears. This isn't a handful of big events. It's a grassfire.
Dot size shows the number of acts — from 73 at MPS Luhmühlen down to five on a barn stage. Hover a dot for details, click through for the festival.
North: knights, a market hall, a village field
The biggest is out on the Lüneburg Heath. MPS Luhmühlen in Westergellersen runs a full medieval spectacle from Friday to Sunday across 73 programme slots — Feuerschwanz, Saltatio Mortis and Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen share the stages with jugglers and a craft market.
Hamburg is blunter about it: Local Core Festival takes over the Markthalle. In Osnabrück, Dritte Wahl play Haste Open Air, and The Other close the 27. Sarstedt Open Air. Add village and barn parties in Eystrup, Bassum and Husum.
West: a cave and a castle moat
The finest venue of the weekend is in the Sauerland. Prophecy Fest plays inside the Balver Höhle — doom and dark metal under a limestone vault, with Tiamat and The 3rd and the Mortal.
In Wassenberg, Wassenrock Open Air lines up the classics: Rage, Mystic Prophecy and Emil Bulls. Düsseldorf throws This is Flingern Not L.A.! with Rasta Knast and Colombia's Difamación, while Bielefeld's AJZ hosts Geballer-Fest — ten bands between grindcore and raw punk, from Besançon, Magdeburg and Münster.
In Bonn the moat of Burg Endenich becomes the stage: BurgRock, free and outdoors. Further south, in the Eifel, Crimson Fest in Flußbach runs two days of regional rock and metal — also free. Plus Cologne, Voerde and Brüggen.
East: 60 slots in the Kulturpark
The second heavyweight sits near Leipzig. Nocturnal Culture Night in Neukieritzsch gathers around 60 dark-scene acts across three days, led by Die Krupps, Diary Of Dreams and Peter Heppner.
In Bad Sulza, Saalepartie plays the Auerworld Palace, a living willow dome — psychedelic and stoner rock with My Sleeping Karma and Mother's Cake. Break Out Open Air in Crispendorf has Borknagar and Melechesh; Brainstorm headline Bookwood in Nordhausen; and Merseburger Rocknacht moves into the historic castle moat this year.
Berlin has two: Kein Bock auf Nazis Fest at Columbiahalle with BROILERS, and Laut Für Leben at OC23, a benefit night for Gangway's street social work.
South: Wiesbaden to the river Inn
Wiesbaden's F.U.C. – Fragments Of Urban Culture runs three days with free entry, featuring Baltimore's War on Women. Hard Summer in Falkenfels follows Herman Frank Legacy with a late-night W.A.S.P. tribute, and at the weekend's south-eastern edge, in Ering right on the Inn, Summa Wies closes with Waldgeflüster.
Plus Aschaffenburg, Wachenroth, Obererbach — and furthest south of all, in Esenhausen, Eat & Beat.
- 27. Sarstedt Open Air — Sarstedt, 5.Sep · 6 acts
- Bongert Open Air — Brüggen, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 13 acts
- Bookwood Festival — Nordhausen, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 17 acts
- Break Out Open Air — Crispendorf, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 16 acts
- BurgRock — Bonn, 5.Sep · 10 acts
- Crimson Fest — Flußbach, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 11 acts
- Eat & Beat 2026 — Esenhausen, 5.Sep · 6 acts
- F.U.C. – Fragments Of Urban Culture — Wiesbaden, 4.Sep–6.Sep · 40 acts
- Geballer-Fest — Bielefeld, 5.Sep · 10 acts
- Hard Summer Festival — Falkenfels, 5.Sep · 10 acts
- Haste Open Air — Osnabrück, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 11 acts
- Heavy Grounds Open Air — Aschaffenburg, 5.Sep · 10 acts
- Just For Fun Open Air — Eystrup, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 9 acts
- Kein Bock auf Nazis Fest — Berlin, 5.Sep · 8 acts
- Klangfeld Festival Husum — Husum, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 13 acts
- Koppel of Rock — Wachenroth, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 17 acts
- Laut Für Leben 2026 — Berlin, 5.Sep · 7 acts
- Local Core Festival — Hamburg, 5.Sep · 7 acts
- Merseburger Rocknacht — Merseburg, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 9 acts
- Metal Colonia Fest — Köln, 5.Sep · 10 acts
- MPS Luhmühlen — Westergellersen, 4.Sep–6.Sep · 73 acts
- NCN – Nocturnal Culture Night — Neukieritzsch, 4.Sep–6.Sep · 60 acts
- Pell-Mell Festival — Obererbach, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 22 acts
- Prophecy Fest — Balve, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 20 acts
- Rock am See – Tender — Voerde, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 10 acts
- Rock’n’Rave — Hennigsdorf, 5.Sep · 12 acts
- Saalepartie — Bad Sulza, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 13 acts
- Scheunengedräsche — Bassum, 5.Sep · 5 acts
- Summa Wies Metal Open Air — Ering, 5.Sep · 11 acts
- This is Flingern Not L.A.! — Düsseldorf, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 10 acts
- Wassenrock Open Air — Wassenberg, 4.Sep–5.Sep · 15 acts
Every festival at a glance
And if your weekend is already booked: 25 more festivals follow next weekend, among them Festival Mediaval in Selb with over 100 programme slots.
