Saturday 6th of September Hell / Dunkel Festival will kick off at Kiesgrube in Neuss, Germany.The organization behind the festival is currently working hard to realize their big plans for this sixth edition of the celebrated yearly open air event.
The event is organized by ‘Kunstgeschwister’, aka Timo and Mike Kucksdorf, the two brothers who co-founded the agency back in 2007. After gaining enough expertise in the club scene, they tried their hands at setting up a festival in 2009, which would be baptised Hell / Dunkel Festival (Light / Dark). But Kunstgeschwister is also known for promoting concerts, open airs and boat parties. In 2012 they hosted a 5 year anniversary tour with their resident artists through 3 countries and 11 cities.
The idea behind Hell / Dunkel is simple: to create the best possible vibe an open air can have, and to rock from dusk till dawn. The ‘art-brothers’ always choose another location in Germany for their festival and this time around they’re settling in Neuss at the renowned Kiesgrube. “This year we will completely redo the design of the event with the help of Morphoria Design Collective. The design will be more minimalistic, with simple, clean decorations so that all of the attention can go to the artists”.
[vimeo id=”102016739″ width=”620″ height=”360″]
The line-up has been carefully constructed with a keen eye on firm house music but with a melodic edge, the German flavour if you will. Headlining the event is the British Route94. His number one hit ‘My Love’ and was played constantly on German radio, say the Kucksdorf brother. He will be the perfect protagonist for the happy, loving atmosphere that the organizers are trying to create that day.
Another hero of theirs who will be behind the deks at Kiesgrube is Mano le Tough, the Berlin-based acclaimed producer who is unstoppable at the moment. His work for Life And Death have catapulted him into the superstar DJ stratosphere and rightly so – if you have heard him play live you will probably agrees. Hailing from France is dOP. The duo will of course be playing live, so expect the unexpected as ever with these guys.
Making an appearance too is the always-mysterious Claptone, backed up by celebrated vocalists Jaw, who did the vocal hook for the world smasher ‘No Eyes’ among other work. There are even more forces to be reckoned with that day in the form of Lithuania’s bass-aficionado Ten Walls and the deep and dark superduo Mind Against, currently on the rise with a ton of steady releases on imprints such as Life and Death, Hideout and Renaissance records. Not to forget Mick Benjamins, the Dutchman gone German who is making a name for himself in the Berlin area with his characteristic and artful mixture of techno and house in both his sets as his productions.
Visitors can strap in for more than just the musical treats coming out of the speakers, however, as there are more than enough surprises to keep the interest going. A tip of the iceberg: Go Go dancers, a freaked out light jockey and an array of haute cuisine snacks to keep you on your dancing feet..
We can’t wait to make a stop at Neuss and see the Kucksdorf brothers’ big plans for ourselves. To those that are interested but are living in Holland,, no worries: Kiesgrube Neuss can be reached in a few hours of driving – it’s right across our border near the city of Düsseldorf. Till Hell / Dunkel!
Route94 | Mano Le Tough | dOP | Claptone ft. Jaw | Ten Walls | Mind Against | Konstantin Sibold | Andre Hommen | Jonas Mantey | Thyladomid | Roberto Calzeta & Twin Soul | Ade Kanon | Mick Benjamins | 2insicht |
September 6 | Hell / Dunkel Festival | Tickets | Kiesgrube, Neuss |
