Don't fear the Reeperbahn

Let’s face it: when it comes to cutting-edge music, Hamburg isn’t exactly the first place that springs to mind. In fact, the northern German city is habitually overlooked in favour of its hipper, artier cousin Berlin – something the natives are frequently irked by. After all, they’re responsible for hosting the biggest band of all time’s gigging apprenticeship, and The Beatles’ legacy resonates as loudly as it ever has around the city – from the recently-dedicated ‘Beatles Square’, to the variety of Sgt. Pepper’s costumes on display in shop windows.

Sure, sex sells, but so does music; which might explain why there’s an abundance of quirky venues in the vicinity of the city’s notorious red-light strip, the Reeperbahn. From the amazing Renaissance-style cave, Prinzenbar, to underground sweat-trap Molotow, many of Hamburg’s venues are positively teeming with character - and that’s without mentioning the buzz that the marvellous FLATSTOCK poster convention created in the festival’s central square, Spielbudenplatz.
Organisers of the Reeperbahn Festival – now in its third year – established the three-day event after attending SXSW in Austin, Texas and realising that there was no similar institution for up-and-coming German acts. True, jokes about David Hasselhoff’s popularity in the country are sorely tempting - but there was a sizeable international contingent to temper the expected doses of Germanic cheese over the weekend.
Still, that’s not to say that the indigenous acts were unanimously disappointing; although there were no German bands familiar to Irish audiences on the roster, MIT (Chemical Brothers-meet-Digitalism) and Brat (silly, fun electro-rock duo) lived up to the traditions of their dance-pioneering forefathers. Indeed, Hamburg is a city that openly encourages its diverse musical talent – a government-funded building in the city centre called the Karostar Musikhaus offers low-rent office space to labels, promoters and PR agencies, in order to ‘incubate’ their creativity.
Nonetheless, most acts, German or otherwise, were trumped at every corner over the weekend by Dublin’s own Jape, the only Irish act on the schedule. Having lured folk into the Uebel & Gefährlich [Bad & Dangerous] club – situated on the fourth floor of a terrifying-looking Orwellian WWII bunker – it was a pleasure to watch the Dublin duo seduce the local crowd with their energetic, enthusiastic and good-humoured performance. Stateside act The Little Ones also brought a little Californian sunshine into the converted cottage-style pub Grüner Jäger, while their compatriot Bon Iver and brilliant new UK band Magistrates also drew appreciative crowds to their respective gratifying sets.
It was the final evening that brought a heady brew of superior acts with it, though: TV On The Radio, showcasing tracks from their new album, whet the appetite for their forthcoming Irish gig magnificently, while kooky Swedish popster Lykke Li’s set exceeded her sublime debut album. Mexican indie-rockers The Hong Kong Blood Opera’s jagged, saucy rock also piqued interest, and uber-exciting teen rock ‘n’ rollers Kitty, Daisy and Lewis undoubtedly turned in one of the festival’s best sets.
Festival organisers openly admit that their inaugural scheme was something of a shambles – but after only three years, Reeperbahn Festival is comfortably on its way to rivalling its European counterparts Popkomm and Eurosonic. Rest assured, then, Hamburgers: Beatles, bonking and Berlin aside, your day in the sun may yet be to come.

The Reeperbahn Festival takes place in Hamburg every year in late September