Viva Willingen: 20,000 Party to the Tune of RCF

Calling an event "the festival of good cheer" is a bold statement, but this pop concert lives up to its billing. Thousands have been flocking to the grounds behind Willingen's Sauerland Stern Hotel, a legendary party hotspot, to attend this extravaganza for six years running.

Promoter Horst Schröder may be a local, but his concert is anything but. Unrivalled in Germany, this year's Viva Willingen attracted an audience of 20,000 on a single day. Few, if any, festivals like it can put up those kinds of numbers. The line-up reads like a who's who of the old-school German pop scene: Mickie Krause, Mia Julia, Oli P., Willi Herren and many more. They have all been part of this eleven-hour party marathon for many years. And this promoter goes all out to get the audience in the right mood, as the impressive sound system would attest:

The arsenal included no less than 32 RCF HDL50-A line array modules and 16 RCF Sub 9007-A powered dual 21" subwoofers. Even without delay lines, it delivered big beats across a venue the size of two side-by-side football fields. Two arrays with six RCF TTL33-As each served as side-fills to cover the breadth of this square. Four TTL33-As provided near-fill coverage.

Ten powered RCF TT 25SMA coaxial monitors and six TTL6-A three-way systems were set up on stage, with six TTL6-AS triple 12" bass bins bringing up the bottom end.

Colito Productions, a Neuenmarkt-based event service provider, furnished all the gear. It has been providing end-to-end technical support for the festival for several years now.

Colito Productions' Michael Meister is the technical director tasked to plan and implement this support. Andreas Schöpf, Managing Director of Colito Productions, speaks highly of the organization and the festival: "It's fun to be working with Horst Schröder and his team every year and to see how the festival is constantly growing. We're already looking forward to next year!"

The eye-opening pics taken by a drone and videos posted on Viva Willingen's Facebook page show how big this festival has become. And the fact that next year's Viva Willingen has already been announced for June 22, 2019 with the full line-up shows how successful it continues to be.

All pictures © Mario Kersting Fotografie