Tollwood Festival

For the last three decades, the semi-annual cultural and environmental festival Tollwood has been an integral part of Munich’s calendar of events. In fact, it is now the second biggest event in Munich, second only to Oktoberfest.

PRG has been part of it from the very beginning. The anniversary of the four-week festival took place under the motto "30 Jahre Miteinander“ (“30 years of coexistence”). More than 450 performances on 12 stages, the “Markt der Ideen“ (“Market of ideas”) with 220 international crafts people as well as 55 organic-certified food stands and beer gardens at Olympiapark festival grounds attracted 880,000 visitors.

Being a full-service provider, PRG was in charge of all event technology again: light, sound and video technology as well as rigging and stage construction.

On the occasion of this year’s anniversary, “Carmina Burana“ by Munich composer Carl Orff was performed in a production by the legendary Catalan action theatrical group “La Fura dels Baus“ as a special present for the visitors. Rigging at the open-air stage at Olympiasee which was specifically built for the occasion proved to be a special challenge: large spans and high wind pressure required complex structural calculations. The efforts were rewarded though, so the famous scenic cantata was performed twice on stage, delighting tens of thousands of spectators.

Sustainability has always been an important part of the festival: “We set a high value on energy-saving lights. For instance light chains: they are very important for the cozy atmosphere of beer gardens and instead of using classic light bulbs, we used 2,500 led lights in total. This backs Tollwood’s ecologic requirements,” PRG’s Senior Account Manager Uwe Seemann explains.

Noise emissions were kept in mind as well as the festival takes place in the city centre. Thereby, guests could listen to music by national and international stars (e.g. Hollywood Vampires, Fritz Kalkbrenner, Marteria, Billy Idol, Earth, Wind & Fire, Alanis Morissette, Konstantin Wecker, Jack Johnson), while the directed signal of the audio system prevented acoustic irradiation of the neighbourhoods nearby. The Half Moon Bar offered 500 silent disco headphones free of charge, so guests could dance every day till 1am without bothering residents.

“It is a very, very pleasant cooperation and you can always rely on the fact, that it will turn out well. Festivals never work out the way they are supposed to, so you must be flexible and sometimes find unconventional solutions. Our cooperation is amazing. They are just part of the Tollwood family,” said Christiane Stenzel, spokesperson of Tollwood GmbH on the cooperation between Tollwood and PRG.

PRG says we are thankful for our long trusting relationship with Tollwood and congratulate the organisers on a successful anniversary event. We are looking forward to Tollwood  Winter Festival.

Photos: Sandra Sommerkamp