Fusion Festival June 29-July 2

We met up with our friend Jan and took a bus into Eastern Germany to an old Russian airbase, which had been converted into a great venue for the 4 day music festival called Fusion. It`s the only non-commercial music festival in Europe, all ticket sales are donated to charities and there`s no advertising (and no meat sold at the festival either). There were 9 different stages playing a variety of music from the irritatingly ceaseless thump of trance to some great reggae and ska and latin sounds, also some hip hop, house, drum n`bass, and some lively large piece Balkan music. We were surprised to learn how popular traditional Russian and Balkan (Romanian, Hungarian etc.) music has become over here. One of the main acts was a group of about 12 old men from Romania who whipped the crowd into a dnacing fury with their horns. It was hilarious to watch the security guards hold back young girls who tried to jump on stage and hug or kiss them.

Some of the stages were set in the forest and many of them were inside old airplane hangers (see photo above) which provided good acoustics and soundproofing. There was also art, theatre, a cinema and a cabaret to keep us awake until sunrise every morning.