Hurricane Music Festival in Scheebel, Germany was the first music festival I attended alone. Located about 4 hours northwest of Berlin, the festival sits in the middle of a large forest. The name Hurricane comes from the fact that it tends to rain in this part of Germany. During my first night, it poured for about an hour and during my last night it poured for a few hours. The weather during the day was pretty nice, but definitely required a jacket or sweater, and the night got pretty chilly as well.

Hurricane, which takes place near the end of June, was a great one. The crowd was fun, the music was diverse, and the festival was well organized. Hurricane Music Festival has a sister festival, Southside, that takes place the same weekend but in the southern part of Germany. Southside typically has the same lineup as Hurricane.

Capacity: The festival can hold up to 70,000, but I think about 50,000 were in attendance this year. There were 4 stages, one of which was a tent, and there was an H&M Lounge which had a DJ there as well. The stages were well placed, so it never felt overcrowded, and you could quickly walk from one stage to another.

Main stage at Hurricane.

Crowd: Ages of this festival ranged from teens to about 40s. The musical acts were electronic, rock (with an emphasis on German Rock), German rap, and some indie. The crowd is what made the festival so much fun for me. The Germans certainly like to have fun and nobody held back. There were costumes, posters, wigs, body paint, and temporary tattoos everywhere.

Food: There were some great food vendors both in and out of the festival. Near the campgrounds, there were several vendors including a vegan vendor which also sold coffees, teas and espressos, an American food vendor, a crepe vendor, pizza, and doners. Inside food vendors ranged from sushi to soups and pastas. My personal favorite vendor was Meneer Temaki, and I enjoyed some delicious chicken yakatori twice during my weekend.

Things to do: The downfall that I think Hurricane Music Festival had was that there was a lack of activities. Outside of the music stages and food vendors, there were only 2 places in the festival to lounge. However, there were a couple of cool things that were offered at the festival.

• Bungee jumping – The festival had a crane located on the side of the White Stage which allowed festival go-ers to bungee jump, mid-day, while hearing some great music. For adrenaline junkies, this would be a dream come true.
  

  Bungee jumping.

• Ferris Wheel – A ferris wheel sat near the main entrance of the festival, providing great views from all of the riders.
• Lounges – There was an H&M lounge which had some clothes for shopping, and a lounge near the White State, which was closed off and had bean bags to lie in.
  

  H&M Lounge

• Shop – A lot of vendors here sold clothing, hats, and sunglasses.  There were also several vendors who did 7-10 day temporary tattoos. I took advantage of this on Saturday and loved it!
  

  Tattoo finished

What Makes This Festival Different?

1. The Lineup – Prior to the weekend at Hurricane, I knew nothing about German rock or rap. This festival held true to its roots and listed a lot of German groups such as SDP, Cro, and Alligatoah. The groups were enjoyable, and the crowd loved it. Additionally, the festival lineup was incredibly diverse with headliners such as Deadmau5 and Florence + The Machine. 
   
2. Bungee Jumping – This was the first time I had seen anything like this at a music festival! Having such an extreme activity at a festival is uncommon in the United States, so having that available stood out to me. The bungee jumping area was always crowded because of how many people wanted to participate.
3. The Overall Crowd – The feel of the crowd was amazing. The energy at the festival was great, and I personally, was lucky enough to meet a group of amazing people, called The Family. Everyone in the crowd liked to dress up, dance, and have a great time. Additionally, the festival did a good job of sending out performers in great costumes through the crowd. Everyone loved it, and the outfits looked great.
   

   Dinosaurs walking through hurricane

4. The Market – Outside of the festival gates and in the camping area was a large market. You could purchase camping supplies, food, beer and boxed wine here. What makes this particular market different is that when you purchase supplies from there, you can bring them into the festival with you. Needless to say, tons of boxed wine was brought into the festival, lowering the cost on drinks for everyone.
5. Cashless Chip System – This was probably one of my favorite things at the festival. Each wristband had a square chip on it, which could be preloaded before you got to the festival with a credit or debit card. Instead of dealing with cash, change, and long lines as a result of both of those, the chip allowed for quick and easy transaction. I noticed lines moved way more quickly at this festival than any other. There were also a lot of stations around the festival and in the camp grounds for reloading your chip. At the end of the festival, if you still had money, it would be refunded back to you.

Complaints

1. Entry into the White Stage – On Friday night, during Glitch Mob, it began to rain. The White State, which is located inside of a tent (and is the only indoor stage), became over crowded. Rather than allow concert goers to stand directly outside of the tent to hear the music, security forced a crowd outside the tent to wait. A group of about 100 people (including myself) were stuck in the rain and unable to hear the music well. While people were leaving the White Stage, security still would not let people enter. I missed half of Glitch Mob before people were finally allowed to enter the tent. To improve this, I think that if a festival goer is going to be stuck in the rain and outside of the tent, they should at least be allowed as close to the tent as possible so they could at least hear the music.
2. Mordor Camping – Mordor campgrounds is a nickname for the area in which I decided to camp. Unknowingly, this campground is known for being excessively rowdy. In the area in which I camped, three portapotty toilets were burned down (YES, BURNED DOWN), there was trash absolutely everywhere, and the noise, screaming, fireworks and loud music never ended Sunday night. In addition, tons and tons of tents, chairs, food, and gazebos were left behind on Monday. It was an absolute wreck and a total disrespect of the land. Security should be a little tighter in this area to avoid wreckage and destruction.
   

   Burned down portapotties

My overall rating for this festival is a 6.5/10. I think that there could have been more activities and decor throughout the festival. Likewise, I think the two complaints listed above need to be addressed. 

Please let me know if I can answer any questions about this festival for you! Thanks for reading and feel free to share!

<3 Steph

The Family