From the S&S archives:
Rock fans flock to two-day Hockenheim festival

Hockenheim hadn't expected an invasion when Mayor Gustav Schrank OK'd a weekend open-air rock festival. But an invasion it turned out to be.

More than 40,000 fans poured into the West German town of 17,000 Friday night, camping out at the Hockenheimring race track to lay claim to the best seats for performances Saturday and Sunday. They were there to see such rock greats as Tina Turner, Chris de Burgh, Simple Minds, Jethro Tull, Gary Moore and Alannah Myles.

The unexpected hordes caused chaos Friday evening on the highways around Hockenheim and on the city's streets. Some people were caught in massive traffic jams that didn't clear up until long after midnight.

Organizers hadn't anticipated the huge Friday night camping crowd. And more congestion resulted when many Hockenheim residents caught the festival fever and left their comfortable homes to camp out in the dry grass along with the out-of-towners.

On Saturday, the happy campers were joined by an estimated 80,000 more festival-minded folks.

"Hockenheim has never seen this many visitors," said Mayor Schrank during a press conference, and he didn't look altogether happy about it.

But the show went off as smoothly as anyone could have expected.

Saturday's opening acts, the German rock bands Fury in the Slaughter House and Pur, were well received. But it took Canadian newcomer Myles to really get the crowd going, giving a performance as sultry as the weather was humid. Guitar virtuoso Moore and his Midnight Blues Band kept things lively with a blues-rock set that thrilled the fans. Another crowd-pleaser, Simple Minds, followed. The first day's final performance — by the first lady of rock 'n' roll, Tina Turner — was perfect.

Only about a fourth of the 120,000 visitors left the racetrack area Saturday night. The rest retreated to "Tenthattan" to rest up for day number two.

Sunday saw cool, cloudy weather. True to open-air tradition, pouring rain followed the opening acts — German rock bands New Legend and Karat. Despite the rain, the prima donna of Italian rock, Gianna Nannini, kept the crowds steamed up with her sizzling performance. She was followed by the veteran rock band Jethro Tull, which did not disappoint their fans.

Many of the fans began streaming out of the stadium after Jethro Tull's set, but those who braved the threatening sky and stayed were treated to solid performances by Peter Maffay, one of Germany's biggest crowd-pleasers, and de Burgh, an Irish troubadour whose grand finale included a magical light show.

After two days of musical mania, Hockenheim's residents were left with the honor of having hosted one of the biggest rock happenings this year — and mountains of trash to prove it.