Splash! (festival)

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Splash! Festival


Location(s)	Bitterfeld, Germany
Years active	1998 - present
Founded by
Date(s)	3 days (first weekend in July)
Genre(s)	Hip hop, Reggae, Dancehall, Drum and bass
Website	www.splash-festival.com

The Splash! Festival is one of Europe's biggest hip hop and reggae festivals which took place at the Oberrabenstein reservoir near Chemnitz, Germany until 2006. Due to a financial crisis caused by heavy rain in the past 2 years, the festival will be held this year on the Pouch peninsula in Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt.

The first Splash! took place in 1998 in the inner city of Chemnitz, in a former powerhouse. From 1999 on, it was hillside the Oberrabenstein reservoir.

In the early years there were two stages, one for hip hop, and one for reggae. In 2006, the festival had extended to six stages and four party tents. The hip hop stage is adjacent to the reservoir, visitors can see the concerts while bathing. The tents house, amongst hip hop and drum'n'bass DJs, dancehall and reggae sound systems, a graffiti contest and ITF matches.

The name "Splash" hints at the waterside location of the festival and the phrase "to make a splash".

1 History
2 Financial crisis
3 2007 line up
4 External links

[edit] History

1998 - The first Splash! took place in 1998, but not as planned as an open air festival, but in the inner city of Chemnitz in a former powerhouse. It was relatively small (and could be more accurately described as a jam) and counted only 1,300 visitors and six performers, among who were Afrob and KC da Rookee.

1999 & 2000 - Being held hillside the Oberrabenstein reservoir from 1999 on, the Splash! had earned its name, attracting 13,000 fans and steadily gaining polularity. In 2000, the festival had 20,000 visitors.

2001- More than 30,000 tickets were sold in 2001, and the organiser limited the quantity of tickets for sale to 25,000 for the next years, in order to stay true to the basic idea of the festival - party in a relaxing atmosphere and a high quality lineup.

2005 & 2006 - Heavy rain led to declining visitor numbers, causing severe financial losses.

2007 - Donations helped to balance the losses of about 70% of 2006, and the festival organisation announced on January 11, 2007 that the festival will take place, not in Chemnitz but on the Pouch peninsula in Bitterfeld.

[edit] Financial crisis

"Save Splash!" button

The meeting of creditors in the insolvency proceedings was held on January 9, 2007. According to a Chemnitz newspaper, the debt amounted to over 500,000€. The Splash! Entertainment AG asked for public help to be able to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the festival, an account for donations was opened additionally to a charity concert that had already taken place in November 2006, altogether reaching 325,000€.

After obtaining 350,000€ through donations from both fans and artists like Jan Delay, Samy Deluxe or the Dresden philharmonic orchestra, the organisers announced that the festival would be held, and also informed the public about the new location.