SPORTFREUNDE STILLER - 30 wunderbaren Jahren
RÜDE
How does one look back on thirty years of band history? From a distance, the view resembles that of a vast jungle of deep life. For us Sportfreunde, it is less populated by venomous snakes and dangerous multi-legged creatures, but rather by amicable jungle beings. Devoted to life, searching for stories and discoveries. Behind almost every tour day lie amusing experiences, joyful hugs, great celebrations, and ever-growing stories that take deeper root over the years. Albums and tours become high plateaus of memory, celebrations sometimes decades later turning into mammoth plants of "Do you remember back then?" tales. Brotherhoods, friendships, delicate plants, or simply large-pored potatoes. In every corner, every fork in the road hangs the scent and beauty of celebratory life. Sometimes a painful search and often a happy resolution.
What becomes one’s hubris becomes the norm for the band. Standing on stage while tens of thousands sing a song that spilled out of our fingers in the dingy rehearsal room: no problem, it’s normal. One rides home on a scooter, we in our rolling home, no problem, it’s normal. Music becomes the backstage pass into the hearts of strangers, who somehow also become friends, happening over and over again. That remains beautiful and one can never get used to it. I can recommend being in a band to anyone. Whether with or without music, it doesn't matter; the main thing is that you’re in it together and not alone!
FLO
Everything started with the “Wunderbaren Jahren.” With the time in which self-discovery broke into rebellion, defiance, coolness, mod-shuffle, and aimless wandering. And with the idea of putting three not entirely similar musical preferences into a band context. Before the first count in the spartan rehearsal room in 1996, Jack Kerouac, Big Muff distortion, some school form from Germering, and definitely the idea of enormous volume haunted our minds. 27 minutes later, the “Wunderbaren Jahren” were born, and the knowledge that no matter what else might come musically, this is a cheeky manifesto of our adolescent existence. That stays forever. It became the motto of our lives. And on top of that, there was still much to come.
From playing in dark cellar rooms in front of three curious people to halls filled with ten thousand souls. From specific peculiarities like world cup hits, MTV unplugged sessions, horizon-expanding music videos, records made of wood/gold/platinum, reading tours in opera houses to the “perfectly normal” madness of a band along with unforgettable tours in the arms of the best crew in the universe. From being an opening act for Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Grönemeyer to opening for bands like Ash, Nada Surf, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs. Everything included. From the ever-supporting and driving management to the always integrable social engagement. Against the creative void, against the envious, against the mood makers, but always knowing that what we do can logically not please everyone. Who manages that besides Florian Wirtz?
With the tools and background of a radio play, two EPs, ten albums, millions of concerts (for example Eggenfelden, Neustrelitz, Hamburg, Tashkent, Madrid, London, New York, etc.) and the privilege of being able to combine profession and calling, we bow down to our toes before our listeners. Mucho gracias grande for dancing along, singing along, and feeling along! We just want to say that you are the greatest for us. And that for 30 wonderful years! Let’s Go!
PETER
It’s 1996… a guy with a Britpop haircut asks a guy in a grunge raincoat, hey, you make music too, right? Let’s do something together! Up for it? So indie, alternative in German, I have a song… One year later, after the first bassist went missing… hey, there’s someone who studied jazz or politics or something, wears a cap backwards and under it is a mop, should we try him out as a new bassist?
So or something like that goes the start of the story of the 3 Sportfreunde. In the following 29 years, pretty much everything that can be experienced as a band happened:
• meteoric non-rise
• slightly awkward failures
• pop-like chart entries
• magical encounters
• rock moments for eternity
• world-champion million-strong choirs
• enormous crisis overcoming
• gilded admiration
And songs as friends and friends as eternal companions of our songs. Over and over again...
It’s 2026…now we celebrate Sportfreunde’s 30th anniversary. You really have to let that sink in on a drumhead! For a person, 30 means goodbye youth, real life oh dear! For a band, 30 means hooray, we’re still alive! (Freely after Milva) And the fact that this band has been accompanying our lives for so long, yes, in a significant and positively inspiring way, we want to celebrate with you!
That’s why everything that comes next will be celebrated in such a way that our hearts vibrate and the plump winks! We want to write new stuff, then hit the road with a Best Of and make a splash!
Do you also want to rush through 30 wonderful years with us?
Doors open at 6:30 PM
The event is sold out!