Pack your suitcases! In the run-up to the summer festival season, 44100Hz continues its series of publications about the largest and most impressive European events of this summer. Our second review after Sonar is devoted to the German festival Melt!.
Line-up 2006:
This year more artists than ever are performing at the festival; practically the entire spectrum of dance music is represented here. For several years running now the Melt! promoters, when assembling the line-up, have followed the rule "rock meets electronica". Sometimes this combination gives wonderful results, as, for example, the joint performance of the synth-pop band The Faint and the guitar-driven Bright Eyes. Among the rock bands, the most fashionable groups of the season will take part in Melt 2006: the French romantics Phoenix, the mainstream We Are Scientists and the British jokers Hot Chip. As is usually the case at German festivals, there will be many techno musicians, among them the leading ladies Ellen Allien and Miss Kittin, the promising up-and-comers Nathan Fake and Oliver Koletzki, plus such greats as Dj Hell and Dave Clarke.
Hip-hop fans will be treated by The Streets and Mocky. Nor will it do without such distinguished veterans as Pet Shop Boys and Aphex Twin.
Ticket prices:
In advance sale, 50 Euros for three days. A one-day ticket is 34 Euros. On site these tickets will cost 65 Euros and 39 Euros respectively.
Where to stay:
In Gräfenhainichen there are masses of inexpensive, decent little hotels and guesthouses, like "Weisses Haus" (www.pension-weisses-haus.de) or "Zur Muellerin" (www.hotel-pension-zur-muellerin.de). A double room in them costs 45 Euros per night.
How to get there:
Some of the cheapest flights from Moscow to Germany are run by the German budget airline Germanwings. A return ticket to Berlin with all fees will cost around 350 USD. Online booking at www.germanwings.ru. Besides, you can reach Germany by train
Moscow - Berlin (return, sleeper car 420 USD) or by bus (www.eurolines.ru) - return prices from 128 Euros. Getting to Ferropolis is difficult, but possible. From Berlin by train to Dessau, then by bus to Gräfenhainichen. The total travel time is about an hour. The exact address of the Ferropolis techno-park: Ferropolisstrasse, 1.
