Rocktreff Open Air Berlin

Forty Years of Berlin's Emerging Rock Scene

Those who initiated the Rocktreff idea in Berlin in 1984 — a festival for youth bands, without fees for the acts, without admission for the audience, financed by the district and youth work — could hardly have imagined that the format would survive for so long. Four decades later, Rocktreff is one of Berlin's oldest summer festival dates and, at the same time, one of Germany's most important amateur band festivals.

Sixteen Bands, Three Days, Free Admission

The format has remained stable: for three days over the first weekend in July, sixteen bands play open air on a stage in Volkspark Mariendorf. The acts are selected through an application process — Berlin bands, often younger musicians, many performing in front of a large audience for the first time. The styles are diverse: classic rock, Heavy Metal, Punk, Indie, Alternative, Hardcore. Bands like Artikel 5, FaceTwo, Fitis, Fox & Badger, grüßevonmicha, Host of Nightmare, Joejoe, Kings & Pills, LUTHER, PALMIRA FURMAN, PIGEONS, Sick Lick, Soulset, The Fright, VIASKO, and Void Queen will be on stage in 2026.

Volkspark Mariendorf and Berlin's South

Volkspark Mariendorf is a green space in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district, nestled between the residential areas of Mariendorf and Bundesallee. With its open meadows and clusters of trees, the park offers an ideal open-air setting — lying on the grass, beer in a plastic cup, bands on stage. The organizers are the Tempelhof-Schöneberg Youth Office and the association Cultural Project Young Europe (CPYE) e.V. The festival is both a cultural and socio-pedagogical project: it promotes emerging bands and creates low-threshold access to live music for young people who often cannot afford festival tickets.