Bonner Spaßtage City makes provisions for the traditional punk meeting
Bonn · The "Bonner Spaßtage" (Bonn Fun Days) are underway. The punk scene has been meeting on Kaiserplatz for decades. In the past, there were sometimes problems with residents and business people. The city has now taken precautions.
There was a big hello on Kaiserplatz on Friday. The "Bonner Spaßtage" (Bonn Fun Days), hosted annually by the punk scene, had started. People hugged each other, exchanged effusive greetings and enjoyed the news of comrades-in-arms from Sylt and other parts of the republic who had announced their arrival in the evening during their train journey. For those unfamiliar with the area, the organisers had even hung up a flag from the very old days, which clearly read: "Kaiserplatz, Stadt Bonn". The city's coat of arms was also displayed. So it was almost impossible to get lost.
It was a colourful crowd that gathered in the afternoon under a blue sky. For instance, there was "Ghost" with spiked mohawk. The Swiss got his name because he always moves from one group to another and then suddenly disappears again. At least that's how the story goes. Just a moment ago he was in Berlin. And after the stopover, it's on by train tomorrow to the next punk meeting in Chur, Switzerland.
A couple from the "slurry belt of Bonn" (the nickname for the Rhine-Sieg district) known in the scene as "Bratwurst" and "Kathy" have come to Kaiserplatz. These meetings are about two things: having fun and drinking beer. In this case, the two cannot be directly separated. Kathy, however, has a slightly different interpretation of what holds the fraternity together at its core. "We want our freedom without restricting others' freedom in the process."
A sheltered childhood
The 20-year-old has only been part of the scene for two years but felt more than comfortable from the start. She grew up in Eitorf, sheltered by her strict mother. So well sheltered, in fact, that if she was an hour late, the police were sometimes called in.
She now lives with Bratwurst, whose first contact with punk music dates back a long time. "I was grounded in seventh grade so I climbed out of my bedroom window and went to the school concert because a punk band was playing." The evening was dull on the whole, he says, but it was a start. At another punk concert, he ran into a troop of punkers coming from the underground, joined them and ended up at the Bonner Spaßtage for the first time 14 years ago. As far as he knows, Kaiserplatz was chosen as the meeting place at the time because there was a kiosk there selling cold drinks. The shop is long gone, but the punks have stayed. "We are just traditionalists."
Like family
Their lifestyle has no boundaries, he says. "When we get together, it's like family." And this family has a remarkable radius of influence. In the past years, punks from the US, France, Finland and Switzerland have come to Bonn. The next few days will show how international it will be this time. By late Friday afternoon, there must have been about 50 punks opening the fun days near the upper fountain on Kaiserplatz. The bulk is expected on Saturday, because even punks have to work on weekdays. Last year, about 200 of them gathered in Bonn. The police expect a similar number this time.
Around 4 p.m. the peroxide-blond Jan from Kerpen arrives, carrying a golf club in his hand luggage. He is a budding professional golfer with ambitious goals. 30 minutes later, before the first tee-off, which would have been difficult without a golf ball anyway, a police patrol comes by and confiscates his club. It will be available for collection at the police station after the event. Jan talks about a ruined sports career that hadn't even started yet, but remains cheerful.
Previously tougher, now job and cat
In the meantime, ex-Bonn resident Bufe has also made it onto the lawn from Düsseldorf. He used to be a bit tougher, he reports. But now, with family, a job and a cat, he's toned things down a bit. His leather jacket and studded hat still fit like a glove. It was the music that once captivated him. His first records show an interesting evolution: Bläck Föös, Helloween, Ärzte ... For the weekend, he concocted an alcohol mixture called Molotow Soda in the old punk style, which is traditionally served in a five-litre jerry can. The original mix consists of Blue Curacao, rum, eggnog and is flavoured with bitter lemon. This time it's the vegan version - without eggnog.
The Molotow Soda is a relic of times long gone when Bonn's punks reached musical heights. The eponymous band got together in the 1980s and is still well respected. The Bonn filmmaker Moritz Hellfritzsch, a punk himself in the 1990s, made the film "Punk in Bonn" a few years ago about the history of punk in the federal city since the 1970s. He had his first mohawk cut when he was eleven. "The song 'Schrei nach Liebe" (A Cry for Love) by the Ärzte got me hooked. Back then, I also understood that it was a political message," recalls the director, who plans to stop by the Bonn Fun Days over the course of the weekend. In the early days in particular, a left-wing political orientation was noticeable among the punks.
Rubbish and wild urinators
The gatherings in previous years have not been universally popular. Traders at Kaiserplatz complained about public urinating and littering. Last year, for the first time, the city organised mobile toilets and rubbish bins directly at the Hofgarten, which were well received. Afterwards, the police reported that the "Spaßtage"had been largely calm.
Toilets and rubbish bins have been set up again this time. Depending on the size and behaviour of the group, the police will direct them to the Hofgarten lawn next door, where the mobile planetarium show will this week give interested people a glimpse into outer space.
