Indoor Summer 2023 in Hamburg
September 1-3, 2023, Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Do you want to go back in time to the 80s? See the neon lights, big hair, tight leather pants? Listen to the best bands from Glam and Sleaze Metal, AOR and classic Hard Rock?
Then you can’t miss this amazing festival in the heart of Europe – Indoor Summer Festival, held in the beautiful city of Hamburg, right in the central Market Hall (Markthalle). Indoor Summer is a quite ‘young’ festival, this year presented its 4th edition, gathering the best bands in the abovementioned genres from Europe, USA and Canada. Despite its youth and novelty, this festival attracts a decent number of people from all over Europe and even the USA.
In terms of organization, everything is clear and precise like a Swiss watch. We are all used to the fact that during summer outdoor festivals in Europe we have to wait for the bands for a very long time, sometimes an hour or more. Well, not at Indoor Summer Festival! Everything is perfectly on time, between each band there is a break for 20 minutes, so it’s practically impossible to miss your favorite acts. An interesting and sweet surprise from the organizers – free candies and lollipops for everybody, such a nice touch. The bar area also served big bowls filled with sweets and people were very fond of it.
The lineup for this year was more than impressive. Violet – the opening band for the first day was a perfect choice, these young German rockers represent the true spirit of 80s glam rock bands. Followed by a Swedish invasion, presented by Junkyard Drive, energetic Confess and melodic Art Nation. The closing bands were old school veterans – Praying Mantis, a heavy metal band from UK, and Coney Hatch, a hard rock band from Canada. These guys really put the night on fire with their high and wild energetic performances.
The second day was fully packed and no surprise, everybody was waiting for Scandinavian Sleaze kings – Crashdiet, The Cruel Intentions and Hardcore Superstar. Unfortunately, just a couple of days before the show, Crashdiet cancelled their performance. It left many fans of this band totally devastated, since it’s not a first time they cancelled the gig during this summer/autumn.
By the time The Cruel Intentions hit the stage, it was practically impossible to move around. People were so crazy and impatient to see them. Sweet Coney Hatch were nice enough to fill the empty slot of Crashdiet with an acoustic performance. Then followed Hericane Alice from USA, the super energetic Heavens Edge and the veterans of Swedish Sleaze, Hardcore Superstar, who always deliver a killer show.
The third day presented a great combo of young European rockers and famous American and Canadian bands. The young German metalheads Cobrakill drew the attention from the crowd long before their performance thanks to their cool looks and they surely delivered a great show. The English party monsters Stop Stop took over not only the entire audience, but also the bar area where they continued their performance and made the entire hall sing and dance. Pretty Boy Floyd is one of the most beloved 80s bands among the European glam/sleaze fans, they are the Glam kings from the USA indeed. They arrived in a new updated lineup, which certainly didn’t make their show less exciting, they always know how to rock. The Canadian hard rock veterans Helix were a pure energy bomb, they made everybody scream so loud, their songs from the 80s are timeless classics.
And the closing act was a ladies’ favorite, the sweetheart Mike Tramp of White Lion. The entire front row was stormed by ladies, starting from young girls in their 20s up to loyal female fans over 60. When everybody in the crowd was singing with Mike the 80s hit “Broken heart”, it was such an epic moment.
This indoor festival has a very special friendly atmosphere, a real bonding between bands and fans and a warm particular feeling that you are back to the 80s. That’s why in the end of the day everybody who was leaving Market Hall felt happy, satisfied and promised to come back next year.
