Just been to one of the best new events on the Frankfurt music scene. For anyone who hasn’t already heard of SofarSounds it originated in London as a way to promote up and coming musicians in an intimate acoustic setting. SofarSounds are now active in 262 cities worldwide 11 of which are in Germany, including of course Berlin, Hamburg and Munich…
The basic idea is that performances are hosted in people’s homes and the venue is only released last minute to a selected number of people who register in advance. The names of the performers are kept secret in order to ensure that all musicians get the same exposure and opportunity irrespective of their current standing. Payment is often as a donation during or after the performance.
This has been going on for a few months now in the Frankfurt area and the one I went to this month was at the HfG in Offenbach. It was fairly easy to get to by sbahn, but most are in the Frankfurt area in case you are worried. The HfG provided a small old chapel which had great acoustics and we were treated to two solo guitar/singers and one small band. My biggest concern was that there would be two rubbish acts followed by a headliner, but it turned out that all three were very good. So credit to the Sofarffm team for finding them.
If you do decide to go, remember to take a blanket or cushion to sit on, as seating maybe limited or non-existent. Also some venues ask you to bring your own drinks check the instructions in advance.
Currently SofarSounds are only active once a month in Frankfurt, but let’s hope this catches on. Some cities run daily events. Keep an eye on their Facebook page as well for updates and have a look at some of their past performances on their YouTube channel.
The performers at the event I went to were:
and there will probably be a video summary of the event on the Sofar Sounds Frankfurt website fairly soon…
Living in Frankfurt 