Donauinselfest

The Donauinselfest (German for Danube Island Festival) is an open-air free music festival taking place annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. It usually takes place in mid or end of June. Only in 2008, the event was scheduled in September in order to prevent clashing with the European Football Championship, which was co-hosted by Austria.

According to numerous media reports (including ) the Donauinselfest is Europe's biggest open-air event; soon expected to reach the 3 million visitors mark. Some 1500 volunteer assistants and visible police presence help make the Donauinselfest one of the most secure big events.

There are some 21 areas (called "islands" as well) that are normally sponsored by radio stations, newspapers and other companies. These are spread out over a 6.5 kilometer area of the total of 21 kilometer island. Musicians of an extremely broad range of genres perform.

The layout is roughly the same every year, with some stages being removed or added. The musicians also tend to come back every year, or being replaced by other ones that are popular.

To ensure safety of visitors, "house rules" were introduced in 2007 and checkpoint controls established to help control certain items (such as glass and liquor inside the festival perimeter.

Food kiosks serve various national and alternative dishes including Thai, Greek, Italian, Indian, Turkish, Vegetarian and Austrian cuisine. Although all concerts are free, financial experts calculate Vienna's economy benefits from this event by almost € 40 million, due to the increased tourism.

In 1983, SPÖ politician Harry Kopietz, promoted the organisation of a one-day party near the Floridsdorferbrücke, in order to promote the attractiveness of the Donauinsel as a recreational area. Organizers expected some 15,000 people, but 160,000 showed up. The event became annual the following year (300,000 visitors) and meanwhile always attracts more than two million people during three days of actitivites (2.9 million in 2006, "only" 2.6 in 2007, as, due to a heavy thunderstorm, a few concerts had to be cancelled on opening day).

1993
A most memorable concert was Falco's in 1993, in front of roughly 100,000 fans: The weather was so bad on that evening that part of the stage was flooded, the subsequent power cut aborting the performance.

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Wikipedia