Kasalla

Not every idea that two guys have at 2 a.m. after a long party at a kitchen table is really that great. But from what ex-"Peilomat" guitarist and songwriter Flo Peil and singer Bastian Campmann planned, something happened: Kasalla.

Together with old and new companions Ena Schwiers, Sebi Wagner, and Nils Plum, they jumped into the rehearsal room with the plan to combine the music people love with lyrics in the local dialect. Now, 10 years later, the crazy idea has truly matured.

Not least because of the chart success of their album "Mer sin eins," released in 2017. The band’s fourth studio album shot straight to number 5 on the German album charts, giving the band not only their first Top Ten placement of their career but also the highest chart entry for a Kölsch band since BAP in 1981. The success story of the Köln band was crowned in 2018 with another mega highlight, as they were nominated for the German music award ECHO.

A story that seems even more unreal and moves at a rapid pace in a city like Köln. Because there by the river and cathedral, the music scene is very intense, diverse, and concentrated. Like the entire German pop landscape—compressed onto a beer coaster.

“There are dozens of bands in Köln that play in dialect and can make a living from it; no one believes that anywhere else when you tell them,” says singer Bastian Campmann. Such a lively, active dialect scene at the border of rock and pop is hardly imaginable in other major German urban areas. A phenomenon that would not be possible without Carnival, however. What it actually means to be a member of a band whose music is an integral part of the repertoire of the fifth season can hardly be imagined elsewhere. “During Carnival season, you perform two hundred (!) times in just six weeks, which is about ten gigs a day,” drummer Nils Plum outlines the workload from early January to mid-February, “but you reach an incredible number of people that way.”

A first live grand event that exceeded all expectations took place on September 9 and 10, 2016, in celebration of the band’s fifth anniversary. The first date in the 13,000-capacity LANXESS Arena, the largest hall in the city, sold out quickly, prompting Kasalla to schedule a second date there. Ultimately, 26,000 (!) fans celebrated with the band over the two days—and with musical guests Gentleman, Carolin Kebekus, and Von Brücken.

But even in the rest of the country, the quintet has developed into a real audience magnet over the past four years. After the Kölner played their first "excursion further afield" in 2014 in small clubs and pubs before 100 to 200 spectators, the band has regularly been nearing a thousand capacity limits since their Germany tour in the spring of 2016. Tours in the autumn of 2017 and spring of 2019 took the five guys to Switzerland and Austria for the first time, alongside areas they had already played. A total of nineteen, almost completely sold-out performances were on the travel itinerary. And Kasalla can do festivals too. In 2022, they were guests at PAROOKAVILLE for the first time—and their celebrated performance had to be cut short after a few songs: too many fans wanted to see the band.

It is clear that it's not (anymore) just about scattered expatriate Kölner. “Of course, there are Rhenish enclaves everywhere,” says bassist Sebi Wagner, “but it has developed in such a way that nowadays sixty or seventy percent of the people are not connected to the Rhineland.” Appearances on TV shows like Ina Müller's ARD late-night show "Inas Nacht" (2013), ARD MoMa (2017), and ZDF "Volle Kanne" (2018) carried the band even further into the country.

A special collaboration also came about and celebrated its live premiere at the stadium concert: German rap legend EKO FRESH is featured on the song "JRÖNE PAPAJEIE." A song about diversity. Not just, but especially in Köln.

This pack of met K has a lot more in store!

Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Show starts at 8:30 p.m.