Kasalla

The ideas that two guys have at 2 a.m. after a long party at a kitchen table are not always really good ones. But from what ex-"Peilomat" guitarist and songwriter Flo Peil and singer Bastian Campmann planned, something emerged: 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 due to the chart success of their album "Mer sin eins," which was released in 2017. The band's fourth studio album shot up 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 Cologne band was crowned in 2018 by another mega highlight as they were nominated for the German music award ECHO.

A story that seems even more surreal and occurs at a rapid pace in a city like Cologne. For there, by the river and the cathedral, the music scene is very intense, diverse, and concentrated. Like the entire German pop landscape – compressed onto a beer mat.

“There are dozens of bands in Cologne that play dialect songs and can make a living from it; elsewhere, no one believes you when you tell them,” says singer Bastian Campmann. A vibrant, active dialect scene at the boundary of rock and pop is hardly imaginable in other metropolitan areas of Germany. A phenomenon that would also be impossible without Carnival. What it truly means to be a member of a band whose music is a staple in the repertoire of the fifth season is hard to imagine elsewhere. “During Carnival season, you play two hundred (!) times within just six weeks, which is about ten performances a day,” outlines drummer Nils Plum the workload between early January and mid-February, “but you also reach an incredible number of people this way.”

An initial live event that exceeded all expectations took place on September 9 and 10, 2016, to celebrate the band's fifth birthday. The first date in the 13,000-capacity LANXESS Arena, the largest hall in the city, was sold out in no time, prompting Kasalla to schedule a second date. Ultimately, on both days, 26,000 (!) fans celebrated with the band – along with special musical guests Gentleman, Carolin Kebekus, and Von Brücken.

But even in the rest of the country, the quintet has developed into a true crowd magnet over the past four years. After the Cologne band performed in small clubs and pubs for 100 to 200 spectators during their first "trip further away" in 2014, the band has regularly been approaching the thousand-capacity mark nationally since their Germany tour in spring 2016. Tours in autumn 2017 and spring 2019 took the five guys to Switzerland and Austria for the first time, in addition to already conquered territories. In total, nineteen stops, almost all sold out, were on the travel itinerary. And Kasalla can also handle festival stages. They were invited for the first time to PAROOKAVILLE in 2022 – and their celebrated performance had to be canceled after just a few songs: too many fans wanted to see the band.

That it is not (anymore) only about scattered expatriate Cologners is obvious. “Of course, there are Rhenish enclaves everywhere,” says bassist Sebi Wagner, “but it has developed to the point that now sixty, seventy percent of the people are not connected to the Rhineland.” Appearances on TV programs such as Ina Müller's ARD late-night show "Inas Nacht" (2013), ARD MoMa (2017), and ZDF "Volle Kanne" (2018) further spread the band across the country.

A special collaboration also took place 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 only, but especially in Cologne.

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

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