The Final Countdown to the Oktoberfest 2015

Yes, this Saturday, it’ll be that time of year again: at 12:00 midday, the panels of the Schottenhamel-Festzelt will ring out to the smacks of the Munich Mayor’s mallet as he taps the first keg of beer, shouts “O’zapft is!” and everyone gets stuck into the 182^nd Octoberfest, 205 years after the first ever one was celebrated.

If that sounds historic, that’s because it is; and this year’s festival will feel like the hand of history is on it more than ever: 25 years after the Octoberfest bombing, investigations into it have been reopened, and besides tourists streaming into Munich main station, there have been thousands of refugees coming in daily for weeks now. Just like in all the years before, there is no doubt that the Oktoberfest 2015 will be a happy, joyous affair – but it has become more difficult to leave the darker sides of human existence at the doors to the tents.

So we’re not just excited about the Oktoberfest in the way we always are, looking forward to it with childish glee, an interest in Bavarian fashion, and a raging thirst for the amber-nectar. No, we’re excited because we think that the Wiesn this year will feel somehow different.

We’re also excited because, as ever, the Oktoberfest is changing. There’s the new Schützen-Festzelt, of whose exterior we’ve seen a few shots. It looks deceptively similar to the old one – until, of course, you compare the two shots and then the differences become clear. That means it will probably feel even more like a bizarre déjà-vu going inside for the first time.

Then there’s the second year of newcomer Marstall – but the first year in which its predecessor, Hippodrom, is making a simultaneous comeback. That, too, is interesting enough: the remains of a former Oktoberfest tent set up elsewhere in town with a DJ and bar late into the night. For some, that will have the same effect as putting the clocks back, adding extra hours of partying and increasing the “after Wiesn” options…

One thing, though, can be guaranteed: these will be 16 of the craziest days we ever had. Just like every year, we’re steeling ourselves for the experience. And just like every year, the 72 hours until “Anstich” simply can’t go fast enough!