43rd Leverkusen Jazz Days
The most successful jazz days of all time
As a service provider for Mecky Events, satis&fy has been responsible for the sound and lighting technology at the Leverkusen Jazz Days since 2002. The festival, which has grown enormously over the past two years, is characterized by its unique mix of pop and jazz music and top-class artists and is broadcast live on WDR.
International music festival is growing
Use a difficult time to grow from it and with it – that’s what the Leverkusen-based company Mecky Events has achieved with the international music festival Leverkusener Jazztage. Since 1980, the renowned festival has been wowing audiences once a year with a lineup of renowned jazz and pop stars that lasts several weeks. For twenty years now, satis&fy has been supporting the smooth technical operation, especially in the areas of sound and lighting technology.
While in the past there were about 20,000 visitors each time, Leverkusen’s most important festival has now doubled this number to a brilliant 40,000 guests. The original venue was the Terrassensaal at the Forum Leverkusen. In 2020 and 2021, the music event moved to the Bayer Erholungshaus, where it was initially held completely digitally, and then as a hybrid event the following year. This year, the festival came back to its live format. Since the two locations in the Erholungshaus and Club Scala remain in addition to the Terrassensaal, visitors can now experience the diverse artists at three locations.
Well-established cooperation
“The 43rd Leverkusen Jazz Days were the most successful Jazz Days ever,” says Fabian Stiens, organizer of the Leverkusen Jazz Days and managing director of Mecky Events.
“We are infinitely grateful for the well-established cooperation with satis&fy. The good communication with the guest productions – from pre-production to the performance – ensured that the implementation always went smoothly. In addition, satis&fy is an important interface to WDR for us. Not only we, as festival organizers, but also all artists of the Jazztage were very satisfied.”
satis&fy convinces all along the line
This year, the Jazztage were again presented live by WDR. Selected concerts can also be viewed afterwards via video livestream. For this, satis&fy paid special attention to the lighting technology, which had to be implemented in a camera-suitable manner in order to attractively stage each artist and festival day. Also in the area of sound technology, a festival of this artistic and cultural importance has high demands. satis&fy is always on site with a well-rehearsed team and a large supply of equipment to ensure that the artists can not only use the microphones they prefer, but also ensure that the sound quality and changeover times meet the wishes of customers and performers.
“Due to the live broadcast of the WDR, we sometimes only have changeovers of fifteen to twenty minutes available. Because we have been supporting Mecky Events and the Leverkusen Jazz Days for so many years, every move is spot on. And we are always pleased about the positive, sometimes very astonished feedback from the artists, who are impressed by the efficient time management,” says Rüdiger Nürnberg, project manager at satis&fy.
Festival success through "fireworks of styles"
The long-standing collaboration has borne fruit: outstanding artists such as Jan Gabarek, Marcus Miller and Till Brönner and many more thrilled the 40,000 visitors from November 3 to 20, 2022. With artists such as Meute or Level 42, it was also proven how diverse the festival’s program has become. Funk, soul, blues, rap, hip-hop, Latin, rock, jazz, pop, electronic music – organization, technology and art went hand in hand in this firework of styles.
pictures: Leverkusener Jazztage