Paul Kalkbrenner

In the organizer's words:

To describePaul Kalkbrenner as groundbreaking is an understatement. Like no other, he has managed to bring electronic dance music from the underground to the world's biggest stages. Ever since his mega-hit "Sky and Sand", which was released in 2008 as the soundtrack to the cult film "Berlin Calling", Paul Kalkbrenner has been regarded as one of the headliners par excellence in the electronic music scene. He stands for superlative shows like no other. Sold-out tours worldwide in venues that easily gather tens of thousands of fans. With almost 1.5 billion streams, he is one of the absolute top electronic acts. In 2025, after seven years of silence, his new album "The Essence" was finally released, following on from the masterpiece "Parts of Life" released in 2018. Paul Kalkbrenner's new album combines everything that has made him a living legend: It is warm, organic, personal and timeless. This effortless reduction to the essentials, this playful authenticity that defines the album, seem like echoes from another time. With "The Essence", Paul Kalkbrenner delivers the perfect blueprint of our time for hypnotic, emotionally charged techno, which is increasingly becoming a valuable rarity these days.

The concert in Mönchengladbach is already guaranteed to be a brilliant mega-event in a class of its own, where the old master will once again prove what has made him one of the brightest stars in the scene and far beyond. On this evening, Paul Kalkbrenner will further cement his legendary status in the present.

As a young artist, he grew up in the Berlin techno scene of the 90s. He soon realized that his real passion lay not in playing music, but in producing and composing his own tracks. The deep connection to the underground runs like a red thread through his artistic work. Due to the immense success he has enjoyed worldwide, he seems to have moved away from his roots, which lie in the clubs of the capital of the 90s and early noughties. But his music still adheres rock-solidly to the principles of that time: captivating, driving, reduced, but always emotional, profound and in constant development. Remaining true to himself without allowing trends to distract him from his own path and yet always remaining open to new things is a quality that has characterized Paul Kalkbrenner from the beginning of his career to the present day. His absolute breakthrough as a multimedia artist with the leading role in "Berlin Calling" was followed by a decade of superlatives: stadium tours, collaborations with icons and world stars and legendary status. This was followed by quieter years, deliberately characterized by grounding, reflection and seclusion. "The Essence", his ninth and latest studio album, deliberately breaks with this calm and brings new impulses that exist far from any trends and still bear Paul Kalkbrenner's unmistakable signature. A true masterpiece.