Where Hollywood stars sing and Hawaiian toasts fly

Unlike previously announced by the tour management, Johnny Depp was surprisingly approachable: He went straight to the waiting fans, signed autographs and stood ready for selfies. "Our colleague Enzo also took this opportunity," recalls Sabrina. "That's completely unusual in our team and not appreciated - but afterwards I was annoyed that I hadn't taken a photo with Johnny Depp." Her colleague, commercial event manager and authorized signatory Silke Simon, quickly grabbed the guest book and had the visitor from Hollywood sign it. "Celebrity actors of this caliber rarely come to us. I just wanted to record that."

The performance by Die Ärzte, which was arranged at short notice, was also something very special: "The tour was only announced two weeks in advance, the date with us on September 1, 2023 was sold out immediately and the band played for a good three hours without a break," says Silke. The punk rockers let the La Ola wave wash over around 4,000 people, they talked and laughed with their fans and enjoyed the comparatively intimate location. Often enough, the Ärzte have an anonymous wall of tens of thousands in front of them - for example on their "Gänsehaut" tour announced for 2027, which is already largely sold out. Silke was all the more pleased about the detour to Offenbach: "Despite all the enthusiasm, we give our guests their privacy."

Sabrina Grau's family is particularly into hard rock and heavy metal, which is why her daughter Mila was allowed to attend the Electric Callboys concert in 2022 at the age of five (and with ear protection). "The band was really nice and would have taken a photo with us, but the little one was still too insecure for that," reports Sabrina. "It was also nice to see how grateful the band was for their Sold Out Award."

The technicians have to deal with special challenges. Whether lighting or sound, stage height or merchandise stands: "The production tells us what they want and how they want it, and we try to implement it as precisely as possible," explains the Stadthalle's technical manager, Philip Gartmann. Which extensions do the power sources need? What is attached to which load points? Will the giant wolf's head from Kontra K (2019) fit on the stage? How do we make a pineapple toast fly?

"Some of the issues are very unusual," says Gartmann - but after 20 years of professional experience in the Stadthalle, little can surprise him. Right at the beginning, he had to deal with shock rockers: in 2007, Marilyn Manson demanded black-covered walls and oxygen bottles in Offenbach. A year later, the masked metal band Slipknot had to heave a three-ton drummer's platform into the hall: "The drummer strapped himself into a sports seat on it. The hydraulically movable part tilted 90 degrees towards the audience and rotated while the sticks whirled around during the solo," recalls the master of event technology.

In 2024, entertainer Alexander Marcus let this very snack float through the hall as a flying object to his "Hawaii Toast Song". "It was a kind of zeppelin with a propeller," explains Gartmann. "We had to decide whether it was safe for the audience or not. We were actually able to let the toast fly like this. We wouldn't have approved a drone because it could crash."

His technical colleague Luca Jochen has also experienced some strange things - such as the jokers from rap duo 257 ("Ich und mein Holz") before their 2018 performance: "While the crew was setting up everything for the concert, the guys slid through the hall in wetsuits and rubber mats for a YouTube clip." Other stars also have their own definition of warming up: They bring table tennis tables and basketball hoops into the Stadthalle, for example, while helping hands toil away in the background.

The sudden standstill caused by the coronavirus pandemic from February 2020 led to a complete change of plans at the Stadthalle: a vaccination center was set up in the multifunctional hall and operated from February to September 2021. The 2 to 3 G requirements that followed not only presented the entire team with major challenges. "All the tension was relieved in April 2022 at the sold-out Cro concert: everyone celebrated together again for the first time in a relaxed and free atmosphere, which was particularly nice," recalls Silke Simon.

The rapper is a good example of how the success of musicians can also be tracked over the years in Offenbach. In January 2012, Cro performed as the opening act for the then ESC winners Jedward in Offenbach's Capitol, the much smaller sister venue to the Stadthalle Offenbach under the roof of Stadtwerke Offenbach. Johannes Oerding's appearance on Waldstraße in 2015 was only moderately booked - later two of his albums reached number one in Germany, and as host of the successful VOX show "Sing meinen Song", Oerding has become even more popular since 2021. The current season of the swap concert features "Deine Cousine" for the first time. The rock singer will use this flow to prove her live qualities at Stadthalle Offenbach on October 17, 2026. After her experiences so far, Sabrina is excited: "Let's see how her career develops."