Hey guys,

did you already start packing? :) Here's a quick heads up before you get on your way to the Dong hill:

Starting 9am on Friday morning, the parking lot, the shuttle and the camp ground are open
and available for you.

Please keep in mind the autobahn A40 is closed between the exits of Essen-Frohnhausen and
Essen-Holsterhausen in one direction.

Keep the hill clean! Use our trash bags, containers and cans! You'll be camping in a
landscape preservation area!

Please buy our drinks and refrain from bringing large amounts of beverages yourself. Our
shuttle will definitely not bring them up the hill.

Beware of pickpocketing and keep your things of value safe.

In case you like the line up of the Bleeding Edge festival, bring an extra €25 so you can
buy tickets at our box office on Saturday. You won't get the tickets for Borknagar,
Equilibrium and the others any cheaper! Further information on www.doaconcerts.de.

Last but not least the weather forecast: It's spupposed to stay warm, but rain and even thunderstorms
might occur. Please have this in mind concerning your tent and clothing.

We are looking forward to see you all!
Your Dong Team

Hello there!

A good week from now it’ll be time to party! The ninth Dong Open Air will rock the hill, all in the spirit of “Once Upon A Time In The Dong – for a fistful of Dollars”! Here are some important issues we would like to inform you about:

Camping on the location, the Halde Norddeutschland, is permitted starting at 9am at Friday the 17th of July, no earlier! Municipal deputies and our team will expel anyone who arrives any earlier.

Keep in mind that Autobahn A40 will be closed in one direction between the exits Essen-Frohnhausen and Essen-Holsterhausen around the Dong days.

Please keep in mind that the Halde Norddeutschland is a landscape preservation area. Use our trash cans, containers and bags. Trash bags are freely issued at the box office.

Please refrain from bringing large amounts of beverages yourself. By bringing drinks you are damaging the festival severely since it’s almost by half financed through the liquid happiness we’ll be offering at the bars. The drinks at our festival are very low-priced (0.5l of beer/coke etc/water for €1.50) and chilled of course! Our shuttle bus will only transport people and luggage up the hill, but no huge amounts of beverages!

Last but not least some pretty damn neat news: At the 26^th of September the Bleeding Edge Festival will take place in the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen. We will be selling tickets for a price that cannot be beaten! You’ll be getting tickets at a glorious €25 with no extra charges at our box office at the Dong Saturday. Borknagar are going to make the festival in September their release show for the new album. The black metal grandmasters around singer and guitarist Vintersorg are a rarely seen bunch on stage, but they’ll strike back wit the help of: Equilibrium, Secrets Of The Moon, Suidakra, Powerwolf, Grailknights, Solstafir, Black Messiah, Code and Kromlek! More info on www.doaconcerts.de!

See you next week,

your Dong Team

Dear outraged friends!

Actually we had thought we wouldn’t have to clear up too much regarding our move to Straelen. Do you guys fall for anything this easily?! April Fool!! :D

Our lovely festival will take place at the Halde Norddeutschland in Neukirchen-Vluyn just like every year! To make sure that we don’t get kicked off the premises in 2010 we would like to remind you of the issue of landscape preservation areas. As the Dong hill happens to be one, we would like to ask you to use the trashcans and bags we'll supply you with. The cost of waste management have been rising with the years. Stop this trend and use the trash cans and bags to make sure your garbage doesn't take a flight around the beautiful Dong hill. Otherwise we will be forced to raise prices to make sure the festival can still take place in future years.

Please also refrain from bringing your own beverages in kegs, crates or even pallets. If you decide to bring them anyways, you are damaging the festival severely! Take advantage of our low-priced and chilled beverages at the bars served to you by incredibly nice folks. So you'll help the Dong a whole lot.

If you've made it through the newsletter until here, here's the goodies: a hint to the new Dong clips on Rockalarm TV. Our special will now also feature three Skyclad clips – all these classics from the nineties. If you're into folk, check out the Clanrock clip, all new! Common Grave are representing the in-your-face portion of the Dong special, adding another song to it. Find the playlist through this link or through the Rockalarm button on www.dongopenair.de.

Have fun!
Your Dong Team

Many, many thanks for that great reception of yours!

The Dong Open Air 2009 is sold out after exactly 4 hours of pre-sales. We never thought of such a fast thing!
We all are happily looking forward to seeing you all in best party-mood in front of our beloved stage on the Dong hill on the 17th and 18th of July!

All the best to you,
your Dong team

Incredible, but true: at this moment (Sun. 14:15) 80% of the Dong 2009 tickets are already gone. If you still wish to get some, you should order within the next hours.

Your stunned Dong team

The time has come, we have started selling tickets for the Dong Open Air of 2009! Get your ticket only at www.dongopenair.de at 28.50€. Don't take your time, because experience tells us that it won't take too long for us to sell out!

For the very first time ever - and probably as the very first festival ever - we'll offer you to buy drinks in advance! You can order packages of 10 vouchers per package along with your ticket and will thus save time at the festival because you won't have to stand in line for your beverage vouchers. Also you won't have to worry about bringing as much cash. Pretty please, do us a major favour and refrain from bringing kegs or crates or any other container of beer. Our beer is only 1.50€/0.5l, more than fair. Bringing your own drinks will do damage to the festival!

After we announced Skyclad, Dew-Scented, Sycronomica, The Splatter and Gore Department and finally The Very End last Wednesday, the Dong 2009 line up is complete. You can find all sorts of information on our acts, links to audio samples and the running order on our website. There's also still our video clip special going on on www.rockalarm.tv. Take a look, it's definitely worth the time!

Well, have fun getting your tickets and waiting for the festival! We're quite excited, too!  :)

Your Dong Team

Breaking news on the Dong 2008 streaming at #Musik. Within the last days additional recordings have been given permission for broadcasting. Because of this there will be a second show on Saturday, March 7th, 12pm, on the eXTreME Stream. Have fun at www.rautemusik.fm!

Hey, vultures!

We are finally done! The line up for the Dong Open Air 2009 – July 17th and 18th – is all set! Along with Amorphis, Rage, Dornenreich and Skyclad, 21 other bands (among them Dew-Scented, Sheephead and Cheeno) will rock at the Dong hill prairie when it’s time for “Once Upon A Time In The Dong – For A Fistful of Cows”. Check out our Line Up site online and take a look at the running order or our quick introductions to all bands to make sure you will get to see everyone who’s of interest to you. We have some listening samples waiting for you.

Rockalarm TV will help you discover new favorite bands! This awesome rock and metal web TV presents a Dong Open Air 2009 special with videos of Amorphis, Rage, Dew-Scented, Cheeno, Orphan Hate, Common Grave, Sycronomica and In December along with a neat D.O.A 2009 trailer. Just hit the button at the www.dongopenair.de mainsite or follow this link.

And here’s the point where you all should listen closely! The Dong Open Air 2009 ticket sale will start this Sunday, March 8th at (high) noon! No minute later than 12pm, tickets will be sold exlusively at www.dongopenair.de at a price of 28,50€! Last year it took only 6 ½ days for the festivals to sell out with half of the tickets sold within the first 24 hours! Make sure you get your ticket!

For the very first time we will offer a pre-festival sale of the special kind! We are probably the only festival that sells beer vouchers up front! On top of ordering your ticket you can also order packages of vouchers for beer in advance (10x0.5l per package). You’ll be given the vouchers along with your wristbands at the box office on site so you won’t have to bring too much extra cash, plus you’ll save some time because you won’t have to wait in line for your precious beer vouchers at the sales point.

If this isn’t enough to make you pee your pants happily, do take a look not only at Rockalarm TV, but also at this to get your anticipation juices running:
Our friend Andreas at #Musik will proudly present to you the audio streaming of the Dong Open Air 2008 on Friday (March 6th) at 7pm. If you care for some Dark Tranquillity, Sabaton, Suidakra etc, to get into the mood for this year’s Dong, check out www.rautemusik.fm and check out the eXTreMe Stream at said time and date.

Savvy? Well, start counting the days! :D

Take care,
Your Dong Team

Revelations, Revelations, Revelations!

We are rolling out the red carpet for the third band package of the ninth Dong Open Air. First to step up are our co-headliners, the extraordinary Austrian Black Metal band DORNENREICH. Along with them there will be the Luxembourgian Folk Rockers of CLANROCK, the Death Metal grenades of COMMON GRAVE and of course also two bands where women show that this is not a man?s world: ORPHAN HATE from Berlin will deflower our stage on Saturday with fattest Thrash, CHEENO will prove just like they did in 2007 what female fronted rock is all about. Check out our Line Up site to get some inside knowledge on these gems!

Things to mark with a huge red cross in your calendar: The Dong ticket sale will be starting on Sunday, the 8th of March at High Noon (as in ?12 noon? or ?12 PM?). A ticket will sell at 28.50? this year. We recommend to get your ticket quickly as it has never taken long for the Dong to sell out. In 2008 the tickets were gone four times quicker than in 2007; which meant six and a half days!

We?ll announce the fourth and last bundle of bands within the next days, so stay tuned!

Your Dong Team

Here’s a few additions to the ninth Dong Open Air line up:
Amorphis, the top class Finnish metal band, releasing their new studio album this spring, are going to share the stage with these bands:

Failed Perfection are a young band from the Ruhr Area, showing openly that their idols are to be found in the Gothenburg sound. You’re a fan of Dark Tranquillity? You’ll dig them!

Hatred from Schweinfurt celebrate great Old Skool Thrash Metal and have rocked multiple big festivals. They will not only stop by at the Dong, but also play the Dubai Desert Rock!

Next up are Interrobäng. Finest Power Metal from Münster played by a band including parts of the Dong organization team! Roland is looking forward to be in the first band to rock Dong #9!

If you like some decent Thrash Metal, check out Kingdom of Salvation from Leverkusen who have been faithful guests at the festival for seven years! We couldn’t be happier to have the guys with the beer crate radio get on our stage!

Last but not least for this week, we got the power metal band 7 Seals from Paderborn. Just until recently Ross of Van Canto took active part in the band. We can be assured: The Dong virus was transmitted. :)

Find more detailed info and listening samples on our line up site.

You’ll have to wait another week until we supply you with fresh news! Half the line up as well as two headlining positions are still to be announced…

Your Dong Team

Finally!

The Dong Winter Party will be smashing the Turock in Essen this coming Saturday and we do hope you do your best to smash along! Remember there will be 6 Dong tickets raffled among the first 66 guests! There are still tickets left at the box office that evening! To celebrate this occasion we thought of a nice little incentive to make you wanna be among those first 66 even more than before.

Here is the first package of confirmed bands for 2009:

Due to current events we’ll start of the list with RAGE, no less! Northrhine-Westphalian Metalheads from the very beginning will not only be playing at the Dong but will also compete at the so called "Bundesvision Song Contest" on Pro7 (private German television to get via ASTRA satellites) this Friday night. After having Subway to Sally win the contest last year we do hope Peavy, Victor and Andre keep up the glory for heavy metal. Got German TV? Vote for them at 8:15 pm on Friday!

Of course they will not be the only bands rocking the stage of the Dong hill! The 17th and 18th of July will be marked by shows of thrashing IN DECEMBER, Wacken Metal Battle 2007 finalists SHEEPHEAD, Vikings from the Netherlands ELEXORIEN and some hard rocking power metal by CAST IN SILENCE! Check out our line up sites for more info on the bands, links samples of their music and lots more!

We will announce further acts in bundles at intervals of a few days at our website. We won’t annoy you with any further newsletters until the line up is complete and thus the ticket sale is about to start! So don’t miss out and check our website to make sure you’re up to date!

Take good care!
Your Dong Team

Hello there!

This past month we took a good wide swing to prepare for another badass punch! Throughout February we will be announcing what’ll be rocking the Dong Open Air 2009 and then finally start selling tickets! Get ready for some grand newcomers who will – as always – be the opener for our pretty damn good headliner package!

Making the Dong happen we still rely heavily on your help and would thus like to inform you about this: The Dong Open Air is mostly paid for through the sale of beverages. We would like to ask you not to bring any of your own drinks in bigger quantities. Bringing crates or kegs of beer hurts the festival a lot and will force us to raise the ticket prices.
But still: Just like last year beer and soft drinks will be offered at very reasonable prices! Half liter of beer will be 1,50€.

Last but not least a quick note on the Dong Winter Party (Feb 14, Turock, Essen). Due to non-smoker protection laws the Turock in Essen has become a “smoking club” at Jan 1st, 2009. This means that this is an 18+ event and guests under 18 will not be allowed into the club. Click one of these linke for more detailed information: www.doaconcerts.de and www.turock.de.

See you soon,
Your Dong Team

Dear people of the Dong!

Spent your New Year's Eve eventful and party-esque? We certainly hope so! Since our start into 2009 rocked, we figured we'd supply you with an extra bang for the New Year! Lately we've been working non-stop for you to make sure the next Dong Open Air sufficiently kicks ass. We're confident we'll be able to keep you posted with some awesome news soon!

First off though: The Dong website already presents this year's motto: „Dong Open Air 2009 - Spiel mir das Lied vom Dong - Für eine Handvoll Kühe" (Dong Open Air 2009 - Once Upon a Time in the Dong - A Fistful of Cows). This year there shall be hails of bullet and be assured: he who comes too late shall bite the dust!;)

Speaking of coming late: At the 14th of February, which happens to be Valentine's Day, the Dong Winter Party will rock the beautiful European capital of culture - Essen! You can get tickets not only at metaltix.com (we're rocking their sales charts!) but also at kartenhaus.de which allows you to get tickets at almost any ticket sales point in Germany. Get your ticket today, be there at 4:30pm and don't miss out on the chance of getting free tickets for Amorphis and all the other tba's at the Dong on July 17^th & 18^th! We'll raffle six tickets among the first 66 people to show up. More info at www.doaconcerts.de!


On this note we'd like to wish you all a happy and healthy year 2009!
Your Dong Team

Awesome news!

Step one in finding a leader for our headliners at the Dong Open Air 2009 is done!
Amorphis will be the main act of the festival! The Finnish death metal legend, who’s released unforgotten albums like "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" will show us their perfect mélange of death metal and rock including their forthcoming ninth album (release date is to be confirmed but before the Dong!) at the Dong hill.

If you want to be on or in front of the stage, there are a couple of things we’d like to remind you of:

1. Until Friday, the 19th of December (which is this coming Friday!), we will accept applications from your band! Go to www.dongopenair.de , register and upload songs (or send them in via snail mail). Would it be nice to say “I was one of the support bands of Amorphis.”? :-)

2. Even though we have yet to set up a date for our ticket presale to start, there are tickets to be acquired! For free of course! We will raffle three time two tickets to the Dong Open Air among the first 66 guests at our Dong Winter Party at the Turock in Essen taking place at the 14th of February. This is not the only reason to show up at our grand party: Bands well-known to more than just the experienced Dong fan will be among those entertaining us there: Suidakra (performing songs of their new album which is not to be released until Feb 20!), Grailknights, Van Canto, Adorned Brood, Rocketchief and Synasthasia. And you never know what other sort of thing may be happening at a Valentine’s Day! :-)

Tickets are available at metaltix.com.
Kartenhaus.de doesn't offer our tickets, yet. Be quick and get your ticket or make sure your best friend gets a decent Christmas gift!

Take care,
Your Dong Team

Cheers guys!

Before announcing our Dong Winter Party and free tickets for the D.O.A festival 2009, we would just like to quickly remind you that time is running out for your applications for the Dong Open Air 2009! To be exact: The deadline is December 19^th. If you are considering to sign up, please do that as quickly as possible. If you have already applied, please don’t forget to supply us with the required promotional material. Only one third of all applicants has done this so far. So get going!

And we got really hot news!

We are so anxious to party with you guys again, we figured it’d be nice to make waiting for the next summer and thus the next Dong Open Air a bit easier. We picked the 14^th of February for: the first Dong Winter Party!

The Turock in Essen seemed like a perfect location and Valentine’s Day 2009 (a Saturday) a perfect date. Starting at 4:30 p.m. the following Dong veterans will present new albums and new faces to you:

Suidakra: Before jumping on a plane to the US to tour there, they thought it’d be neat to say goodbye to you first. Listen up! Not only will the Suidakra guys be spending lots of time overseas, but also will this be the first show at which they’ll perform songs from their next album (27.Feb - Germany, 2. Mar - Rest of Europe, 3. Mar - USA, Wacken Records)! This deserves a big X in your calendar!

Grailknights: After the release of their new album “Alliance” and a huge tour through Europe with Sabaton, the flashiest knights since Monty Python return! But watch out: Dr. Skull and his mob are still around!

Van Canto: The brilliant a capella band – who even got Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian to support them on their latest album “Hero” – will be presenting this very CD at the Dong Winter Party!

Adorned Brood: There haven’t been too many news about the pagan warriors lately until they released their first album in three years. The new record is called “Noor” and will see one of its first performances on stage at our party. Guitarist Mirko is back with the band who had already played an important part in creating earlier albums such as “Hiltia”, “Wiegand” and “Asgard”.

Rocketchief: Rocketwho? If you don’t remember the guys from Münster and their “high energy rock”, you probably missed them at the Dong 2008. Rock Hard and Visions Magazine agree with us upon speaking most highly of them. Find out all about them at the Turock!

Synasthasia: The heavy metal power chavs are back! With a new singer! Didn’t know that? Did? Nevermind. Be there when the local heroes rock the stage delivering finest power thrash!

Visit us at myspace.com/doaconcerts and listen to the named bands. Tickets are on sale for 15€ plus fees at metaltix.com (available right now) and kartenhaus.de (available within the next days). By the way: At the Turock we will raffle six free D.O.A 2009 tickets among the first 66 visitors!

Rock it with us!

Kind regards,
your Dong Team

Wake up, people!

Hibernation is over. Well, actually, we never really got any rest, but work is starting all over again! By this we mean: planning and organizing of the next Dong Open Air has begun and we’re accepting new band applications! We’re thirsting for mail and uploads filled with your promotional material for 2009! You can use our application form to register and it will go from there.

Help us get the perfect mix for the Dong program by making your befriended musicians apply. Email your favourite bands and let them know we have started our application period. Anyone may apply and we will definitely listen to any serious application!


Don’t forget: The deadline is 19.12.2008!


One last thing: Even if you don’t play in a band, you can still use the feedback form at our website to tell us how you liked the Dong 2008!

We appreciate your support a lot!!


Take care,
your Dong Team

Dear Dong-Congregation,

for an eighth time we may proudly announce the successful completion of the Dong Open Air!
Despite the unfriendly weather you all had come to the heights of the hill to rock it! For this we’d like to thank you! It’s not just us thanking you, it’s in the name of many, many a band, especially the headlines who came to us after their show, their eyes still beaming with excitement.
Another big thank you goes out to our volunteers, who this year more than ever did a fucking amazing job. The Dong wouldn’t be the same without these about 60 volunteers. And it certainly wouldn’t exist in this price range.
Thanks to all the bands who helped us keep the ticket price low and spirit high, for rocking the stage, for lots of noise and positive vibes. For everything this festival is all about!
We’d like to thank the units of theFederal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Order of Malta Ambulance Corps (Malteser), the Police and of course the securities for – as always – great cooperation.
Last but not least we’d like to thank the stage and technical crew who did a great job and made sure we didn’t have any delays but instead kept our musicians happy.

We’d like to apologize at this point for what our organisation colleague Roland thoughtlessly said without wanting to repeat that piece of information. Right after his faux-pas he got rebuked and realized immediately how hurtful and inappropriate his words had been.

Please be assured that we really appreciate your praise and critique in the guestbook! It means a lot to us that you get back to us so quickly and with such thorough interest! You can now do this through our feedback form which can be found  here. Please use it so we can improve the festival!

Take good care and see you next year,
Your D.O.A team