fiebertanz.com

Tanzfieber? Fiebertanz!

Fiebertanz was one of the most prestigious event series in the Central European indie/electro scene at the turn of the millennium.

Read the (hi)story below and delve into a collection of flyers and photos.

And who knows, maybe there will be a revival party coming up soon...

THE (HI)STORY

Early Years

In 1994, the club scene was dominated by neo-punk and crossover from a guitar-oriented point of view, and by a growing commercialization as far as electronic music was concerned.

On the premises of a former SS barracks in Radolfzell, Germany, two anti-fascist clubs competed for the local youth: the "Akustik-Studio" (also known as "Small Club") and the "Graffity".

A teenager clique, led by Jonas Hofmann, started to organize parties at those two venues, dedicated to sounds outside the abovementioned mainstream. Forgotten vibes from the 70s and 80s blended with new riffs and beats from the 90s underground, created a unique mix and drew crowds from all over the region.

Fiebertanz was born (the inverted German compound noun for "dance fever", i.e. "fever dance").

The success sparked interest from the main town of the region (Konstanz), leading to an event series at the "Outback", later known as "Contrast".

In the meantime, Christoph Manz had taken over the "Graffity" in Radolfzell and paved the way for one of the most exciting clubs in Germany, the "Tempel". Of course, Fiebertanz took the opportunity to host events there as well - in good company with acts like DJ Hell, Sven Väth and Jeff Mills.

In Konstanz, we also had regular series at both "Kulturladen" and "Neuwerk", and played at "Kantine", "Klimperkasten", "Audiopixel" and "Zebra-Kino". An event series in Stuttgart at "Clima.X Institutes" and numerous gigs in various clubs* across Southern Germany and Northern Switzerland complemented the early years.

* Altes Zollamt, Stuttgart / Drifters, Freiburg / Provisorium, Ludwigsburg / SUS, Heilbronn / Rampe, Überlingen / Abby, Messkirch / Gems, Singen / Sedel, Luzern / Kraftfeld, Winterthur / Dachstock, Bern / Royal, Baden / Coq D'Or, Olten

Basel Years

In 1999, Jonas moved to Basel, Switzerland to take up his studies. Fiebertanz continued to operate in and around Konstanz; additional key members included Eddy Decembrino, Laura Hofmann and Marc Krüger.

From pure DJing, Fiebertanz evolved into an event management business, hosting first live acts like Welle: Erdball. A hand-written fax determined the conditions - we only had our first computer with internet access in late 1999. The website (fiebertanz.de) was launched at the turn of the millennium.

Until then, word-of-mouth marketing had built the brand. Articles in special-interest magazines and adverts in newspapers continued to play a significant role, but online forums became increasingly important. We are still in the pre-social media era before MySpace entered the game in 2003 as a social network for music and pop culture. And yes, Fiebertanz did benefit from this platform and quickly established itself as a leading player.

First events were hosted in Basel at "Sommercasino" and "Nordstern", but it wasn't until the opening of "Das Schiff", an actual boat on the Rhine River, that Fiebertanz boasted a primary location. Andreas Künzi (Akay) and Nicolas Camara joined Jonas Hofmann to form a partnership that brought the who's who of the scene to Switzerland. Other notable Fiebertanz venues in Basel included "Kaserne", "Volkshaus", "Sudhaus", "Hinterhof", "NT-Areal", "Grenzwert", "Parterre", "Culturium", "Hirscheneck" (w/ Dangereux), "Krypta", "HEK" and the University.

Going International

In the mid 2000s, Fiebertanz expanded to Zurich and hosted a number of legendary events at renowned clubs like "Tonimolkerei", "Mascotte", "Hive Club", "X-Tra" and "Dynamo".

And major European cities were calling for the DJs: Amsterdam (Club 11), Berlin (Kato Club; Rio Club; IndusKultur), Brescia (Lio Bar), Cologne (Come In Club), Essen (Hotel Shanghai), Leipzig (Tangofabrik), Milan (Le Tits Club), Münster (UCOD Festival), Nice (Smarties Club), Nuremberg (Loop Club), Stuttgart (Altes Zollamt; Clima.X)...

From a booking point of view, the following internationally acclaimed artists played at Fiebertanz:

2010 marked the end of an era and we are here today to celebrate nostalgia...

Covered Genres

We never thought in stereotypes and thus did not dogmatically feature one genre only.

In order to facilitate hits from search engines though, here are some of the styles we covered:

Electro, Indie, Indie Dance, Post-Punk, Minimal Synth, Minimal Wave, New Wave, No Wave, Cold Wave, Electroclash, Electropunk, Electrorock, Electropop, Electro House, Electro Funk, Electro Swing, Industrial, EBM, Noise Rock, Alternative Rock, Alternative Dance, Disco-Punk, Punk Rock, Batcave, Death Rock, Old School Gothic, Synth Pop, Art Pop, Art Rock, Art Punk, Avantgarde, Avant-Pop, Italo Disco, Nouveau Disco, Classic Techno, Synthcore, Underground and the like...