WHEN the builders take off their hard hats and the Elbe Philharmonic is finished, the result will take your breath away. Located in Hamburg's docklands, where a whole new urban neighbourhood will take shape over the next few years, the Elbe Philharmonic is a signature building catching the optimistic mood of the city, writes Jim Carroll
The building's landmark aspects begin with the very fact that the planners have located it on top of an old warehouse last used to store cocoa beans. Many cities - and we don't have to look too far - would simply have razed Warehouse A to the ground and started anew. Instead, Hamburgers will plonk a spectacular glass structure on the roof to merge the old with the new.
Standing on top of the ware- house on a sunny September afternoon, it's hard to believe that this roof will soon be home to a couple of auditoriums, a public plaza, a club, a hotel, apartments, restaurants and cafes by 2009.
You really have to applaud the chutzpah and ambition of the city's planners. But the city's cultural department can also point to hard economic data to back up their support for this imaginative new space. The building, it is estimated, will increase the number of concert- goers visiting Hamburg by 50 per cent. Indeed, the cultural number- crunchers see every new development in the city as a means of boosting Hamburg's share of the arts tourism market.
There are even plans afoot to transform the area around the mile-long Reeperbahn in the heart of St Pauli into a clean, chic new centre. "Clean" and "chic" are not how the 25 million people who annually flock to the bars, clubs and streets of the city's red light district would describe this seedy area. Yet if hotel and property developers have their way, the area's red lights may fade in time.
Events like last weekend's inaugural Reeperbahn Festival will help that transformation. More than 200 bands played at 20 venues in and around the strip. Smart timing meant that the Hamburg festival piggybacked on Berlin's Popkomm music industry convention, held over the same weekend. The result was some eclectic bookings. Aside from the new acts on show, the likes of The Rapture, Psapp and Radio 4 rubbed shoulders and amps with Arrested Development, Matthew Herbert and Nouvelle Vague. One of the finest shows of the festival was given by US trumpet maestro Terence Blanchard and his excellent band.
The organisers and city hope that the festival will remind people that the Reeperbahn once featured more music clubs and bands than anywhere else in Germany. In the 1960s, bands flocked to the city from all over Europe and America, took up residencies and played until the pills and speed ran out.
Still, it may be a step too far to hope that the Reeperbahn Festival will result in a new Hamburg Sound emerging. Too much has changed in pop music and in the city since 1960, when The Beatles turned up at the Indra Club. These days, potential Fab Fours come with Pitchforkmedia reviews, MySpace sites and a user-friendly back story. Arriving unannounced is no longer the done thing.
The Reeperbahn Festival does, however, provide another live- orientated showcase for Euro bands keen to find new stalls for their wares. Every new music marathon sets out to be the new South By Southwest, but soon finds its own niche. As the Elbe Philharmonic starts to come together, the Reeperbahn Festival may well discover a role for itself as a showcase for the musical merits of the whole city.
jimcarroll@irish-times.ie
