Gregor Hägele & Rikas

In the organizer's words:

Open Air at Burg 2025

After several sold-out shows at Im Wizemann, GREGOR HÄGELE and RIKAS, also from Stuttgart, invite you to the "Open Air at Burg 2025" in the beautiful courtyard of the time-honored Esslingen castle, which will be a very special double home game.

The 24-year-old singer and songwriter GREGOR HÄGELE is considered one of the most up-and-coming newcomers on the German music scene and impresses his listeners from the very first second with his strong, unique and emotional voice. As a candidate on "The Voice Of Germany" in 2017, he made it to the semi-finals and has been going his own way ever since. In January 2023, GREGOR HÄGELE played his first, completely sold-out tour, followed by additional dates in the fall. In addition to his tour successes and support appearances for German music greats such as Johannes Oerding, Max Giesinger, Michael Schulte, Madeline Juno and Adel Tawil, the performance of the German national anthem at the NFL kick-off game in front of an audience of millions in Frankfurt in November 2023 represents a highlight of his career to date.
2024 also had some highlights in store for the exceptional young talent: True to his song line "Get out of here, the world is madness!", the native Swabian was drawn to the German summer stages as well as touring again from October, this time much bigger. Fans could look forward to well-known hits and fan favorites such as "Blau" and "1 Jahr", which unfold their full potential with lots of emotion, especially live, as well as eagerly awaited new song gems, which were part of his highly anticipated top 10 debut album "Prototyp Liebe".

Following their critically acclaimed soul-pop album "Showtime" from 2019, two sold-out tours and festival appearances at MS Dockville, Puls Open Air and the Southside Festival, the boys have continued to be busy. After "Overthinking" and the "Short Stories EP", RIKAS returned in 2022 with new music that heralded the start of a new era for the quartet.

"Goodbye Sunshine" was the title of the latest EP. Compared to the band's previous releases, "Goodbye Sunshine" appears in a new color palette, almost as if the band had deliberately toned down the saturation for once. You can hear a melancholy and expansiveness that is touching in a beautiful way. It was probably their trip to Los Angeles in March 2022 that breathed new life into the band. Here they found themselves in the studio with none other than producer and musician Jonathan Rado, who has already worked with artists such as Weyes Blood, The Killers, Whitney and The Lemon Twigs.

With numerous songs on rotation throughout Europe and over 35 million streams on Spotify, RIKAS are slowly but surely establishing themselves as one of the most sought-after music exports from Germany. Why? Quite simply: RIKAS ' music moves and makes people happy. In February 2024, RIKAS released their new single "Passenger", inviting listeners on a new musical journey. The follow-up single "Strangers" is another masterpiece from RIKAS that underlines their creative development and their ability to tell profound stories. The band invites listeners to embark on this unique musical journey, where interpersonal relationships take center stage.