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Historical things
The history of the city of Cologne goes back to the iron age: about 50 jears before Christ the emperor Julius Caesar (he came, he saw and he conquered, that means he was a true metal man) could gain the Ubier who lived here before to start building a colony (Köln = Colonia = colony). This developed to a center for traders from all around the world very soon and it developed a little later to a center for artists and musicians. Bands like BAP, BRINGS, ZELTINGER and so on do have international success with their songs in cologne dialect (kölsch). In the different quarters of the city (Cologne has about 1 million citicens) you will find lot´s of possibilities for entertainment, but in this report I´ll set the focus on the metallic happenings.
How to arrive
You can reach Cologne on the waterway (it´s next to the river "Rhein"), on the landway (highway) or on the airway (airport Cologne) without problems. In case you need a hotel, the tourist center (adress: Unter Fettenhennen 19, D - 50667 Köln, Tel.: ++49 (0) 221 - 221 33 45) will gladly send you a complete hotellist with tourist informations. Please be advised that from time to time (PopKomm, Photokina and other fairs) it can be hard to find a place to stay for a reasonable price. So you should make your plans early enough. If you are plannnig to visit Cologne during the funny, 6 days lasting state of emergency in spring called "Karneval", this is the more important.
And if you arrive by car, do yourself a favour and park it at the city boundary or drive with the tram from the beginning at. With the tram you can go almost anytime almost everywhere in Cologne. The travelcenter (for example at the "Neumarkt") do offer several grouptickets and tickets for several days. Just the classification of pricezones for single tickets is sometimes even for the people who live here a little hard to understand.
Getting in touch
For the first shopping tour it´s maybe a good idea, to go out at "Neumarkt" (crossing point of several tram lines). You´ll find several big stores, where you can buy books, cameras and other things. If you walk along the "Schildergasse" you´ll find a long shoppingmile with lots of stores (have a look at the CD - section of "Saturn" in the "Kaufhof" with own metal section). If you turn left then, to the "Hohe Strasse" the shoppingmile continues up to the "Dom" (the big cathedral). Other shops do also sell Heavy Metal CD´s and DVD´s (for example the "Mediamarkt", Hohe str. 121) so it´s always worth looking for special offers.
Next to the "big cathedral" the "Dom" you have the chance to taste something very special: the "Kölsch", a special, fresh, light beer only made in Cologne. The difference of the single kinds is very big, so that I would like to recommend the "Brauhaus Früh" (next to the "Dom"), which sells the beer always cold and fresh. In case you do not like beer at all, it´s almost a must to taste this. For a good lunch or dinner or for several more "samples" you can go to the old part of the town in 5 minutes by feet (just walk in direction of the river "Rhein". There you´ll find real nightlife also (but without metallic entertainment).
Das Brauhaus FRÜH am Dom
CD´s and more
If you want to buy CD`s or Hifi - components, you are right in Cologne. Beside several big shops (have a look at "Promarkt" at "Rudolfplatz") you find at "Hansaring" (tram lines 6, 10, 15 and 19) the headquarter of "Saturn". On about 3000 squaremeter salesplace you find about 170.000 different CD - titels. All in all they have about one million CD´s & DVD´s in stock. That´s the world biggest CD - show ! And if you are looking for components for your Hifi - tower you´ll find the world biggest Hifi - show next door, together with personal computers, TV sets and much more.
The worlds biggest CD - selection at SATURN !
If you want to search for rare items you will find a couple of record shops on the other side of "Hansaring" and in the "Ritterstrasse". The "Mediamarkt" also does have a branch in "Köln - Marsdorf" (Max - Planck - Str. 24 - direct to highway cross "Köln - West").
GIGS
Whho wants to be informed, what is going on, can buy one of the city magazines (everywhere where you can buyx newspaper) like the "Kölner", the "Stadtrevue" or the "Prinz" . The magazines are similar, the choice is a matter of taste. There is another online calender for happenings in Cologne called Cologne-In.
The concerthalls have changed a lot last couple of jears. There used to be the big halls like the "Sorthalle" (capacity: 8000 people) and the small clubs like "Luxor" (which is called "Prime Club" now, capacity approx: 300 people) and there was not too much inbetween. Since a couple of jears we do have the "Live Music Hall" (Lichtstrasse 30, Köln - Ehrenfeld) and the "E- Werk" (Schanzenstrasse 37, Köln - Mühlheim), capacity about 2000 people each. Since then almost every bigger metalband is touring in Cologne also. When a concert is sold out, often it takes place than in the "Palladium" (capacity: about 4000 people, close to the "E-Werk", same owners). The biggest (indoor) hall in Cologne is the "Kölnarena", with a capacity of up to 16000 visitors !
Concerts of Newcomerbands do mostly take place in jouthclubs and they are organized by the bands themselves mostly.
Nightlife
There are a lot of cool places for metalfans in Cologne, but you have to inform yourself (with the citymagazines for example) on which day which music is playing, because most clubs do have a very mixed programme. And in some places where the day before a very cool metalparty took place, the room is empty next day, because maybe only once a month a undergoundevent takes place.
Cologne does ROCK !!
A very good chance for rock music sounds you will find in the area of "Kyffhäuserstr." / "Luxemburgerstr." (tram stop "Barbarossaplatz", several tram lines), where people meet between small snack bars on the street.
Very close you find the PRIVILEGE, where every 2 weeks on Friday the motto is either "Let´s Rock" (where you can listen to Hard Rock sounds) or "Heavy Metal Cologne" (where you can listen to -mostly traditionell- metalsongs).
And then in the meantime we do have 2 clubs in Cologne, where they play metal almost all the time. The first one is called CAVE (Kyffhäuserstr. 39, before "Ratz Fatz", before "Marotte"), which is at least easy to find (next to "Barbarossaplatz"). If you want to spend a nice evening, as a rock- or metalfan, you will be probably not disappointed in this place, which is a litte like a "hard rock cafe".
The second "pure" metalclub is called VALHALLA (Clevischer Ring 119, Köln - Mülheim). This club is looks inside like the letter "L" with the intrance in the middle. On one side there are seats next to the bar where sit down relax and talk (the music is not that loud in this area) and on the other side there is the dancefloor, for all headbanger, airguitarplayer and other people who want to have fun :-) There are special parties like the "Oskorei" (Black Metal Special every first saturday a month) and other special events, so it´s the best to have a look before at the progamme of the day when you want to go out, to make sure that you can listen to your favourite music. With the right D.J. and the right mood you can have lots of fun there at the weekend sometimes until 5 o clock in the morning. In the nordic mythology "Valhalla" is the the great hall, the paradise, where the vikings walk in with the sword in their hand. When you have the chance to, I can only recommend to step into this little (metal-) paradise in "Köln - Mülheim" (not too far from the "E-Werk"). Probably not with the sword in your hand, but you can raise your glas or drinkinghorn there ... :-).
Special Tips
Beside several rockmusic- and oldie- events in Cologne a few pure undergroundevents take place, from fans for fans, where all insiders meet. Unfortunately only the oldest event of that kind has survived, the "metaldisco" in the "Bürgerzentrum" (jouthclub) "Engelshof". ("Gate" ... "Dungeon" ... "Metal Mayhem" ... R.I.P) Since more than 10 jears at the Engelshof every second saturday a month the metalfans meet down there in the moisty cellar, drinking, celebrating and listening to heavy metal sounds until the very early next morning. (tram stop "Köln-Porz-Westhoven", tram line 7 to "Berliner Straße")
The oldest metalparty of Cologne (every second saturday a month)
These undergroundevents (like Engelshof metal disco etc.) do not much advertising (because they are no commercial happenings). The entrance is about 1,50 Euro (just to cover the costs), drinks are sold as cheap as possible.
Beside the insiderplaces there are some commercial events (you´ll find them in the city magazines) like "Rockgarden" at the Live Music Hall for example. But there you have to pay much higher prices for entrance and for drinks, so this is not always to be recommended.
Since a while there also is a local fanpage called "Kölner Rock- und Metalforum", done by Klaus, a very big rockfan in his sparetime. Here you can find a lot of information about happenings in Cologne and all around Cologne.
What else ?
Cologne has lots of possibilities for shopping and entertainment. There is almost nothing you can not do here; from a trip with the cable railway high across the rive Rhein to a vist in the zoo. But it´s the best to check this all out yourself. Maybe with a glass of "Kölsch" ;-) Cheers !
Peter Leis
P.S.: This "little cityguide for metalfans on their visit in Cologne" can be in a big city like Cologne neither be complete nor be always up to date.
So: if you did miss anything : let us know !!
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