Die Toten Hosen is coming to Sibiu in August with an impressive record over 30 years of experience: 14 studio albums, over 1,000 concerts and more than 15 million albums sold. The seventh edition of the ARTmania Festival will end its first day of concerts in the Large Square on the rhythms of Germany’s most popular band, in premiere on Romanian ground.

In 2012, the ARTmania Festival in Sibiu will take place between 6-12 August and will offer art lovers a various cultural program including concerts, exhibitions, workshops and other special events dedicated to the fine arts. The concerts in the Large Square will take place on Friday and Saturday, the 10th and 11th of August.

Die Toten Hosen will be playing on Friday, around 10 p.m., in the most beautiful public square in Romania. “Pushed Again”, “Hier Kommt Alex”, “Zehn Kleine Jägermeister” and many other well known songs will be listened to live in Sibiu. Delain will hit the Large Square stage on Saturday, August 11th, while the Norwegian Trail of Tears will lead the concerts on Friday, August 10th 2012.

Die Toten Hosen, the way Germans understand boredom, have always been very careful to live their days to the fullest and made everywhere a fuss, not just in Germany. In almost every year of their career, Die Toten Hosen rocked the ground with rhythms, messages or just by being plain punk.

The party began in 1982 in a punk bar in Düsseldorf and just one year later they were already signed with EMI Music. Thus, the Germans began their popularity burst, playing in ‘84 at the BBC Radio 1, invited by DJ John Peel. A band with an attitude, Die Toten Hosen soon changed their label, signing a contract with Virgin Records. In ‘85 they played in France thanks to the Goethe Institute and to the end of the year they reached Poland and Hungary.

Their first concert with a large crowd took place in ‘86 at the Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival, a political event against the building of a nuclear reprocessing plant with over 100,000 people present during the 2 day festival, a national historical record for a rock concert at that time.

1998 was another year of reference in the band’s history since the EP “Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau” was released, influenced by Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, and promoting the song “Hier Kommt Alex”. In the same year, the band members played in the theatrical interpretation directed by Bernd Schadewald. “Hier Kommt Alex” was featured in an unplugged concert with an opening from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Activition also used the track in their game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, launched in 2007.

In 1991, Die Toten Hosen releases their first English album, dedicated to the band’s idols and recorded with at least one member of each band: Joey Ramone from The Ramones and T.V. Smith from The Adverts, as well as many others. 1996 was declared the Jägermeister year in German, Austrian and Swiss charts thanks to the Die Toten Hosen’s most successful track: Zehn kleine Jägermeister, a parody of the popular song “10 little Indians”, featured on their most successful album, Opium fur Volk, considered their best album yet.

Over the years, Die Toten Hosen have expressed their attachment towards their hometown. In the summer of 1995 they took part in the competition “Powerplay des Wahnsinns”, making team with the hockey players of Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars against the Finns of “Leningrad Cowboys”, cheered by the players from the Finnish national hockey team. In this period Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars lead the national competition and in 1991 they were even on the second place in the Eurocup; the team wears on their official shirts the Die Toten Hosen logo.

At the end of the 80’s, the band donated 200,000 German marks for the transfer of football player Anthony Baffoe to the Fortuna Düsseldorf. In the 2000s the band supported the team in rough financial times and later on transferred their incomes to sponsor the local little league football team; on the Esprit Arena the “Strom” chorus is sung every time Fortuna scores.

The Die Toten Hosen members are constantly involved in the German social activities, dedicating many of their lyrics and concerts to social causes. In 1992 they took part at a demonstration in Bonn with Nina Hagen and Herbert Grönemeyer along with 200,000 other people. In 1995, they supported Greenpeace, BUND (German friends of the Earth) and other organizations militating against nuclear wars. In 2002, they supported a PETA campaign with the slogan “Better naked than in animal fur”, posing naked, of course, to help animal rights. They also fought for immigrants’ rights with Pro Asyl in 2005 dedicating the campaign the song “Mein Stadt” (My Town).

Today, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, MoMa, exhibits a huge photo taken in a Die Toten Hosen concert and signed by artist Andreas Gursky. Many artists have sung their songs and in 2002 and 2005, the band played at the largest European festival: Przystanek Woodstock, with over 400,000 people present. In 2010, they played in Central Asia and they became the first foreign band on a stage in the former soviet republic of Tajikistan. In the same year, the band played in the Middle East, at Amman in Jordan.

The summer of 2012 means for Die Toten Hosen headlining the Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, in front of 100,000 people and the ARTmania Festival. The band celebrates 30 years of existence in April, releases a new album four years after their latest one and prepares for new musical adventures.

Tuborg will be once again the ARTmania Festival official beer.

Tickets and subscriptions for the ARTmania Festival 2012 can be bought in Diverta and Eventim network stores and online at shop.artmania.ro, eventim.ro or myticket.ro for 80 lei for subscriptions and 70 lei for tickets, in February. In March and April, subscriptions will be 110 lei and tickets 80 lei. In May and June, prices will be 130 lei for a subscription and 90 lei for a ticket. Starting with July and until the last festival day subscriptions will be 150 lei and ticket 100 lei.

Project co financed by the Local Council of Sibiu through the Town Hall and the Cultural House of the district of Sibiu.