Sharing such festival barbecue delicacies as burnt sausage and charred chicken wings, he enjoyed a beer or two with some of the 90,000 crowd at Germany’s Neuburgring Formula One motor racing circuit.
He also got to stand on the main stage to sing “Happy Birthday” to them and thank them for making the festival what it is, an effort that was duly rewarded by a couple of stage hands who playfully pushed his face into the cake.
Added to the 65,000 at Nuremburg’s Rock Im Park, the twinned events that open the country’s major festival season pulled a record-breaking 155,000 – about 3,000 more than the previous record in 2008.
“It was also another record year as I can’t remember any previous festival when there was no rain at any time over the first three days,” Lieberberg said.
Apart from record-breaking crowds, the events also received maximum media coverage as MTV screened 36 hours of mostly live performances and Südwestrundfunk ran a special and filmed Lieberberg as he talked to fans.
“They just told me where to go and who to talk to,” he told Pollstar. “I talk to the fans every year and I always encourage them to send in their comments, whether they’re positive or otherwise.”