The Nürburgring is best known as one of the world’s most demanding motorsport complexes, but for one weekend each year its paddock and surrounding grounds in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, transform into the site of Rock am Ring, Germany’s biggest rock music festival. Since 1985, the sprawling site in the Eifel mountains has drawn hundreds of thousands of fans to see international rock and metal acts perform on stages set up within sight of the famous racing circuit.
What began as a one-off concert celebrating the opening of the modern Grand Prix circuit turned into an annual institution after its debut drew roughly 75,000 attendees. Rock am Ring now regularly sells out, with recent editions drawing crowds of around 90,000 per day across a multi-day run, making the Nürburgring one of continental Europe’s largest outdoor music destinations alongside its racing pedigree.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
- Type: Motorsport complex / open-air festival grounds
- Site opened: 1927
- Festival began: 1985
- Capacity: About 90,000 festivalgoers per day (150,000 complex capacity)
- Famous for: Rock am Ring, Germany’s largest rock and metal festival
From Race Track to Festival Grounds
The Nürburgring opened in 1927 as a purpose-built racing circuit around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg, and its punishing Nordschleife loop earned the nickname ‘the Green Hell’ from driver Jackie Stewart. Decades later, promoter Marek Lieberberg chose the site’s newly built Grand Prix circuit to stage a concert marking the track’s modern era, and that 1985 show became the seed of what grew into Rock am Ring.
Each summer, temporary stages, camping fields, and food courts spread across the paddock and surrounding land, turning a facility built for endurance racing into one of Germany’s premier concert destinations for a few days at a time before it reverts back to motorsport use.
A Festival Built on Scale
Rock am Ring has hosted acts ranging from U2, David Bowie, and Fleetwood Mac in its early years to Metallica, Green Day, System of a Down, and Linkin Park in more recent decades. Attendance has climbed from about 75,000 at the 1985 debut to record crowds of over 90,000 in a single day, with the festival and its sister event Rock im Park in Nuremberg together drawing more than 150,000 fans when both sell out.
The festival briefly relocated to nearby Mendig Air Base in 2015 and 2016 before returning to the Nürburgring in 2017, and it was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring how tightly the event’s identity is tied to its home track in the Eifel region.
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Nürburgring FAQs
Is the Nürburgring a music venue or a race track?
Primarily a motorsport complex, the Nürburgring also functions as a major music venue once a year when it hosts Rock am Ring, Germany’s largest rock festival, on its paddock grounds.
When did Rock am Ring start at the Nürburgring?
Rock am Ring began in 1985 as a one-time concert celebrating the opening of the track’s modern Grand Prix circuit, and it became an annual event after drawing about 75,000 fans.
How many people attend Rock am Ring at the Nürburgring?
Recent editions have drawn around 90,000 fans per day, with the festival regularly selling out its multi-day run.
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Photo: João Rocha Soares Ofc / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.