Scheessel Eichenring
Eichenring (translated to English as "Oak Ring") is a dirt track, located in the eastern part of Scheessel (around 3 km away from the city centre), in the Lower Saxony region of Germany. The Eichenring was originally completed after WWII, in 1951, on the site of a former race course in the town of Appel, near the Helvesiek community, around 10 kilometres north from Scheessel. The track was operated by Motor-Sport-Club Scheeßel, renamed to Motor-Sport-Club Eichenring (or MSC Eichenring in its shortened form) in the year of completion. The track in Appel was operational for a good decade, until 1963, when it no longer met the requirements of the international association. Because of that, the track was relocated to the current location, opened in 1964 with the European Championships final as its inaugural event. Eichenring was the venue for the long track world championship finals in 1974, 1980, 1988 and 1995.
Eichenring is also famous for concerts that take place on the site, the first of which being in 1973, called "Es rockt in der Heide", which featured artists such as Chicago and Chuck Berry. In 1977, the festival was scheduled to return under the name "First Rider Open Air", however, the organiser could not pay the bands, resulting in most of the artists and bands not even showing up at the event. This eventually led to riots by the annoyed fans, with the PA system and the stage itself being set on fire, burning down completely. In 1992, another concert, called the "International Biker and Rock Festival", was planned to take place at the Eichenring, but had to be canceled after it turned out that the organizers acted with fraudulent intent. In 2004, Lovefield Festival has taken place at the track, allthough for only one year.
Since 1997, the Eichenring has been the host venue to "Hurricane Festival", one of the largest music festivals in Germany and Europe in general, and sister festival to the "Southside Festival", held at Flugplatz Neuhausen, in the south of Germany. Over the years both festivals featured artists like Nine Inch Nails, Placebo, Foo Fighters, Rammstein, David Bowie, The Cure, The Prodigy, Billy Talent and more. Muse are set to perform at the 2023 edition of the festivals.
Muse appearances
- 2023-06-17 (Hurricane Festival)
Venue address
Eichenring
Westerveseder Landstraße
27383 Scheeßel
Lower Saxony
Germany