Sportfreunde Stiller - 30 Wonderful Years

MALE DOG How does one look back on thirty years of band history? From a distance, the view resembles the outlook on a vast jungle of deep life. For us sports friends, it is less inhabited by venomous snakes and dangerous multi-legged creatures, but rather by friendly jungle beings. Devoted to life, searching for stories and discoveries. Behind almost every tour day lie funny experiences, joyful hugs, the best celebrations, and ever-growing stories that become more deeply rooted over the years. Albums and tours turn into high plateaus of memory, celebrations sometimes decades later become mammoth growths of "Do you remember back then?" tales. Brotherhoods, friendships, tender plants, or simply large-pored potatoes. In every corner, every fork in the road hangs the scent and beauty of celebratory life. Sometimes a painful search and often a happy resolution. What is one person's hubris becomes the norm for the band. Standing on stage while tens of thousands sing a song that spilled from our fingers in the gritty rehearsal room: no problem, it’s normal. One rides home on a scooter, we in a rolling house, no problem, it’s normal. The music becomes a backstage pass into the hearts of strangers, who somehow also become friends, happening again and again. That remains beautiful, and one can never get used to it. Being in a band is something I can recommend to everyone. Whether with or without music, it doesn’t matter; the main thing is that you dive in together and not alone!

FLO Everything started with the "Wonderful Years." With the time when self-discovery broke through in rebellion, defiance, coolness, mod shuffle, and wandering around. And with the idea of putting three somewhat different musical preferences into a band context. Before the first single in the spartan rehearsal room in 1996, Jack Kerouac, Big Muff distortion, some kind of school form from Germering, and definitely the idea of enormous volume haunted our minds. 27 minutes later, the "Wonderful Years" were born, along with the knowledge that no matter what else may come musically, this is a cheeky manifesto of our adolescent existence. That remains forever. It became the motto of our lives. And a lot more was yet to come.

From performances in dark cellars before three curious onlookers to halls filled with ten thousand souls. From special quirks like World Cup hits, MTV Unplugged sessions, horizon-expanding music videos, records made of wood/gold/platinum, reading tours in opera houses to the "completely normal" madness of a band, including unforgettable tours in the arms of the best crew of the universe. From being the opening act for Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Grönemeyer to supporting bands like Ash, Nada Surf, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs. Everything is included. From the always supportive and driving management to the ever-integrable social engagement. Against the creative void, against the envious, against the mood makers, but always with the knowledge that what we do logically cannot please everyone. Who manages that, except Florian Wirtz?

With the tools and background of a radio play, two EPs, ten albums, millions of concerts (for example, Eggenfelden, Neustrelitz, Hamburg, Tashkent, Madrid, London, New York, etc.) and the privilege of being able to unite profession and vocation, we bow down to our listeners down to our toes. Mucho gracias grande for dancing, singing, and feeling along! We just want to say that you are the greatest for us. And that has been the case for 30 wonderful years! Let’s go!

PETER It’s 1996… a guy with a Britpop hairstyle asks a guy in a grunge raincoat, hey, you make music too, right? Let’s do something together! Up for it? So indie, alternative in German, I have a song… One year later, after the first bassist went missing… hey, there’s someone who studied jazz or politics or something, wears a cap backwards and has a mop underneath, should we try him out as the new bassist? That’s how the story of the 3 sports friends begins.

In the 29 years that followed, pretty much everything that can be experienced as a band happened: - meteoric non-rise - slightly tense failures - pop-like chart entries - magical encounters - rock moments for eternity - world-class million-voice choruses - gigantic crisis overcoming - gilded adoration And songs as friends and friends as eternal companions of our songs. Again and again…

“It’s 2026… so now we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sportfreunde. Just let that sink in on the drumhead! As a person, turning 30 means goodbye to youth, oh dear, real life! As a band, turning 30 means hooray, we’re still alive! (Free after Milva) And that this band has been accompanying our lives for so long, yes, shaping and inspiring us in a significant and positive way, we want to celebrate with you!

That’s why everything that comes on top of this will be celebrated so intensely that our hearts vibrate and the plunze wobbles! We want to write new stuff, then hit the road with a Best Of and go all out! Will you also rush with us through 30 wonderful years?”