The setting really couldn’t get any better than this: rolling hills, medieval castles off in the distance, and rock and roll, right in your face!

Every year, two enormous stages are set up along the river at the bottom of the Taubertal Valley, just below Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany.

And every year, some 20,000 people come, ticket in hand, to see the world’s most promising unsigned talent play right alongside their favorite acts.

“Why Germany”, you ask, “Why Taubertal?” Do we really need to explain why we choose to put some of the world’s best, unsigned bands on the same bill as guys like… Iggy and the Stooges, The Cure, and The Hives? Prodigy, Placebo, Pink, The International Noise Conspiracy? Bush, The Editors… ??

Just this year alone, our bands shared the stage with huge acts like Biffy Clyro, The Editors, Bad Religion, Skunk Anansie, and many others!

Simply put, it’s an unbeatable opportunity to showcase our bands- the same bands that have worked long and hard all year to get to the top tier of the Emergenza Festival.

The way it works? Each band has their chance to rock the 24-meter Sounds For Nature Stage for up to 30 minutes, in front of an eager public and a professional jury.

This year, once again our jury panel was made up international music execs, professional musicians, talent scouts, record producers, tour organizers, band managers, bookers, and the list goes on….

At stake are thousands of euros worth of prizes for the most talented musicians, as well as a chance to play live on the Taubertal Main Stage, for the winning band.

Believe me, when you catch a glimpse of that 42-meter stage and the incredible sound system, you’ll be ready to lay it all out on the line!

Now, it’s only fair to give a shout out to the 19 incredible bands from all over the world who did just that, laid it all out on the line, for the 2013 edition of Taubertal:

CUERVO came all the way from Australia, NOYZE from Canada, SHOUT from Finland, CITIES LULLABIES and OBSOLETE RADIO both from France, three bands from Germany FLOWERS IN SYRUP, FINALSTAIR, and GOLDMOUTH, from Japan TARO & JIRO, The Netherlands brought COLLECT CALL FROM MARS, Poland STRAIGHT JACKET, Russia ROCCO, Spain VUCAQUE, Sweden NEGATIVE NANCY, Switzerland AWESOME ARNOLD, Turkey KAOS, The UK BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE, and this year, two bands ORDINARY PEOPLE and HEY ELIZABETH hailing from Italy!!

So, what’s going to happen to this year’s bands after they’ve played the Emergenza international finals? Will they have chart topping singles, world tours, publishing deals, videos, and groupies? Who knows?

The jury can help open the doors to any one of these payoffs. But in the end, it all comes down to the band.

Does your band fit the bill?