After 3 days of pure party madness with rain, sun, booze, hip hop and rock and roll, the jury have given the final result..........the winner is (drum roll please) ENVY!!!!!. all the way from gorgeous Norway this hip hop project convinced everybody. They walked away with the top price and were crowned world champions. Saying world champions sounds big and it is, considering bands from 24 countries from all over the planet took part in what has been the most fun we had in years especially because the quality this year has been amazing….could it get any better? I don’t think so! When announced, these 11 piece “family” punched the air and I swear they were ready to cry. We think we saw them float on air at one point. But before we tell you more about the winner, let’s go through it back to front…”from the beginning” as they say: Band number 4 and 3 are S.H.E. from Japan & RUBY CUBE from France respectively. A great effort from both these bands that gave their hearts and souls with their performances and proved that when they come from far away to show the judges what they could do. The Special WOODBRASS prize goes to LABELLE, the Band from Melbourne, Australia . They get loads of technical gear for the most original song. A prize we think is well deserved because they displayed quality in songwriting. The second best drummer is the "basher" from Swedish band EMMECOSTA and he gets a set of cymbals from our very good sponsors SABIAN. The second best bass player was the guy from NO COMMENT BAND all the way from Belorus and he gets a HAGSTROM bass from our very generous sponsor, Music Meyer. The second best guitar player also gets a beautifully made HAGSTROM guitar and it goes to the lad from KNUCKLES OF FRISCO, the band from Holland. The best singer was the wonderful voice supplier from COURS TOJOURS, the band from Cnada and the results were unanimous on this decision: All agreed. she gets a SENNHEISER wireless microphone set. Best bass player went to the "monster player" playing in LSD ON CIA from Denmark and he gets a gorgeous MARSHALL amplifier. Best Drummer gets a drum kit from SONOR and it went to the "stage animal" (please insert muppet show reference here) from CAFÉ JAZZ. A thoroughly deserved prize from this Dresden musician. The best shredder was the young guy from RUBYCUBE and he gets the Marshall valve amp. .......and now the most import and “on the edge moment” ……The last 2 bands: Second place went to LSD ON CIA from Denmark and the first went to.....take a deep breath please.........it was obviously ENVY. Yes, ENVY walked away with the top price and were crowned world champions. Saturday’s performance was absolutely stellar considering that with a week-end of clouds and constant morning rain, they had the sun shining while playing yesterday afternoon. They gave us smiles and made us dance……Thank you Norway! Ok, we wanted to let you know that ALL the bands were absolutely magic!!!!! and that as always, it is incredibly hard for the jury to select just one band. Still shocked from the announcement, all 11 of the members of ENVY were rushed to the main stage, which is almost as big as a football field for a gig so good, they kicked the Taubertal Festival punters in the face with their cultured, infectious hip hop grooves .........Like we say this every year: If Andy Warhol said everybody has 15 minutes of fame he was wrong in this case, they had 3 days! And this is only the beginning…… they opened for British punk rock gods THE SUBWAYS who themselves were dancing backstage. They made literally thousands of people go nuts. When the giant screen flashed 50 foot tall Norwegians (considering they are already tall) we knew that this was the right band. Mission accomplished. Just perfect. The jury, which included UK promoters and Music Industry record distributors did a superb job and we thank them for giving us their time and they obviously thanked us for giving them the booze and the wonderful music. And so another year has gone and many, many gallons of beer have been guzzled back stage and outside our hotels in the streets. Compliments to ALL the wonderful musicians that played…now let''s go and see IGGY POP and the rest of the line-up…ROCK ON!!!!!

check out all the results!!