New Date for the 20th DOA: 8 to 10 July 2021

23.04. 2020

Dear Dong fans,

we now have clarity about the situation – and it has come to the scenario we all had to expect with the ongoing Corona crisis: The 20th Dong Open Air cannot take place from July 9th to 11th, 2020.

Today, the city of Neukirchen-Vluyn informed us that – due to reasons of disease control – it will not issue permits for a number of events all the way until October. The Dong Open Air is one of these events.

Although these are sad news for us, the confirmed bands, our partners, and visitors, we appreciate having an official decision, so we can set a new course.

It is with a heavy heart that we'll have to give up the original date for the anniversary and activate our plan B, which we have put together over the past weeks. We had already introduced this plan last Saturday, but here are the details again - with a few additions:

The good news: The 20th Dong is not cancelled, only postponed to July 8-10, 2021. Let's see this from the bright side: We are increasing the days during which you can be excited for the anniversary!

Of course, we would also try our best to maintain the lineup of bands announced for July for 2021 This really depends on the overall circumstances and how the bands feel about it. It will take a while for us to get an answer from each band.

Overall, we are feeling positive, sitting on this metaphorical construction site. Other festivals are already postponing their events to 2021. We are in touch with a number of European festivals who are also considering taking the entire lineup to the new year. For bands, it might just be the easiest thing to push their entire summer tour to the summer of 2021.

And although we do not know what this crisis has in store for us: If you already purchased a ticket, it will still be valid. Also, should there be any increase in ticket prices in the 2021 scenario, you are already all set and wouldn't be affected by price hikes.

At this point, you may also still order at the current prices. Because of the ongoing, unclear situation that is affecting the entire event industry and related service providers, we cannot promise that there will not be any changes in the ticket prices over the next weeks or months.

We are also currently looking into other options for tickets that have already been purchased. The German government is doing so as well, keeping an eye on the entire German event industry.

We will also get back to you when there is a clear guideline on how to handle this. Please refrain from sending individual requests and rest assured that we do take this seriously and will get back to as soon as possible.

This is the first time in Dong history that the festival cannot take place as planned. We hope the context of the extraordinary circumstances that come with the ongoing Corona pandemic gets us some sympathy and understanding on your side.
Stay positve – and get a friend to translate what our good friend Buddy says here!