Germany 2026 - Day 1 - The Grand Jam in Frankfurt

I traveled to the airport like a Frenchman, using my 24-hour use of transportation methods to first get to the edge of downtown by metro and then take bus C-200 to the Saint-X airport. I started really early, so I had to wait for nearly 3 hours for my flight to Frankfurt, Germany, via Air Dolomiti (a small Italian airline).

Once in Frankfurt I managed to get lost looking for the exit, so I ended going through immigration twice before I could see sunshine. Five minutes later my beloved Chrissy picked me up in her brand new car (some Spanish brand belonging to SEAT) and half an hour later we were coming into Dörningheim, where I had the joy of giving a big hug to my bear of a friend, Gustav.

Chrissy has been busy planning different events for the week I will spend here, and for starters we are going to go see Phillip, their son, perform in The Grand Jam of Frankfurt. Phillip is in his early 30's and works as a draftsman with a general engineering company. Like his dad, of whom he is the spitting image, he is very tall (1.90 m) and has the unusual hobby of playing the battery of drums with a band. Well today he is joining 1,276 other musicians in what is the largest band jam in the world!

We went there by metro, and we started by meeting Daniel and Sebastian, two of Phillip's coworkers at the starting point station. I followed obediently through the many changes of lines and travel directions, because the German system of public transportation is quite a mess. They have three or four systems using the same rail lines, so you need to know what rourte each of them covers to be efficient at moving from point A to point B. Our destination was the Frankfurt stadium, because the largest band in the world requires the biggest venue available. Once there we met with Catherine (Chrissy's niece), her friend, and Phillip, who escorted us to our place in the stadium.

We found an incredible sight: The whole football playing area was covered with about 200 drum sets, 40 keyboards, and hundreds of microphones and sound speakers, all resting empty waiting for the start of the jam. The difference with a concert is that musicians and singers come from all over the place to play together. I am sure there is an audition and they rehearse for a couple of days together, but as long as they can keep the tempo everyone is doing their thing. It is a family event, so the singers and musicians include seniors, mature men and women (reminding me of Willy Nelson), young adults, and even kids who can play the electric guitar or the saxophone like pros.

I believe the largest contingent was that of the drums, which made the stadium tremble when they got going together. The singers had some choreography but were there to basically have a good time, dressed in all sorts of fancy costumes that had nothing to do with each other, and the roaming drone-cameras gave us happy closeups of musicians jamming together just for the joy of music. There was a touching moment where over the internet a Ukrainian young man sheltering in a basement in Kiev, led the whole band in a song of hope for the future.

The music program was chosen with care, to include many popular melodies that most of the audience seem to know and enjoy (I am of course not to be trusted with identifying the songs). The whole event was illuminated professionally, with roaming lights of different colors, showers of sparks, big bellowing clouds of steam and lights, and side shows presented by cheerleaders and acrobats. The effect of all that joyful music, happy and responsive audience, and the light show was truly fantastic. If you Google "The Grand Jam Frankfurt" you can see some YouTube videos from last year. They are in their fourth year (Phillip was there for his third year), and yesterday they broke their own record with 1,277 musicians and singers working together. I think we should try this at the Giants stadium in San Francisco.

Public transportation is great, but when you have 10,000 concert goers trying to get into the same train there are unavoidable delays, so after leaving the house at 5 pm, and being at the concert from 8 to 11 pm, we ended getting home late and were ready for a good night sleep (in my case it will not be that good because I have developed a cold and will be sneezing through the night). Ah, but it was totally worthy :)