Rock'n Coke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rock'n Coke 2004 Poster

Rock'n Coke is a Turkish rock festival sponsored by Coca-Cola. It is traditionally held at the Hezarfen Airfield in Istanbul, Turkey.

1 The Festival
2 Interesting observations and events
- 2.1 Rock'n Coke 2005
3 Controversy
4 Past Performances
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] The Festival

Rock'n Coke is a member of the European Festival Association. The festival is organized by the Turkish concert organizer Pozitif. At the end of every summer, the Hezarfen Airfield is used as a venue for a two day chain of concerts, with both national and international performers featured.

Although mainly rock-oriented, Rock'n Coke also hosts other music genres. While the main stage is generally reserved for rock and its subgenres, the DJ Arena (now called Burn Stage, following the sponsorship) is reserved for styles such as house music.

In 2005, the festival grounds were large enough to support two stages, a mini-amusement park, two large food areas, a shopping area, several sponsor attractions, 400 outhouses and a large camp site for people with two-day tickets. The total area used by the festival was around 60 acres (250 dönüms).

[edit] Interesting observations and events

[edit] Rock'n Coke 2005

The entrance line to the event was a long one, with up to 2 hours' waiting time.
Ceza, a Turkish rapper was booed off stage.
Food and drink purchases inside the festival area were done with special cards called CardRock, which could be purchased from the Exi26 CardRock Cashiers.
In 2003 several bee attacks reported but in 2004 and 2005 this problem was solved by the organizators.
The Cure stayed on stage for 3,5 hours with a remarkable performance.

[edit] Controversy

Another large-scale rock festival in Istanbul, Barışarock, positions itself as the alternative counter-festival to Rock'n Coke, stating that being used as a tool of advertisement for a global company (Coca Cola) is against the nature of rock music. The festival is organized with free entrance since 2003, the same year Rock'n Coke initiated.