Prime Minister Boris Rhein could hardly have been better prepared for the opening of the Frankfurt Oktoberfest: On Wednesday morning he finally met Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder, who is routinely used to tapping beer barrels.
Correspondingly self-confident, Rhein approached his premiere on the barrel, which fell to him above all because of the dwindling affection of the Frankfurters for their mayor.
A single hit was actually enough for him to get the beer flowing.
"I said to Markus Söder: If you want to experience a real Oktoberfest, if you want to experience a real atmosphere, if you want to see beautiful traditional costumes, then come to Frankfurt.
Then you'll get a real beer," Rhein said afterwards.
Daniel Meuren
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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At least he was sure of the applause of the 2000 visitors at the early sold-out start at the beginning of September for a total of 22 events up to October 3rd.
They didn't even let the Eintracht defeat in the neighboring stadium dampen the mood and were already loud when Hassan Annouri performed with his Frankfurt anthem "Wir sind alles Frankfurter ein".
At the latest when the pop singer Mickie Krause, who entered the marquee a little late after attending the Champions League game, grabbed the microphone, the visitors were already in the best beer tent atmosphere and the benches were used for dancing at dizzy heights.
Krause is one of the most popular marquee heroes - and that also applies to the mother of all Oktoberfests in Söders Bavaria.