The tenth anniversary is behind us, and the words have been arriving ever since, from London and Dublin, from the Ruhr, and from the crowd itself. One phrase keeps coming back, so we have borrowed it for the title. Here is what people wrote about Static Roots 2026, with our thanks to every one of them, and a link to read each piece in full.
Nick West
Nick West made his fourth trip from London and gave the weekend the full treatment, act by act from the Welcome Night in Essen to the Vandoliers closing down the hall, and the courtyard football afterwards. He ends it, generously, with the line that has quietly become the festival's own.
"An actual slice of heaven."
Declan Culliton
Declan wrote and photographed the weekend for Ireland's Lonesome Highway, setting Static Roots in the company of Europe's best and signing off with a wish we quietly share, that word does not spread too far too fast.
"One of the premier boutique roots festivals in Europe."
Ullrich Maurer
Ullrich went all in, two full parts under the banner Shivers and Soul, following every act across the Welcome Night, Friday and Saturday. His verdict on the tenth was as short as it was generous.
„Über jedwede Kritik erhaben."beyond any criticism
Werner Nauert
Werner survived an eight-hour Deutsche Bahn odyssey to reach Oberhausen, and the moment he walked through the gate the day turned into something else entirely.
„Ein Kurzurlaub für die Seele."a little holiday for the soul
From the audience
And it was not only the writers with press passes. Two friends who paid their own way, back for the second year, wrote the weekend up on their travel blog and reached for the warmest words of all.
„Ein liebevolles Festival."a loving festival
The weekend travelled on the airwaves too, on the Blue Rose Radio Show with Edgar Heckmann, on Tell The Band To Go Home with Jeff Robson, and on Mike Ritchie on Sunday on Celtic Music Radio. We gathered those three in a post of their own. Listen here.
One number we hold close. This year the festival merchandise stall raised 4,000 euros for Médecins Sans Frontières, every cent passed straight on, which brings the total since 2016 to 31,795 euros. The artists, as always, keep their own merchandise in full.
And a word from me, to close. Ten years in, I still do not quite have the language for what happens in that hall. What I do know is that none of it belongs to me. It belongs to the crew who hold the whole weekend together, quietly and out of sight. It belongs to the artists who give everything and then stay at the side to watch each other. And it belongs to the people who travel from all over and refuse to leave until the last song in the courtyard. When a writer or an artist calls this an actual slice of heaven, they are describing all of you. Thank you, with my whole heart. See you at the eleventh.