Docklands Festival in Münster, which has been an annual highlight for thousands of house and techno fans since 2010, is firmly established as one of North Rhine-Westphalia’s largest and hotly anticipated festivals. It attracts 15,000 visitors from over 20 countries and hosts around 100 artists every summer.

On the back of another hugely successful gathering in 2024, festival founder Thomas Pieper announced a surprise indoor winter DJ event to held at Halle Münsterland and called on AE Rental to supply the Funktion-One sound.

Sitting adjacent to Docklands’ Hawerkamp site, the iconic venue was built in 1926 and, over the years, has hosted the likes of The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. With its opulent hanging chandeliers and unique curved wooden barrelled roof arching 16m above the floor, the 1,800m² hall was a striking venue to host German DJ Boris Brejcha and his elaborate Carnival of Venice on-stage persona. Playing his only gig of the year in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, the creator of the high-tech minimal genre was also celebrating almost 10 years of his Fckng Serious record label alongside labelmates Ann Clue and Deniz Bul.

Catering to a wide range of events, from intimate wedding venues to large open-air festivals like Docklands, AE Rental has been designing tailor made audio solutions since 2004. The company has a strong relationship with Pieper and the Dockland’s team, having supported its four open-air stages with Funktion-One equipment for many years.

“We've been using Funktion-One for over 15 years, building a strong customer base in the electronic music scene,” says Peer Hölscher, owner of AE Rental. “We started with a smaller rig - four Res 4 and six F218 - and expanded our inventory in 2019 with the addition of a number of Res 5T and F121 units just before the pandemic. Our bigger rigs have been used at Docklands Festival as well as at Halle Münsterland.”

In fact, those bigger rigs are as much a part of the Docklands experience as the artists on stage. In the build up to the event, Docklands’ social media channels and pre-publicity invited visitors to “…feel the bass and the thunderous power of Funktion One’s top-tier sound system. The sound at Münsterland Halle is about to reach epic proportions!”

“What I love about Funktion-One is how you can truly feel the sound; it delivers far more impact than other systems,” says Hölscher. “At the Halle Münsterland we had nine Res 5T enclosures per side, arranged in a three wide, three high configuration. Below them, there were two Res 4T alongside a single Res 18. At the centre, an AX88 loudspeaker was used as a fill, with two additional AX88s placed further back in the hall as delays.

“We chose the Res 5 because it was already part of our inventory, but what we really appreciate is the system's ability to precisely direct sound where it’s needed. The client specifically wanted the distinctive look of Funktion-One horns!”

AE Rental deployed 32 F121 bass loudspeakers, while the DJ monitor setup consisted of two Evo 2s stacked on top of two F118s.

“The Evo 2 is outstanding in detail reproduction and clarity,” says Hölscher. “For the artists it’s like listening through high-quality headphones. Meanwhile, we used four black Res 2SH units in the VIP area behind the DJ, ensuring they remained discreet and unobtrusive.”

Docklands Festival takes place on Saturday 31st May 2025.