Oktoberfest Toned Down
 

USA Today today reports that Munich's City Council has voted have to tone down the annual beer-guzzling fest on several fronts:
...Oompah bands in the 14 gargantuan beer tents have been ordered to play slower, 'more folksy' music and not exceed 85 decibels before 6pm - seems it's thought folks are getting too fired up by fast rhythyms of pop songs ... 'the tents shouldn't be discos, they should remain Bavarian beer tents' - according to festival spokesperson
part of the reason is to combat aggression and violence that has been rising at recent Oktoberfests - "you can influence the mood with music" the festival wag added and "we've been getting increased aggression and drunkeness"
arrests at the fest rose 15% last year, with nearly 700 brawls according to a Munchen police official
one other suggestion - replacing the traditional heavy glass mugs with plastic ones was rejected as too tampering with tradition - though heaving glass mugs from upper seats has been a problem in the past

Another kind of heaving is a problem, too.

Yes, the vomit pits in the WCs - one of the most revolting aspects of Oktoberfest!

Most revolting are the people on the street and at the subway station.
Oktoberfest hasn't even started. 5 youngsters wearing baseball caps walking barefeet at the platform. A 5 liter keg of Löwenbräu under ones arm. Shoutig "Where Oktoberfest??". If those ideots trash any of my property this year, I am really going to fight back.

Oktoberfest figures:
In 2004 5.9 million folks gulped 1.6 million gallons of beer from six Munich breweries - 900,000 were foreigners.
Funny description of Americans in an Oktoberfest guide: "A species mostly spotted moving around in packs and wearing shorts, baseball caps and Hawaiian shirts."
...tents hold up to 10,000 people!

We just got back from Munich, having arrived there by train into the "thick" of the last weekend of Oktoberfest. Loud groups of people were swaying their way through the train station and subways, but once out of them, we didn't encounter any wild behavior. Well, almost. At our nice hotel, there was vomit on the steps and in the elevators, much to the proprietor's dismay and disgust.

We went to the Oktoberfest grounds Sunday morning at 10:30. At that time of the morning, the tents were packed . The mood was pretty mellow though, that early.
It was pouring rain, but didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the beer drinkers!

Even without tickets, we jumped into a line for one of the tents and were given a table for an hour or so--just enough to enjoy the famous rotisserie chicken, cucumber salad and spiral cut radishes along with the beer.

I think if you go early and then LEAVE, you can sample some of the spirit of Oktoberfest without experiencing the rough stuff.