(; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. It consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs. The band has released 14 studio albums. From May to August, as well as November and December in the same year, they went on two concert tours throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Their concerts at the Festhalle Frankfurt and the Waldbühne Berlin were used for a live album and concert film called Die Nacht der Dämonen ("Night of the Demons"), which was released in 2013.
In October 2020, die Ärzte released their first studio album in 8 years, Hell ("bright"). The tour that was meant to follow the album was first postponed into 2021 before being completely cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, they played a further tour, announced only a week before it started (and sold out within minutes), and announced two further concerts at Tempelhofer Feld for 2024.
Relationship with Die Toten Hosen
Throughout their career, Die Ärzte have often been compared to fellow German punk band Die Toten Hosen; a comparison that has often been stylized as a rivalry by the media despite both bands never having an official feud. The comparisons are mostly drawn because of a similar origin as both bands were pioneers of the German punk rock scene and started around the same time in the early 1980s, in both cases evolving from earlier locally famous punk bands (Die Ärzte from Soilent Grün and Die Toten Hosen from ZK). Furthermore, both bands are heavily linked to their cities of origin: Die Ärzte from Berlin and Die Toten Hosen from Düsseldorf. While Die Ärzte are generally known for their more humorous approach to music, Die Toten Hosen also have a couple of humorous songs, mostly about alcohol. Both bands enjoyed a similar career trajectory and success (with the most notable difference being the 5-year hiatus of Die Ärzte). Due to all of these similarities, multiple media outlets in Germany tried to establish a Beatles/Stones-style rivalry between both bands. While both bands admit to a certain level of competition and rivalry between them in the past, including a physical altercations in the early 80s, both bands are amicable towards each other today, if not poking fun at said "rivalry".
Adopting aliases Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen have played small club shows together in the past. In 2012 Die Toten Hosen covered Die Ärzte's Schrei nach Liebe on the bonus disc for their album Ballast der Republik. The same year, they covered the song while headlining Germany's biggest rock festival Rock am Ring and have continued playing the songs live on multiple occasions. In the music video for die Ärzte's "Noise" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGn4OyNO4Q4], as Bela B, Die Toten Hosen drummer Vom Ritchie makes an appearance playing drums with a Toten Hosen banner behind him, before being chased out by the band.
In June 2022 Die Ärzte appeared at one of the 40th anniversary concerts Die Toten Hosen gave in Düsseldorf. They first performed two Die Toten Hosen songs on their own, before being joined by Die Toten Hosen for Schrei nach Liebe and Blitzkrieg Bop.