The audience favourite rides the tram. At the Open-Air-Gala 2026, Sunshine Brass aus Suhl received the »Publikumsliebling des Festivals« award. For the first of two Dixietram rides on Friday, the band meets its guests where it has long been part of the regular line-up: right in the carriage, with instruments, vocals and very little distance from the audience.

For this encounter, the tram is more than an unusual performance venue. It brings the six musicians and their guests together in one shared concert space. Trumpet and flugelhorn, clarinet and saxophones, trombone, banjo, sousaphone and drums all come along. The sousaphone lays down the bass, the banjo carries the pulse, and the horns play the melodies. All six musicians also sing. So the band is represented not only by its instruments, but also by its voices.

Sunshine Brass was founded in 2001 by trumpeter Sven Viertel. The group has been coming to the festival in Dresden since 2006. Their role as the regular band on the Dixietram connects their own festival history with this special format: the musicians are not up front on a stage, but where the passengers are seated. Between the pieces, Ekkehart »Ekki« Garten takes the floor. As presenter and conductor, he talks about jazz, its development and the festival. Anecdotes and background stories complement the music without interrupting it: the pauses between pieces belong to the stories. This makes the jazz tour a two-voice experience – that of the band and that of the presenter, who approaches the same subject in his own way.

There are snacks and drinks during the stopover. After that, it is not the audience that changes seats, but Sunshine Brass. The band moves to another carriage so that all passengers can experience the musicians up close. All guests have assigned seats; nevertheless, the distance to the band does not remain the same. So on this trip, being named an audience favorite comes with a very practical kind of closeness to the audience.