Munich's 189th Oktoberfest opened this weekend, and the celebrity guest list read less like a Bavarian folk festival and more like a Vanity Fair after-party.
Hollywood actors, pop stars, and at least one reality TV dynasty touched down in Germany for the first weekend of the world's most famous beer festival, which runs through October 6.
Leading the pack was a certain A-list couple who arrived by private helicopter and were photographed in matching dirndl and lederhosen inside the Schützenfestzelt tent.
Sources close to the group told German tabloid *Bild* that the pair reserved a VIP balcony table reportedly costing upward of $12,000 — before anyone even ordered a drink.
A single mass (that's one liter) of beer now runs between €13.60 and €15.30, roughly $15 to $17 depending on the tent.
That's up about 3.9% from last year, continuing a steady climb that has festival regulars grumbling into their steins.
But the celebrity crowd doesn't seem bothered.
Several American musicians were spotted doing the traditional "Ein Prosit" toast with arms linked, and one viral clip shows a Grammy-winning singer attempting — and failing — to carry six steins at once while a security guard trails behind her.
This year's dirndl trend leans toward bold jewel tones and dramatic aprons, while the men's lederhosen are getting shorter, per Munich outfitters who told local press that American buyers now make up their fastest-growing customer base.
One boutique reported selling out of a $400 embroidered vest within 48 hours of a certain actor wearing something similar.
Not everyone is thrilled about the influx.
Longtime attendees have taken to social media to complain that the tents feel more like a Hollywood premiere than a harvest celebration, with bottle service-style table minimums and photographers circling the VIP sections.
A widely shared post on X put it bluntly: "Oktoberfest is now Coachella with better beer." Organizers, for their part, are leaning into the attention.
Munich's tourism board reported a spike in international bookings this month, and festival spokespeople noted that reservations for the first weekend sold out faster than any year on record.
Roughly six million visitors are expected before the tents close next month.
There's also a quiet security story underneath the glamour.
Police reported a smooth opening weekend with fewer incidents than 2023, crediting expanded bag checks and a larger plainclothes presence.
Officials have been tight-lipped about which celebrities received private escorts, though at least one star was photographed being ushered through a back entrance as fans chanted his name.
For all the A-list noise, the festival's stubborn magic still shows up in the small stuff: a grandmother teaching her grandson to hold a stein, a brass band drowning out a phone call, a stranger sliding a pretzel across a table.
Our take: Oktoberfest has always been a spectacle, and the celebrity invasion is just the latest layer on a 200-year-old party that has survived wars, inflation, and pandemics.
If the stars want to pay $17 a liter to sing along to "Country Roads" with 6,000 strangers, honestly, let them.
Final Thoughts
The real winners are the dirndl shops and the guys selling gingerbread hearts at the gate.