Martin wrote:

I read in the local paper that beer sales at the Oktoberfest were down
again this year

Here's some numbers for you:

year beer sold (liters/mass)
-------------------------------
1950 1501200
1960 2875100
1970 3998500
1980 3843800
1981 4243400
1982 4332300
1983 4576000
1984 4971300
1985 5454100
1986 5380700
1987 5281700
1988 5095100
1989 5124100
1990 5430000
1991 5468600
1992 4888800
1993 5193300
1994 5210800
1995 5016200
1996 5262200
1997 5589100
1998 5478200
1999 6005400
2000 6459100
2001 4869800
2002 5761400
2003 6229400
2004 6116300
2005 6100000 (estimated Saturday evening)

BTW: The Oktoberfest had most visitors (better: visits) ever in 1985
with about 7.1 millon.

something to do with charging Euro7 for a half filled/empty litre
glass of beer.

That would be legitimate. However, I am afraid it has to do more with
the bad weather in the second half of the event. People do not like to
sit in the "gardens" when it's raining.

Worse still on German TV I saw that the Spaten tent had a prat playing
an electric guitar instead of a real Bavarian brass band.

That's not new either. If you like brass, try
http://www.globalkryner.at/.

Jens