Festival opener – Frequency: Doctors with lame hips, weird nostalgia

The storm cell before the start of the festival passed the core area of ​​the Frequency on Wednesday, so that the campsites were dry at the official start of the festival and the atmosphere was as hot as the temperatures. More than 32 degrees accompanied the fans around 2.20 p.m. on Thursday when Canadian indie musician Ekkstacy opened the festival. For an audience that was still manageable, he sang with a three-piece band and a convex Hendricks gin bottle in hand about some dark themes from his past. With songs like “I Gave You Everything”, “Wish I Was Dead” or “I Walk This Earth By Myself” he fights inner demons in cheerful submission songs with a post-punk touch. The chaos on stage that he loved so much did not materialize – probably also due to the still early temperatures.

Tour ends in St. Pölten
“At a concert in Poland I headbanged so hard that I hit my nose on my knee and broke it,” he told the “Krone” in advance in an interview, “people celebrated it and then liked us all the more. We would probably have to ruin every show because people like it.” A year ago he played in Das Werk in Vienna “Before my performance, two people had sex in the toilet. I’ve never seen that before either. Let someone else say that Berlin is cooler than Vienna.” Ekkstacy almost ended up there and now has his home in New York. “I was too far away from my family and my parents, that didn’t do me any good.” Immediately after Frequency’s performance, we moved on to London. “The Frequency is the last show of my tour. It’s a shame we had to get on stage so early.”

The opening band on the Green Stage was well chosen. The emerging British pop rockers of Only The Poets thrilled quite a fan base with hits like “Jump!”, “Even Hell” or “Waking In The Dark”. They are already well known in Austria, not only supporting Louis Tomlinson, but also headlining the packed Simm City last April. “The arenas are getting bigger and bigger, we can hardly believe it,” said frontman Tommy Longhurst gleefully in the “Krone” talk, “of course we have goals and plans, but the way things are going, it’s great.” of the Frequency show gets her excited. “If we didn’t have to fly to Belgium, we’d be interested in the Imagine Dragons, Limp Bizkit or even BBNO$ – a great lineup.”

Punk rock with Rainhard Fendrich
At the same time, punk rock fans enjoyed KennyHoopla on the Space Stage. The young American introduced himself to the Austrians at Nova Rock last year, and has since recorded an entire EP with his father’s mentor and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker. But he wasn’t that motivated given the heat and the very sparse audience. Started later, finished earlier – plus a three-minute artistic break between the main set and the only encore. Actually a no-go at a festival. In the set he alternated – wearing a white Black Flag shirt – between his older songs, which were more based on post-punk and new wave, and the pop-punk of the modern era. Then Canada’s BBNO$ really turned things around with a mix of rap and pop – including “I Am From Austria” by Rainhard Fendrich. Pretty weird.

In addition to the great party atmosphere, the musical performance lingered a bit. The first real highlight of the day came later in the day in the form of Tom Gregory. The Brit from Blackpool is doing better on our continent than in his home country and runs the format of radio stations up and down. “Rather Be You”, “Fingertips”, “Forget Somebody” or the new single “Never Look Back” – each song had its catchy moments and made the fans cheer. Gregory led his fans all in black and needed them and himself to sweat. His girlfriend Ana, known from “Germany’s Next Top Model”, did not leave his side on stage. “Under these circumstances I prefer to perform,” he revealed to the “Krone” after the performance, “high temperatures, good mood. Just the way I like it.”

Battle of the Turntables
Immediately afterwards, a thunderclap of beats broke loose on both major stages. Difficult decision where to go. Robin Schulz let his hair down on the Space Stage and gathered the crowd for the first time that day. People reached to the center of the main area and let the pulsating sounds get them going. On the Green Stage, on the other hand, the techno stars of the hour hammered: Meduza. The Milanese trio was lifted into the sky almost overnight in 2019 with the song “Piece Of Your Heart” and has achieved cult status with remixes by Ed Sheeran, Dermot Kennedy and John Legend. However, the turntables made tape thirds glow, all by Simone Gianni alone. “The other two perform in Mallorca, I flew in by helicopter,” he told us in an interview. One project, two rates. Not a bad deal.

The Red Bull Stage in the VAZ St. Pölten was also played according to tradition and showed impressively what the Austrian scene has to offer in the afternoon. Sadi, Ness and Rian all delivered great performances, until Dilla from Berlin showed an enthusiastic audience how to set the mood in the cabin these days: Her eclectic mix of techno, pop, rap and funk quotes was incredibly refreshing, light- feet and pleasantly different. The VAZ also had surprisingly pleasant temperatures and provided some shade, even though the 30 degrees were not exceeded and the first day of the festival was still pleasant.

Nostalgia review
Indestructible nu-metal forge Limp Bizkit conveyed a very rare sense of nostalgia to the Space Stage. No matter how many times Fred Durst and Co. pay their respects to our festivals, the spaces fill up to the back. The frontman, who turns 53 on Sunday, took to the stage wearing Nike sneakers, swimming trunks, an oversized ice hockey jersey, a backwards cap and a lavish gold chain, conveying the feeling of a Santa Claus on crack. He kept asking if people wanted to party like they did in 1999, and those who weren’t born that year said yes and started little moshpits. Besides millennial treasures like “Rollin'” or “My Generation,” Durst spent a lot of time playing the fairytale uncle and flirting with colleagues DJ Lethal and Wes Borland.

From the flopped 2021 comeback album, Bizkit only delivered the self-ironic “Dad Vibes”, otherwise they relied entirely on their classics from days gone by, which have not only aged moderately well in terms of content. Borland, befitting his status in ghost train makeup, did his best as always, but the time-tested quality offensive didn’t match Durst’s spindly voice and chubby demeanor. Durst himself went on and on about “breasts” and “UFOs”, smoking marijuana in a country “where it is illegal”, promoting cocaine use and tying the Nine Inch Nails into his set. In the end the question arose: was that brilliant self-mockery or yet another dismantling of a band that has long since fallen out of the cracks? Probably both and that’s also a small sensation.

A safe bank
The two biggest acts of the opening day could already be seen this year. Rap top star Macklemore stood in the sold-out Wiener Stadthalle in April and delighted with a colorful and fiery show. He didn’t have his usual sidekick Eric Nally with him at Frequency, but even without him he convinced with a lot of playfulness and a display of Frequency love. Its fourth FRQ appearance in nine years (another achievement) was not much different from the last rendezvous, but when the quality is always in the upper segment, you don’t need major innovations. Macklemore and Lewis classics like “Thrift Shop” or “Dance Off” have been working like a charm for a long time and “Can’t Hold Us” was singing the throats hundreds of feet away. Definitely a highlight of the evening.

After a short conversion and DJ bridging phase, it was time for the festival’s first major headliner: the doctors. Just under two months after Nova Rock, they are now back at the second largest festival. Creative books look different, but the popularity proves them right. Although the audience among doctors thinned significantly. As with Nova Rock, the band struggled with technical issues early on and stumbled through the first few songs. As the concert progressed, Bela B, Farin Urlaub and Rod Gonzalez found their feet a little better, but there was still no trace of the fire of the past. Bad jokes, a forced atmosphere on stage and too much cabaret instead of music. Like when a group of old men want to amuse today’s youth with yesterday’s jokes.

They may be good at surprises (eg choosing the “Schundersong” for the opening and not the programmatic “Westerland”), but in more than two hours of playing time the band rarely managed to inspire the audience. More and more walked towards the campsite, even in the front part the music cabaret fire of the doctors seemed to simmer at a low ebb. With the exception of a few hits, the “best band in the world” delivered, strictly speaking, a set for the second time in a row that did not necessarily meet the requirements one should set for itself with this reputation. A maximum mediocre performance. On the Green Stage, DJ Brennen Heart was spinning at full speed. The hardstyle king is a welcome guest in Austria. “You just know how to do it,” he explained late at night in the “Krone” talk, “Austria knows how to get a party going.”

Today it continues cheerfully – again with a full room. Imagine Dragons, Central Cee or the Electric Callboys, among others, provide a good atmosphere.