Erstellt am: 9. 7. 2011 - 15:12 Uhr
Summerbreak 2011: The concept that ate the Festival
It seemed fairly straight-forward. Go to the festival, interview some people, see some bands, write a web story. Oh, and have fun. The line-up was typically diverse and interesting (as usual) and the outdoor venue, the AEC-Maindeck, was a pleasant location by the Stadtwerkstatt.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
On the other hand: I was coming here relatively fresh from the Poolbar, my new favourite Austrian festival for reasons of atmosphere, scenery AND music. What this meant was that my expectations had been left unreasonably high. Let's face it, a relatively small one-day music festival in Linz will have a difficult time competing with the six week funkiness behemoth going on in Feldkirch. The odds were stacked against the Summerbreak from the get-go. And yet, there was one wildcard element at this festival which I was absolutely not prepared for, and it really had little to do with the festival itself. But, first things first…
The Actual Festival
* - Fortunately (as I found out after writing this article), I hadn't missed them, merely got them confused with the Beth Edges.
The festival started at just after three p.m., with performances from Da Staummtisch, I Eat Pancakes, The Beth Edges, and Ragtab. I was still on the train at that point, and especially regretted missing Bilderbuch.* By the time I arrived just after six p.m., Bilderbuch were on-stage doing a very, very long soundcheck. The crowd was already pretty large, both in the festival area, and outside on the grass at a nearby park.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
I had been looking forward to see their set, but I'm afraid Bilderbuch was eventually a bit too much the over-sexualized boys with guitars indie-pop-concept, at least for my taste. To be fair to them, the crowd liked them so much that there was even briefly what appeared to be a very small mosh pit near the front of the stage. Didn't do it for me, but hey, that's music right? Subjective as a mofo.
Now let's cast our eyes over the crowd: I discovered very early on that nearly everyone around me was a teenager - old for the crowd might have been 20. This made me feel very old and crunchy, Grandpa Blizzl in the flesh. Not saying I was the only person in their mid-to-late twenties, but we were Definitely outnumbered by the 16-18 year olds.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Surprising who? This festival coincides with - um - summer break (hence the name, I guess), meaning that the entire student population is suddenly released from the pressure of studying and everything that goes along with it. Naturally everyone wants to celebrate, and get down and FunkAY.
Again, getting ahead of myself. Sorry.
Ahem. The Actual Festival
Next up was Trouble Over Tokyo. I've been interested in this solo electronic artist for years, because I've enjoyed his stereo recordings a lot, and I also know that Duncan Larkin really supported him in the day. I'd heard some interviews with him on the morning show years ago, so I had a real context to be looking forward to his set.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
I must admit, it wasn't much of a live show, although the electronics were pretty solid. I was somehow reminded a bit of Nero's Day At Disneyland (weird, I know) because of the way Toph juggles laptop duties and singing. One difference is, that Toph also has a live drummer, and another is that Trouble Over Tokyo is light years away from breakcore.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Still, the comparison was drawn, at least in my mind, and now perhaps in yours as well. Oh yeah.
And then we have the headliners. Delinquent Habits, who I have been really really looking forward to. Reminding me of a less angry Jedi Mind Tricks, this US Hiphop four-piece got on-stage with flair and panache, and a professional showmanship befitting their status as the night's headliners. They were exactly like their music video minus the desert landscapes and the appalling blue screen. I had a fantastic time dancing, and their sampled horn section rocked my little world in so many ways.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
There was one strange thing though: I swear, from the volume I had the feeling that I was listening to a record of them - even though I could look and see them rapping and getting all hyphy up on-stage. I'm no sound technician, but it just seemed like their voices weren't getting properly amplified or so. But that's a relatively small quibble, if you could even call it that. It was just kinda weird.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
The Concept Beyond the Festival.
The festival was drawing to a close around 10.30 p.m., and I said to myself, well but it's summer break, and it's too damn early to go to bed. So I went with a friend to check out the scene in Linz on Friday night - and it wasn't just any Friday night either. Because it was Summer break, it was also The Night of the Living Educated (sorry).
In short, it was a different scene downtown.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Or at least that's what some locals were telling me in the Aps pub. Whether it was because everyone was really getting out of school and finished with their last exams right then and there, or if indeed the festival had simply inspired all the student population to party like it was 19,999 AD, I will never know, but the downtown area was decidedly altered.
Even as the actual Summerbreak festival winded down, the party people were winding up - the festival was merely a launchpad for a nefarious evening of partAY.
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
We met a local who told us that there was another scene in Linz, even tonight, but that we would have to go farther afield. It wasn't going to be downtown. There was a different Summer Break taking place, or to put it another way...
Summer Breakfast 2011
Because it's a fast from the summer break, that is. Because like, when you fast, then you're not eating. And the summer break would be the meal in this case, see. What makes this an especially potent pun is its sophistication as a double entendre, because it's not only a meal we are fasting from, it's also breakfast. So we're also eating it, see. And this even though it's just a festival. Oh no he didn't!
Rosetta Lake Mills / Johnny Bliss 2011
Our tour guide told us he would be taking us to a location "out of town" - which turned out to be about ten minutes walk from the center, I heart small cities. That was the Kapu, the seedy underbelly of our festival experience.
There was hard ragga with a live MC and dancehall, and a lot of skaters and punk rockers, a grittier and yet very friendly set of people. We were all marooned together in this grungy place. It was great, and I have a hunch it was the way it was as a direct result of the Summerbreak euphoria. Maybe.