Erstellt am: 19. 7. 2011 - 10:21 Uhr
So Intense: Wetterleuchten 2011
The Wetterleuchten festival ran from the 16th-17th of July, at the Seegrube @ Hungerburg. Mehr infos at: www.wetterleuchten.at
This time last year, my experience of the Wetterleuchten electronic music festival ended in a tremendous thunderstorm which destroyed and blew away our tent in the middle of the night. Soaked and sans dry clothing, we bundled into the last cable car at 3 a.m. with a crowd of other unlucky travellers, and returned humbled to Innsbruck, one day early.
Johnny Bliss, 2010
It was such a blast. I could hardly wait for the next year's program.
Lately, I'd been informed by organizers that the weather was planning to be a bit nicer this year. Even Wetter.orf.at seemed to suggest the same, with only the small possibility of a quick thunderstorm. All the same, I decided to give the Wetterleuchten Sunny Edition a chance to rock me socks off.
I even had a secret plan of action: rather than taking the Seilbahn up to the Seegrube from Innsbruck's outer limits, we would hike, a group of us, the gruelling 2-3 hours it would take to reach the festival Gelände.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Yes, we would work for our music.
The First Hour.
Totally chilled out, it was. Although the hills were quite steep, I live in freaking Vienna Hütteldorf, man, you can't tell me about hills. Ten minutes walk from my house and you're already at the Wienerwald, and then it's kinda like being in the mountains of Tirol, just on a smaller scale.
Perhaps the most difficult part at this stage was just how goddamn sunny it was. Whenever we weren't shaded by the trees, the sun beat down on us like we were its drums, and the slowly-increasing wind its lead singer.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Every half hour or so, we would turn back and survey an increasingly panoramic view of Innsbruck proper, looming below us. At some stage I was out of water and slightly dehydrated. We did find one of those Alpen water taps you have on the mountains, but I stupidly didn't have my own water bottle to fill, so I was quickly thirsty again.
The Second Hour.
At one point we crested a hill and beheld an exceptional view of the surrounding peaks and valleys, and some very dark clouds which were trying to sneak past the sun. There had been some rumbling in the distance and I could see that Gewitter was on its way.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The steep mountain path was also beginning to take its toll on me. Maybe all of these hours of sitting in front of my computer over the last few years have had an effect on my fitness after all, or perhaps I was just thirsty, but either way each step forward was becoming ever more of a trial, and I was increasingly falling behind the rest of my group of sporty Tirolians.
When the weather did eventually arrive, it was welcome as hell. By the time I felt the first drops of rain coming down, my clothes were anyway soaked through with sweat. As the strength of the storm increased - it would have been about six or seven o'clock - it was psychosomatically pleasing for my dehydrated soul. Or whatever.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The Third Hour.
Last time I'd seen some members of my group was ages ago. By now electronic music was clearly audible, and I think some of my Tirolian brethren were impatient to stop walking and start dancing. For my part, it was enough for me to put one leg in front of the other. More and more often I had to stop and just gasp for air, feeling like an old man, and wondering if I'm really out of shape now or what.
The rain stopped but the rumbling of thunder became louder, and more echo-ey. One friend stayed back with me quite a bit, whether just to make sure I was OK or because he himself was also exhausted, I didn't know.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
But toward the end, I was going so slowly that even my remaining friend went on ahead. Heavy rain was approaching, that much was visible, but I simply couldn't make myself go faster - I was well and truly winded. How I was going to force this wasted old body to dance later was a mystery.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The Final Hundred Metres.
For most of the hike, we were completely alone. By now I was even going so slowly that healthier people would occasionally pass me, but toward the end of the path I began to discover the pathetic forms of other winded travellers strewn about the path like so much wreckage, gasping on their backpacks as if we were 2000 meters higher than we actually were.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
I might have ordinarily joined them off to the side of the dirt road, but we were all keenly aware of the cold front moving in and the fact that what had started as a light drizzle was rapidly turning into heavy rain.
As if this were an exceptionally-rainy zombie film, the corpses on the ground began to reanimate, and soon the horde of us were staggering the last fifty meters to the main music tent.
I wasn't ready for music - I passed them all and made a beeline to the Alpenlounge Seegrube, whereupon I ate an apple strudel and a hot soup, and drank three Almdudlers, one hot chocolate and a coffee.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
"What does this all mean?"
Halfway through my third Almdudler, the mountains decided to reward me for my efforts. The rain died down and was replaced by an incredible double rainbow all across the sky. It was so intense, bright, and vivid. Toward the end it was even starting to look like a triple rainbow.
I'd never seen such a bright and luminous rainbow, like ever. We were all taking photos, nobody could fuckin' believe it. But that is this festival for you - anything can happen, and frequently does.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Music also happens.
This was about eight o'clock, and after a lengthy soundcheck, the first band was just starting. I'd missed a fair bit of their set whilst gazing at the double rainbow and eating strudel, but once I was sufficiently recovered, I went to take a look. The band was the Blind Idiot Gods, and to my ears played a mixture between jam band and industrial, with a touch of Attwenger thrown in. Maybe that's just my ears, but either way they provided a lively start to the evening.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
I found a comfy place next to a friend on this one totally awesome couch facing the stage, and pretty much had no plan to ever get up again. There was some pretty decent DJing going on, but the next thing I really noticed was Disasteradio (NZ), a funky dude with some funky electro beats and some really funky dancing. Funkiness to the power of three. I didn't really want to dance, my legs ached too much, but it was impossible not to, and like a marionette, I was pretty quickly on some fancy footwork.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
I managed to sneak onto my couch again... and more music happened in the form of DJs and stuff, but the next thing I actually noticed was an hour or two later: Ogris Debris feat. Bartellow, who were just a couple guys with laptops and mics... The funny thing is I know some of their songs surprisingly well, but I didn't realize just how much of their catalogue had snuck into my subconscious, not until I was gyrating those hips and getting hyphy to songs like Miezekatze.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
By now my hips, legs and feet were getting used to the idea that they were being punished for something, and meekly accepted nearly every dance move I thrust at them (no pun intended). Despite everything, it turned into a real dance evening for me, one of those rare occasions where I'm really just shaking that thang like it's 1989 and the Berlin Wall just came down.
By the time Bomb the Bass took over the decks, my place on the couch was forgotten, and in fact occupied by another exhausted former hiker.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The only unfortunate thing here, is I am nevertheless a mere mortal and eventually do get tired no matter how funky the beats are, no matter how crunchy the percussion, no matter how great the crowd is, eventually my body does have the final word. BtB was able to keep me going strong up till a certain point, but by the time Turbodeli- who I'd really, really wanted to see- started their set at like 4 a.m. I was already comfortably resting in my tent, thankfully spared from the weather and sheep gods this year.
And that's a shame, ja. But one good thing about sleeping in my tent is waking up in the morning.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Wetterleuchten 2011: Day Two
I'm not going to say much about the second day of Wetterleuchten because there isn't really much to say. Mainly it consists of tired and hungover people mingling with random hikers and the like, eating and drinking and chilling while DJs play until the early evening.
It is as simple as that, almost, except for one thing: the very reason I even got up in the morning was that I just couldn't sleep, not while there was an amazing band playing.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
The BPM Xperience Part 3 were on just after 10 in the morning. Real cool band sound, only a bit weird at that particular hour. But actually they were quite suitable over breakfast- after such a party night any good DJ would go to waste without something tangible to bring us back down to earth; we needed something live and organic - in short, an ambient jam band.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Speaking of getting brought back down to earth, while some of my hardcore hiking friends were leaving as early as 9:30 in the morning, I must confess to having been a bit more softcore than that. Eventually I left in the mid-afternoon, on the Seilbahn. The sound of bass thumping echoed behind me as I returned to the city.
Listen to actual voices of people at the festival here: