The festival started with a lot of German rap on Thursday and the two crew members of the Hamburg hip-hoppers 187 Strassenbande LX and Maxwell also offered this on Saturday afternoon on the Green Stage. The Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi and the Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies provided stylistic contrasts on the main stage.
The somewhat heavier acts before the pandemic break might have been missing on the two main stages in 2022, because in 2019 there was still the Prophets of Rage, the temporary US supergroup made up of members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill , or 2018 the US punk rock veterans Sum 41. But for the organizer of the FM4 Frequency, his festival has not taken a German-rap turn: “This year we had Fever 333, Palaye Royale and I’ll say that Cypress Hill in this world are in there too, for my sake,” Harry Jenner named some representatives of the harder music genres. However, he hears this question all the time, but “I can’t really understand it,” he said in an interview with APA.
In any case, guitars and drums were in action again on the main stage on Saturday evening, and Bilderbuch operated them. The Upper Austrians started with a psychedelic booming background noise, frontman Maurice Ernst and his comrades-in-arms began their set dressed in blue and white striped robes, a stage decorated with huge green and white cloths completed the overall setting. “We’ve waited two years for this performance, we’ve waited two years to be allowed to go overboard again,” said Ernst, hedonistically motivated. While the first song “I call you” was from the “Magic Life” album released in 2017, there was also plenty of material from the love-indulging new work “Gelb ist das Feld” mixed with older songs during the gig like the “spliff”.
All in all, Bilderbuch started with a very balanced set, a rocking guitar solo was followed by a soulful groove with falsetto vocals, which Ernst now performed without his robes. Then the tempo picked up again, because it was called “Welcome to the Jungle – a sparkling funk song that was visually accompanied by laser flashes. It was the band’s third appearance on the Frequency main stage and perhaps their best – at least it was certainly their most uncompromising.
Yung Hurn also had his third guest appearance in St. Pölten on Saturday. “Was anyone in the hall five years ago? I still don’t quite get it,” he asked the audience in front of the Green Stage. Basically, the ingredients of his performance haven’t changed much since then, because he was successful again with his simple and ingenious approach to hip-hop, which was later to be garnished with a touch of techno.
In any case, the well-known tracks were almost all at the start of his gig, which lasted until after midnight, from “Bianco” to “Diamant” – and the dense beats cast in dry heaviness kept the crowd moving until the last row. And as a little surprise solo, Mr. Julian Sellmeister performed the refrain of Peter Cornelius’ all-time hit “You’re sorry – I know you”.
Before that, the German rappers LX and Maxwell, among others, appeared on the Green Stage and recalled their musical homeland of the Hamburg hip-hop crew 187 Strassenbande with shouts of “187”, teased their hit track “Millionär” and left no stone unturned to create atmosphere. The duo stands for rap of the bad kind, so they report on original gangsters, sexual experiences, pushers and illegal substances.
In terms of meteorological substances, the final Saturday showed temperatures of just under 20 degrees and below, the ice cream vendors recorded a corresponding drop in sales, but the rain mercifully only set stronger accents towards the end of the event.
Until then, you could still hear a set by DJ Lost Frequencies on the Space Stage during daylight, but the stage wasn’t supposed to turn into an open-air disco that early -Gave designs for the best. On the third stage indoors, on the other hand, the good old band format was offered on the final day. The singing Briton Baby Queen revealed that she celebrated her 25th birthday there in the late afternoon, yesterday, Friday, and therefore only found sleep on the journey to Austria.
“I just woke up, basically. Hi and good morning, cheers,” was the friendly greeting. She relied on the pop of her home country, there were lyrics about paying too much attention to other opinions (“Nobody Really Cares”) and difficult moments in life – but presented in an explosive way. At almost the same time, at the age of 25, the Scot Lewis Capaldi appeared on the big stage as the most vocal participant of the day and also proved to be a charming entertainer who likes to use the F‑word in the breaks.
Organizer Jenner commented on the wide range of genres at Frequency that it was just as “open minded” as its audience. He would recommend that the guests for 2023 put on “Early Bird” tickets, which can be purchased from now on. Those cards would be the last to cost under $200, Jenner warned, citing ever-present inflation.
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