Friday night at the local Obstwiesenfestival was quite nice. A friend of mine now plays for City Kids Feel the Beat, and they’ve greatly improved since the last time I’ve seen them a bit more than a year ago. They’re now pretty good at what they’re doing, but I’m not always in the mood for “heavy pop punk.”
I didn’t really care for the next few bands. Backseat Teenage Pregnancy (Twentysomething dudes) are more pop punk for teenagers, their on-stage banter was straight outta the 90s. I was alone for the first few bands, so besides tweeting furiously, I sat down and read a book until I met a few friends. Hello Gravity was an alright soundtrack for reading in the sun. Exclusive was an indecipherable melange of trendy genres. OK Kid was clearly signed and booked after the success of German Indie-Rapper Casper. Whole concert felt like a Casper B-Sides cover. Maybe this stuff is going on my Murtaugh list. I missed seeing Momofoko, but they sounded good.
The Eclectic Moniker performed a great show, but it didn’t really click with me.
Skinny Lister were the first band I thoroughly enjoyed. Full speed English raise-a-pint-and-sing-along folk by nice lads and a charming woman.
Ersatzheadliner Sizarr were artsy and atmospheric, only an occasional change of pace would’ve been nice. The last song, a stripped down solo by the singer, was ruined for me by wasted party bogans behind me screaming boring. I guess one has to accept these types at a free festival. Their alcohol consumption funds the whole shindig.
The two danes of Rangleklods created great electronic soundscapes and beats, but stressed a bit too often how sick (as in: having a cold) the singer was. Hope he feels better now.
The best thing about the festival was that it didn’t rain, at all, which is unfortunately unusual for the Obstwiese. For some reason they always get the one really rainy weekend in Swabian summer. Today’s forecast predicts thunderstorms and rain, but I’ll pack my Marimekko umbrella. It never* rains when I bring my umbrella. Plus, my warning towards the weather still stands.
But rainy or not, today will be amazing. Both Steaming Satellites and We Were Promised Jetpacks will perform. To say I’m looking forward to that would be an understatement.
Thoughts?