6,7,8,9-08-2009 Open Flair

Location: Eschwege (Germany)
By: Nina Mende & Sabine van Gameren

We’re in the middle of the festival season and everybody is in a good (camping) mood. At least that’s how it was at Open Flair in Eschwege. This year’s Open Flair was the 25th so we had four stages this year and four days to rock Eschwege. And, oh boy, we did! The festival had about 30 000 visitors and was sold out in advance. For the first time ever!

The line up was quite mixed this year, which was good because this way really everybody could find something he or she loved.

Thursday:
The first day took place at the Red Bull Tour Bus. Yes, a tour bus on top of which you could find the stage. High and little but somehow cool. It was located nearby the lake and not on the actual festival ground. But it wasn’t too far away. The sun was shining bright. So many people took the chance and jumped into the refreshing water. I was surprised how many people were there already although it was a Thursday. But well, we Hessians just know how to rock and take every chance to do so. Therefore it wasn’t only one fine day, but the festival was also opened by One Fine Day.

One Fine Day is a German rock band from Hamburg. Founded in 1997 they toured with several big artists already such as 4lyn, H-Bloxx and just recently with The Subways. In between rocking the audience the guys of One Fine Day talked a lot with them, making jokes about the swine flu and all kinds of other funny things. They played for about an hour, old and new songs and closing with “Emily” after an encore. The audience sang and danced along, rocking and shouting, without a break and despite the summer heat. A great opening for what still was to come.

Next band of the day was originally supposed to play last but somehow switched and ended up playing now. Well, doesn’t matter. Either way was fine as long as they played at all. Which they did of course. And actually it was a funny coincidence after the closing song “Emily” to now have Emil Bulls on stage. Ok, maybe not that funny, but I thought it was… But I also thought the entire festival weekend was funny. Anyway, let me get back on track. Emil Bulls was next. A band I have been seeing and listening to for ages now, just somehow it had gotten quiet the past couple years. So it was amazing and great to have them back. (Here a little note: Emil Bulls will release their new album in September and also do a tour with it in October. Be sure to be there). Emil Bulls are a cross over band from Munich rocking together since 1995. They got the people going and got the mood hotter than the sun could ever do. There was a lot of action going on in the crowd which used to be an audience and now was only a cloud of dust and moving people. They moshed big time rocking along to Emil Bulls, whereas Emil Bulls rocked the little stage up above. It is quite funny when you know how bands usually rock on stages and even take over the biggest stages using every inch of it and now they had to rock on a tiny stage on a bus. That was probably one of the biggest reasons why I loved this bus so much. Anyway, Emil Bulls played almost all their old classics and some new stuff as well. The feedback from the audience was amazing and they did everything the band asked them to do. They also played an encore, but I think – and so did the crowd – they could have played on forever. I so can’t wait to see them on tour with the new album.

Next band was Itchy Poopzkid. I’m sure most of you heard of them already, it is quite hard to get around them. And of course the name is catching ones attention right away. This band is simply funny and they do whatever no matter what others say. So I guess I could say I like them. If you understand German you definitely have to read their “History” on their homepage. But well, for all who don’t: Itchy Poopzkid is a punk rock band founded in 2001 who’ve gotten far in all those years. By now you can see many kids running around in their merch. It was hard to top Emil Bulls, but Itchy Poopzkid tried their best and their fans supported them in that. The three guys pulled off a nice show, jumping around quite a lot on stage – well, three guys have more room than four, five or even six, right? – and animated their audience. Guitar and bass player switched instruments every now and then.

Last band of the night was Jennifer Rostock. Jennifer Rostock is a German singing female fronted rock band from Berlin founded in 2007.The audience went wild as they entered the stage. Everybody sang along extremely loud. The music and performance reminded a lot of a modern version of Nina Hagen. Bras and other stuff flew up on stage and everybody was going crazy in the audience as well as Jenni on stage. Jennifer Rostock shows are always amazing to watch because there is so much interaction going on and so much energy. A great closing for the first day.

Friday:
The next sunny day of Open Flair had begun.

We began our day with the Trashmonkeys, a German band founded in 1998 playing crazy rock. But even though it was already 4pm and only the second (for some even the first!) day of the festival it was still quite empty. The people who were there already rocked along though. The band talked a lot with their fans and got a great reply. Everybody danced along to the music and sang along. It felt like a little club show because audience and band felt so close and connected.

The garage rock formation The Subways came all the way from the UK to Open Flair. Clearly to see the audience wanted to see the band as their name was scanted way before they entered the stage. The trio performed an average show, giving some energy but not giving it all. Disappointing were the vocals from Charlotte Cooper, the little girl with the huge bass. In studio, they might be polished bright and shiny, but live they just did not come to the point. The “strawberry blonde” guitarist and vocalist Billy Lunn made a better impression and was pretty much driving the music. Drums were given a subordinate place, as well in the music as in the performance.

The Swedish Friska Viljor are a duo that brings some alternative pop rock. Live they bring a couple musicians with them to make the whole sound complete. Their looks might have been a bit classical, but music wise there is not too much of a classic shadow over them. In fact, it is more modern than you would have expected. The music is pretty happy and so come that people feel like dancing their set. To mention is that there is quite an accent hearable which can be distracting if you decide to see the whole set. The band is currently working on their third album, which we surely can expect soon.

Taking Back Sunday was the next band we went to see. It was terribly crowded by now with many teenage girls in the front rows screaming. Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Amityville, Long Island, New York, formed in 1999. The current members are vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist/back-up vocalist Matthew Fazzi, guitarist Eddie Reyes, drummer Mark O’Connell, and bassist/back-up vocalist Matt Rubano. They rocked the huge audience big time, jumped around, and put up an extremely energetic performance. Especially the bass player moved around a lot, it looked intense. The singer did some funky moves, something that looked like ballet and played with the audience a bit. The audience loved Taking Back Sunday and cheered out loud after every song. A great performance that was fun to watch. It was so hot that the security sprayed a lot of water into the audience. Some of us got showered and refreshed that way.

I ended my evening at the Red Bull Bus with 5bugs. 5bugs is a German alternative band founded in 2001. Even though In Extremo was playing on the festival ground main stage there were still quite some people at the bus watching 5bugs rocking it. The guys did a great job in entertaining the audience and the audience rewarded them with big cheering and dancing along the entire time. 5bugs enjoyed the show as much as everybody else did.

Saturday:
Today was my last day at Open Flair because I had to be somewhere else on Sunday. We started it with the show of Zebrahead. Five Californian guys rocking since 1996 and still rocking our stages. There was quite a lot of audience already and all were ready to rock and mosh. They raised dust big time by moving around so much. For one moment the band even got everybody to sit down before jumping up and moshing again. Zebrahead talked a lot with the audience and shared all their German with us, which were nasty words only. They rocked on stage and nobody stood still not even for a second. It was a very energetic performance, even though it was still terribly early.

The next band was Dog Eat Dog on the big stage. Here there were not too many people watching just yet. Dog Eat Dog, an American band originally from Bergen County, New Jersey, began in 1990 as part of the hardcore music scenes of New York City and New Jersey. Dog Eat Dog was one of the first bands to fuse distorted guitar and rap, a style that would later become commonplace. Their style of music was mixed throughout the performance and accompanied by a saxophone. The guys moved around quite a lot trying to animate the audience. They went along quite well.

Sondaschule surprised me big time with their huge amount of fans. All of the sudden there were many many people watching, dancing and singing along. Many kids wore band merch and cheered for the band. Sondaschule is a German singing punk-ska band with sax and trombone. They were all dressed in white and had a lot of fun on stage. So did the audience watching them. It was amazing to see the audience being that wild.

Next artist on the big stage was a little slower. Clueso is a German musician accompanied by his band. Much slower yet still rocking and the audience enjoyed it. Not only because it was getting late and lots of beer has been drunk already. He put up a great show and talked a lot to the audience. He danced around a lot and got his fans going along.

Maximo Park was following Clueso on the same stage. Maxïmo Park are a British alternative rock band, formed in 2000. They are signed to Warp Records. The band consists of Paul Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass), Lukas Wooller (keyboard) and Tom English (drums). Another energetic band who caught the audience in no time with their performance. The whole area in front of the stage was crowded with people having fun. You could feel the good vibes spreading far.

On the other stage and after Maximo Park Bosse took over the stage with their music. Touchy and emotional pop rock greatly performed for about an hour. The kids loved it and sang along loudly. The German songs were very touchy and people danced along. Not many were right in front of the stage though since many had taken their spot for Silbermond on the other stage already.

We watched the actual headliner Silbermond from afar before 4lyn came on stage. They were actually supposed to play on the Red Bull Bus and way earlier but due to some heavy rain it got changed. The set was quite short and you could tell the guys were exhausted. But the audience still loved the show of the four guys from Hamburg who were rocking it late. Ron (the singer) jumped around and entertained the audience big time. They played old songs and some of the latest album. For me it was the end of Open Flair and a wonderful closing. For everybody else they had still a gorgeous last day to go. After 4lyn’s set everybody was ready for bed after a great day of many great bands and lots of dancing along.

I always love to go to Open Flair because everybody is extremely nice, the security, the organizers and all the other staff as well as all the visitors. It is always a blast and I can’t wait to be back next year. Happy 25th and let’s rock another 25 years at least. Thank you Eschwege!

Links:

Red Bull Bus website
Open Flair Website
One Fine Day MySpace
Itchy Poopzkid MySpace
Jennifer Rostock MySpace
Thrashmonkeys MySpace
Taking Back Sunday MySpace
5bugs MySpace
Zebrahead MySpace
Dog Eat Dog MySpace
Sondaschule MySpace
Clueso MySpace
Maximo Park MySpace
Bosse MySpace
4lyn MySpace
The Subways MySpace
Friska Viljor MySpace