Nova Rock 2022 – Review of Day 3 – 11 June
Written by Mariam on June 27, 2022
The mud on the camping ground and the stage area had finally dried up and fans were welcomed by a nice warm breeze and sun all day long at Nova Rock Festival. Those fans with access to the VIP area also got to enjoy a rum cocktail out of a real coconut.
With war continuing in Ukraine, disrupting the daily lives of millions, visitors were happy to see that Ukrainian band Jinger was able to play the festival. Frontwoman Tatiana Shmailyuk took advantage of the stage to call attention to the issues in her home country and thanked everyone who was helping during this crisis for their solidarity and humanitarian help.
Next up was metalcore mixed with dance elements and plenty of humour. The German band Electric Callboy, formerly Eskimo Callboy, entered the stage with fake wigs and 90s tracksuit jackets and started their setlist with “Pump It” from their latest same-titled album. If you haven’t seen the music video yet, you should definitely check it out. The band had submitted this song for the German 2022 Eurovision entry but had been rejected despite a petition signed by close to 100,000 people. Overall, a fun show with plenty of swirling dust coming up from the moshpits.
Punkrock fans had two awesome bands coming up next on the Blue Stage. Bad Religion and The Offspring were both great bands to watch and delivered solid punk tones with never-aging songs for every age group.
Bad Religion had released their 17th album in 2019 called “Ages of Unreason” from which they played “End of History” next to older tracks like “21st Century (Digital Boy)”. With a 40 year band history, Bad Religion were showing no signs of hanging up the instruments just yet to the delight of the fans.
The Offspring, as one of the most successful bands of the 90s pop punk era, were still rocking as they were 30 years ago. In 2021 they had released their latest album “Let The Bad Times Roll” from which they performed “Behind your Walls”. What couldn’t be missed from the setlist and was played as encore were “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and of course “Self Esteem”. In addition to being a prolific musician, The Offspring frontman Dexter Holland had also received a Ph.D (like Michael Starr from Steel Panthers who holds a Ph.D in English Literature) in molecular biology in 2017 for his work on HIV and is a licensed pilot.
The headliners of the third evening were Volbeat on the Blue Stage and Deichkind on the Red Stage.
After 2016 & 2018, Volbeat filled the headliner slot for the third time and for good reason. Lead Singer Michael Poulsen, who originally wanted to pursue a career as a boxer if his music career didn’t work out, jokingly said “You guys look old – but I do too”. Their setlist was well thought through with song like “Shotgun Blues” of their latest album “Servant of the Mind” (2021) to renowned tracks “Fallen” and “Still Counting”.
Last but not least Deichkind came on stage and finished the evening strong by delivering a masterful performance with a mix of electro punk and rap with some hip-hop elements. The group, known for their imaginative, theatrical shows won over the audience with visual stage design for each individual song, extreme outfits, crowd surfing with an inflatable boat and driving a huge beer barrel through the crowd.
A great show to end a great day at the Nova Rock Festival!
See reviews of the other Nova Rock festival days:
Written & photographed by: Mariam Osman
Editor: Christina Stadler
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