Nova Rock 2022 – Review of Day 4 – 12 June
Written by Mariam on June 28, 2022
Dust instead of mud, sunshine instead of rain and hot temperatures all day long. Day 4 of the Nova Rock festival started off with Austrian beer tent vibes and free beers as well as yellow and green hats for early visitors at the Red Stage. Since 2013 Wendy’s Böhmische Blasmusikkapelle (Engl. Bohemian brass music ensemble) is starting off the last festival day, which turned into quite the tradition that shouldn’t be missed. Where else can you see crowd surfers, moshpits and flashing fans combined with local folk music? In addition, one of the fans surprised his girlfriend on stage with a marriage proposal and she said “YES”, which made the fans cheer even more.
Medieval vibes combined with traditional leather kilts, melodic death metal and celtic music. The Swiss band Eluveitie entertained the audience at the Blue Stage with traditional folk instruments such as fiddles, tin whistles, flutes and bagpipes mixed with brutal screams from lead singer Chrigel Glatzmann. They recently introduced a new single and video called “Aidus”, for which they had their live debut at the Nova Rock Festival.
Heavy beer consumption and running around on stage like a squirrel on speed. Lead singer and guitarist Joel O’Keeffe from the Australian Rock’n’Roll band Airbourne definitely knows how to entertain and keep the crowd in constant movement. During “Girls in Black” he climbed on the shoulder of his roadie and was carried around the photo pit while playing guitar solos. In between he smashed a beer can against his head in Airbourne tradition, which he repeated multiple times later on after he got back on stage.
Blue hair, dreadlocks, fun vibes, heartfelt energy and songs about right wing politics, police and society. The German punk band WIZO are always fun to watch with one sing-along hit after another (for German speakers). During the punk cover of “Pipi Langstrumpf” (Engl. Pippi Longstocking) multiple fans joined a major circle pit which covered the rest of the crowd with a dust wave. These are the moments which make musicians and fans forget about the past two years.
Simultaneously In Flames entertained the fans with heavy melodic death metal tunes. Like many other bands the Swedes also released a new single recently called “State of Slow Decay” which was incorporated in their setlist.
During a romantic sunset and bright orange sky Billy Talent set foot on the Blue Stage. For many fans in their late 20s this Canadian punk band was a major part of their puberty. “Four days in a row? You guys should earn a medal!” praised lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz everyone who gathered around the stage. Next to songs from their new album “Crisis of Faith” such as “Forgiveness I” they also included some renowned tracks such as “Fallen Leaves” and of course “Red Flag”, which motivated the crowd to sing along.
The headliners of the last Nova Rock day were Five Finger Death Punch on the Blue Stage and Alligatoah on the Red Stage. Heavy metal fans were best served on the Blue stage by the band from Las Vegas while fans of German Rap congregated in front of the Red Stage.
Lukas Strobl, who is better known by his stage name Alligatoah, rounded up the final show at the Red Stage of this year’s Nova Rock festival. Because fans apparently requested to see the German rapper on a smaller stage he actually brought one with him which was built onto the actual stage called “Mega Stage”. From his new album “Rotz & Wasser” he introduced the fans to “Monet” and “Mit dir schlafen” (Engl. sleeping with you). But also some sing-along classics were played like “Willst du” (Engl. Do you want).
In complete contrast to the Red Stage musically speaking, Five Finger Death Punch delivered a great last show with some outfit changes of singer Ivan Moody, pyrotechnics, many interactions with fans and a new album called “Afterlife” in tow. From guitar and drum solos at “Burn MF” to acapella snippets during “Far From Home”, the fans didn’t seem to get tired at all even after 4 days of non-stop partying. At the end of the show some fans were gifted with the baseball bat that Ivan Moody used as an accessory on stage as well as a not quite intact guitar.
Once the final songs had echoed across the Pannonia fields, fans who stayed until the end could see the annual fireworks to bring the festival officially to an end. The traffic chaos of the arrival day repeated itself as the majority of fans tried to leave at the same time, turning an hour drive to Vienna into an at least 3 hour long odyssey.
After four days and 90 bands, excluding the ones who couldn’t play on the first day due to the chaos, on three stages, with 225,000 total visitors and weather extremes, music fans left exhausted & dust dirty but to finally have the Nova Rock back after a two year Covid enforced break.
See reviews of the other Nova Rock festival days:
Written & photographed by: Mariam Osman
Editor: Christina Stadler
