In the middle of June, fans of rock and metal music gather on the far eastern border of Austria, right next to Hungary, to celebrate the Nova Rock festival. This year’s edition is accompanied by a perfect weather forecast for once – sunny every day, not too windy, not too hot, no rain.
Everyone attending was excited and full of energy for the first day. Nova Rock offers two big stages: the Blue Stage (main stage) and the Red Stage (side stage). Next to this, there is the smaller Red Bull Stage, where mostly smaller and local artists showcase their talents. On the first day of the festival, only the Blue Stage as well as the Red Bull Stage were being played at. Along with many others, I had arrived early to catch the opener on the main stage, with doors opening half an hour before Dead Poet Society was about to ring in Austria’s festival season. And what a fantastic job they did! Even if one did not know their music, it was easy to clap along and swing their heads. Their set ended far too early for my liking. On the other hand, there was time to check out the activities and food trucks on the festival grounds. Compared to previous years, there were no new activities, but the range of vegetarian and vegan food options got an upgrade.
The Warning is a band that everyone must see at least once, and their concert was everything one could hope for. The Mexican band brought full energy from beginning to end. The crowd also did a good job, singing along to the Spanish songs. The Warning’s set was then followed by the hardcore band Knocked Loose. When the singer walked out on stage, the first thing he did was scream to get the mosh pits going. The band’s fanbase has been growing, and a big part of the crowd there seemed to know and love them, as the mosh pits immediately started running hot before a single note was even sung or screamed.
Next up was Spiritbox. Despite not being the type of music everyone at the festival listens to, the very well-thought-through visuals and aesthetics can garner great appreciation. Besides the interesting visuals, the band also delivered a great performance. There was something about that band on stage that made me feel very welcome and comfortable to be in the crowd. This band drew in a huge crowd, maybe an even bigger one than the headliner later that day.
On this first day, I also wanted to check out the Red Bull Stage, so I went over to catch Itchy. The group attracted more fans than the festival probably expected, so the stage ended up being on the small side for them. It was overcrowded and the sound did not sound as great as the rest of the sets throughout the day. Despite that, their energy was great and we would like to experience them again in another setting.
Closing the Red Bull Stage that day was Boston Manor, a band many people were looking forward to seeing live. They did not let anyone down and the whole band showed how much fun they had on stage. They were animating the crowd to put their fists in the air and to jump and scream. Boston Manor definitely deserves to play the big stage next!
On the main stage, Korn closed off the day. This band has been around for ages and their longtime fans might not want to head down to a festival to see them, which resulted in a slightly smaller crowd. Luckily plenty of people came down to watch these legends play and move around their stage. Singer Jonathan Davis brought his iconic skull microphone and treated the crowd to both the big hits and the lesser-known songs.
A good festival day for me is when I discover new bands that I like, which I definitely did that day. All in all, it was a promising festival start! You can find all the photos from day 1 here.
