Under a cloudless, scorching sky, we made our way through the doors of the Frequency Festival in St. Pölten, Austria. Wednesday the 13th of August marks the official beginning of the three-day festival with all kinds of national and international artists performing, including Suki Waterhouse, Finch, Berq, Ikkimel, Tream, Bonez MC, Nina Chuba and megastars such as Post Malone, Chappell Roan, Shawn Mendes, Central Cee and Kygo. The festival ground has two main stages: Space Stage and Green Stage, as well as smaller stages: Red Bull Stage, Main Stage Nightpark and 2nd Stage Nightpark. Alongside this, the festival offered a variety of activities like rollerblading and several food options, so no one stayed hungry.
After arrival, we quickly made our way to Space Stage, where the indie-rock musician Bartees Strange opened the whole festival. With the summer heat, many festival goers used the time to cool down in the Traisen – the river flowing alongside the festival. However, those brave enough to fight the heat were rewarded with a good show, vibing to Bartees Strange’s strong, rocking vocals.
Jude York
Next up for us was Jude York, who said an “Oida“ to the crowd in true Austrian Style. The Australian self-produced pop singer animated the Austrian crowd in front of Space Stage, dancing and singing with a big smile on his face while wearing a long jacket, white shirt and knee-length trousers. How he did it in this temperature, we don’t know, but he definitely delivered an amazing performance.
We then quickly made our way to Green Stage and caught a little bit of the set of Kingfishr, an Irish indie-folk band. Alongside playing great music and vocals, they talked about their story – engineering graduates who started writing music for fun and then realised, why not try for real. Personally, I’m very happy they tried and really enjoyed this set.
Kingfishr
Alessi Rose was the next artist we had on our list. After having to cancel her Lollapalooza performance in July this year due to medical reasons, the singer-songwriter seemed to be even happier to be at Frequency, performing on the Space Stage. Alongside interacting with the crowd, she put on an amazing performance with a smile plastered on her face. Alternately playing the guitar herself and putting out amazing vocals, she performed songs such as ‘IKYK’, ‘the pit’, ‘That Could Be Me’ and ‘oh my’, and oh my, we enjoyed it a lot.
Afterwards, we went to see Suki Waterhouse, who performed on the same stage. The actress/model/singer delivered stunning vocals and ethereal dancing while wearing an outstanding outfit. Songs like ‘OMG’, ‘Nostalgia’, ‘To Love’, ‘Moves’ and ‘Good Looking’ were only a few of many Suki Waterhouse songs we had the privilege to watch and listen to live.
Alessi Rose
Isabela LaRosa is a Cuban-American singer-songwriter who performed on the Green Stage directly after Suki. By leaving Suki two songs earlier and forcing our way through the crowd of festival goers, we just made it in time to watch her perform some of her well-known songs like the TikTok sensation ‘I’m Yours’, ‘older’, ‘Favorite’ and ‘My Girl’, transforming the Green Stage into her own ethereal, dark-pop dreamscape.
Finch is probably the biggest contrast to Suki Waterhouse. Yelling “Prost ihr Säcke“ to the crowd, fire-pyro, barking, a dancing crowd with wiggling fingers at one point and jumping at another, the German rapper managed to deliver an energetic performance. Personally, it’s not the kind of music I would normally listen to. However, with an energetic performance and an amazing crowd, you can not avoid getting into the party atmosphere. Some jokes, however, were over the top, and the crowd didn’t seem to like those either.
After being at Space Stage for the majority of the first day, we finally made it back to Green Stage to watch Berq perform. At only 21 years old, he managed to capture a crowd with his ethereal, cinematic performance and captivating vocals. His music is like no other, with classical arrangements as well as pop sounds. It felt like drifting off and forgetting everything around you, with just him and his performance in the foreground. Incredible.
Isabela LaRosa
For us, Chappell Roan was one of the most anticipated artists of this weekend. We made our way into the crowd alongside so many different faces, all excited to see the extraordinary performance. The stage design reminded us of a fairytale, and once Chappell came out in her gorgeous, magnificent and pompous dress, hair and make-up, it truly felt like one. Her newly released song ‘The Subway’ is no stranger to festival goers, as she already played it in the previous year at festivals. However, it was amazing, and the crowd knew all the words. Generally, the crowd went insane: no matter if you screamed along to ‘Femininomenon’, passionately sang the words to ‘Casual’, danced to ‘Hot To Go’, ‘Good Luck, Babe’ and ‘Pink Pony Club’, you absolutely nailed it. For us, it was one of the highlights of the whole weekend. Only one more artist was able to top it; you can take your guesses who.
As we had to catch our train back to Vienna, we sadly missed the closing performance by Post Malone. However, when asking festival goers, they were surprised by his performance. From playing songs like ‘Wow.’, ‘Yours’, ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’ and ‘Circles’ to newer songs like ‘Wrong Ones’ and ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’, he delivered amazing vocals and a heartfelt performance. Opening with ‘Texas Tea’ from his 2023 album and closing with ‘Congratulations’ was a full circle moment, marking the end of Frequency 2025 Day 1.
Berq
