Finally, the first day of Frequency Festival had arrived. The two big stages (Space Stage and Green Stage) outside in the open field were being played, as well as the smaller Red Bull stage, which is located indoors. As a visitor, it was difficult to manage your time in such a way that you could see all the artists you wanted, with so many great artists playing on this first day. Many sets overlapped, and with the time necessary going back and forth between stages, it was a challenge for people to see all of their personal favourites.
The day started with Upsahl. It was early; it was hot. But she gave her everything to open the main stage. Upsahl has a great reputation, with many people expressing how great she is live, and on this day, the crowd wasn’t let down either. Upsahl danced around on stage, sprayed the crowd with water and demonstrated her skills on the guitar. All that while seeming to have a lot of fun performing her songs for the large crowd.
Next up was Grandson. It was impossible not to immediately become a fan of his, not only because he was wearing a Linkin Park t-shirt (which later he took off), but also because his energy soaked into the crowd. He did high jumps and kicks and animated the crowd to start mosh-pits. Everybody was sweaty anyway, so a little more dancing around in the dirt didn’t matter. Meanwhile, on the Space Stage, the German band Feine Sahne Fischfilet started their set. They’re always fun to watch, as they sail with a boat over the crowd and bring out other fun gadgets.
After that, we quickly made our way back to the Green Stage, because Kenya Grace was about to start her set. When she came out on stage, she hid behind a high DJ-desk on the far back of the stage. For a couple of verses, she walked in the middle of the stage. As beautiful as her voice sounded, it was time to go on to the next artist: German rising star Ski Aggu, whose show seemed to have a lot of similarities to Tream from the day before.
Underlining the difficult choices festival goers had to make on this day, James Arthur and Artemas were scheduled at the same time as Yungblud. Unable to split ourselves, we decided on watching Yungblud. His energy was unmatched, all the jumping around, kicking his feet and watering the crowd made it seem like he had the time of his life performing on the Space Stage. He also got support from pyrotechnics and fog machines next to his band. At one point, he even got a fan on stage to help him play ‘fleabag’. As a reward, they got one of Yungblud’s guitars, creating an unforgettable moment. As soon as the show was over, the crowd wished to see even more. It is easy to imagine that one day, Yungblud will headline festivals all over the world, with his incredible potential.
Next up was The Offspring, and parallel to them, Raye. On stage it was her, a band, and decoration that made it feel like a varietè-show. She covered a lot of genres, starting with some slower songs to then end with her party-bangers. ‘Prada’ got a rock-version, which astonished the crowd. It showed that Raye could also amaze her fans with rock music!
Staying at the Green Stage, we caught the beginning of Rise Against’s set. Their show was surprisingly entertaining. The singer got the crowd involved a lot, to the point he went down to the barricade and sang together with the fans, and the pyro was a nice little extra effect to their already great performance. However, to maximise the number of artists we saw, we had to switch to Apache 207. It felt like this artist was born to perform as a headliner at a festival, with the beginning drums and the secret curtain that hid the stage, from which the first words from “Unterwegs” sounded on repetition. The moment the curtain lifted gave the crowd goosebumps. The simple stage design, with a gas station imitation, put the focus on his performance. Though he had support from his friends on stage for the song ‘Roller’, for the rest of the set Apache 207 was alone on the big stage. Yet, he completely managed to keep the crowd entertained. A worthy headliner to end day one of Frequency Festival!
But just because the stages closed, didn’t mean the party ended. Next to the so-called “Day Park”, the Frequency Festival offers the “Night Park” for all the night owls. It starts after the headliners and offers DJ-music on different floors, enabling festival goers to get entertainment from noon until the early morning every day.
Written by: Wiebke Krause
Photographed by: Wiebke Krause
Edited by: Nèri Cliteur
