On Saturday, September 23rd, the second edition of Escalation Fest flipped the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen upside down. The day was filled with seven bands, tattoo lounges, gaming areas and a photobooth where you could dress like Electric Callboy.
Escalation Fest is a day festival founded by Electric Callboy. The first edition took place in August, 2022. Everyone loved it so much that they had to do it again this year. It’s a genre-defying party where having a good time is what matters most.
The line to get in was pretty long an hour before doors, and as you probably expected, it was filled with people in costumes. A lot of people were taking pictures in front of a branded Electric Callboy bus.
The Butcher Sisters were the first to take the main stage. Most of the crowd showed up early to watch them. During their set, a guy dressed as Jesus came on stage, he then went down into the crowd and moshed. They also had blow-up bananas to throw into the crowd.
Second up was Future Palace, who were the support for Electric Callboy on their Tekkno Tour at the beginning of this year. They were a completely different scene from the band before them. They played their song ‘Malphas’, which was released earlier this year. Some circle pits started forming and after a few more songs the floor was moshing heavily. At this point the arena started to fill up even more. For their last song, they asked for a wall of death, and it did not have to be asked twice before the crowd split the floor in two.
Next up was Rise of the Northstar. They brought the heavy energy into the arena. Everyone was moving and headbanging to the music. A lot of hands could be seen in the air, clapping along to the songs. During their whole set, multiple mosh pits erupted. The band members were also dancing on stage, which brought a very good energy. After their set ended, they gave their stage waters to the people at the barricade.
Mehnersmoos walked on stage with beers in their hands. Their drummer was playing with a broken leg, but he still gave it his all. The vocalist asked for a techno beat from the DJ and he got what he asked for. The audience really loved this and went crazy for it. People on the balconies were also dancing along.
And the last band before the main act, Swiss & Die Andern, took the stage. Just like the other bands before, this one also had a great stage presence and was interactive with the crowd. They asked them to clap, jump, mosh and go crazy. The singer also gave a speech about rights and equality and, later, another one about politics. At one point they asked everyone to put up their flashlights and within seconds the whole arena lit up.
If you’ve ever been to an Electric Callboy gig, you know how crazy they get. They go through confetti cannons like a (tekkno) train. After quite a long day, people were very excited to see Electric Callboy. Of course, the thing you have to do in an arena is the wave, and so they did. Kalle Koschinsky came on stage to join in for the song ‘Castrop X Spandau’. Plenty of crowd surfers were once again going for it. For the song ‘Fukboi’, Maria Lessing, vocalist from Future Palace, joined on stage. During ‘MC Thunder’, everyone in the arena was jumping so hard the arena was almost shaking. The band went off stage to change their clothes before coming back to perform ‘Pump It’. After another outfit change, the band played ‘We Got The Moves’. Everyone was singing, jumping and dancing along. After all, this was an insane day. The crowd went crazy all day long and did not take it easy even once. It looks like Escalation Fest will come back in 2024 for round 3.
Written by: Morana Frey
Photographed by: Morana Frey
Edited by: María Boyero
