The second day of the festival was accompanied by rain. Fortunately, not every set was played outside. Our first artist of the day was Slate and the Sommersalon was packed, despite it not even being 15:00 yet. Their music got people going, and especially lead singer Jack Shephard was expressive and energetic on stage. About half an hour later, Welsh Artist Catty played on the same stage. She said that it was her first gig outside the UK and Ireland. She shined a light on her not having been able to bring her band with her due to being a working class musician. Touring nowadays is very expensive, especially for smaller artists.
Youcallmecarla (stage name of Carla Freude) played a free acoustic show as part of the Village Acoustics. It was Freude’s first acoustic gig ever. The setlist included an as of then still unreleased song called ‘boys’, which would come out about a week later.
Norwegian artist Skaar and her band did a show at the 25 Club. On stage she told the audience how “happy [she felt] to be here”. For the song ‘Follow Your Heart’, the audience got to learn a bit of the lyrics so they were able to sing along.
Welsh artist Ben Ellis played a gig at the Stage 15. Flowers decorated his and his guitarist Ellis Blake’s mic stands. Passionate fans in the front row were wearing his merch and held up flowers during the song ‘when it ends’. During ‘No One Sleeps In Hollywood’, when Ben sang “I’ve been told no one sleeps …”, people shouted “where?” back at him. They also loudly sang along to ‘Red Handed’.
German artist Vince performed at the 25 Club. He was enthusiastic on stage, and at several moments throughout his set had people put their hands up in the air and jump along. The fifth song he played was an unreleased techno song he made with a friend of his. He mentioned, however, it also would not be coming out anytime soon. He did recently release ‘nicht gefragt’, and though it had not been out for too long, his fans were able to sing the lyrics already.
The attendees were already excited when Ivo Martin stepped on stage. A big part of his music was created in Hamburg, where the festival took place. He had fans jumping, clapping, putting on their phone lights, and they visibly smiled during the whole set. During the song ‘wie schön es war’, his guitarist Maurice Strobel and him sat down on the steps of the drummer’s drumkit, which created a rather intimate feeling in the room. As he often does during his performances, he played a cover of Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’. People sang along and also did so during Lotte’s and his own song ‘Wie du’s Liebe nennst’. During his whole set Ivo wore a shirt that said “4 Gaza”. Before he left the stage, he did point that out and encouraged people to not stay silent and instead speak out against the genocide happening in Palestine. He made sure to say that it’s not the only place in the world where humans are suffering. He also mentioned Congo, Yemen and other places that are suffering from oppression and therefore do not have access to basic necessities. He went on to encourage people to donate if possible and educate oneself on what’s happening around the globe.
Irish singer Nell Mescal played a set at Nachtspeicher. She mentioned at her show that her song ‘See You Again’, which was as of then unreleased, would be on her upcoming EP The Closest We’ll Get, released on the 26th of September. It was her first gig in Hamburg and she even pulled out a bit of German. She said “Ich habe lange blonde Haare” (I have long blond hair). Nell interacted a lot with fans and expressed gratitude for being able to do “music as a full time job”. Right after Mescal’s set, Matilda Mann and her band played a show at the Imperial Theater, which added a more unique feeling to the set.
Our night ended with the female-fronted English band South Arcade. It was their second playing a show in Hamburg. Lead singer Harmony Cavelle said “Moin Hamburg at one point during their set. In this city and in other places in northern Germany, ‘Moin’ is used instead of ‘Hello’. The venue was packed and the people in attendance were headbanging and jumping around. They clearly enjoyed the set and were so present in this moment. South Arcade teased that they would be coming back in February 2026 for a headline show. Check out the full gallery of day 2 here!
