The Berlin Festival 2007
The Berlin Festival 2007
I love festivals in the city, especially if they are taking place in the city where I live so that I can avoid those sleepless nights at the camping site and the long queues for the shower and the bathrooms. Those who came to the Berlin Festival from different cities didn't have to suffer much though, as the camping site of the festival seemed to be a very pleasant green area that was not crowded at all.
Many things have changed in this third edition of the festival, but the most important is its new location right in the centre of the city, only a few minutes walk from Berlin's main train station. This change has undoubtedly helped the festival to grow considerably, as it seems that the great line-up it had from the very beginning was not enough to attract the people to a festival being celebrated somewhere near Berlin, somewhere you had never heard about before and which was not so easy to access by public transport. Furthermore, despite the urbanity of the festival, the premises where the two stages of the festival were settled this year maintained a green atmosphere, as they were in a former sports field called Poststadion, which offers a wide lush area and a space where a lot of sport activities can be practiced. Some of the bands even took advantage of the empty swimming pool to do some photo shooting.
The festival started officially on Friday at 16:30 pm with the show of the German band MIT, whose electro pop music I was later told was excellent to bring the people into the right mood. Unfortunately I couldn't be there to see them, as my boss didn't let me out of work until a bit later. I finally arrived at Postadion at 19 pm hoping I could still see a bit of Peter Bjorn And John's concert but to my surprise there was a queue at the entrance that kept me out for almost an hour and I had to make do with hearing the whistle song while standing at the queue along with many other frustrated fans of this indie hit. When I finally got in the premises there was only the legendary band from Hamburg, Tocotronic, left to play. The indie-rockers hit the stage when the sun was already set and presented live their new and eighth album Kapitulation.
But it was on Saturday when the main concerts were expected. I arrived at the Postadion just when Datarock were about to begin. The Norwegian appeared on the stage all dressed in the same red tracksuit and soon created a real party atmosphere while playing their dancing hits like 'I used to dance', 'Computer camp love', 'Sex me up' or their best tune 'FaFaFa'. They were showing so much enthusiasm, jumping and trying to make the audience sing along their songs, that it was almost impossible not to enjoy the show. At the close they played 'I've Had the Time Of My Life' (the Dirty Dancing song) over the PA while all of the members of the band danced and sang along as they were in a karaoke bar. It was definitely an end of the show that left you in a very happy mood.
After that I ran to the Vice stage to see the Preset's set. Maybe it was a bit too early for such a danceable electronic tunes and the daylight didn't help at all to create a dancing feeling, but as soon as they played one of their singles 'Are you the one?' the audience began to move their bodies as they were in a real nightclub. Before the show had come to an end I decided to go back to the main stage to see The Go Team, whose gig I didn't want to miss. This United Kingdom-based six-piece band includes two drummers and a front woman called Ninja that really makes the crowd moving and singing along. Although their new album Proof of the Youth won´t be on the stores till September we could hear a big part of it during the show and I can say it will be one of the favourites on the indie charts for the next year. The show ended with Ninja performing a medley of world dances, from cossack to crunk and then the audience stayed near the main stage waiting to see the last and most expected concert of the day: Peaches. She appeared on the stage rapping along to Lou Reed's 'Vicious' dressed in a purple kimono, which was only one of the outfits she had prepared for us fot that night.
During most of the first part of her set she was alone on the stage interpreting songs like 'Lovertits', while for the second part of the show she was joined by a band that really rocked and the show culminated with her singing Teaches of Peaches covered with a black cape with three X on the back. There were no more concerts left now but the after party of the Berlin Festival at the Tape Club with 2 many dj´s was about to begin and it still promised a long night of music and dancing.
by Rosa Gregori
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