Lollapalooza Berlin 2016 - how I experienced the festival as press
Lollapalooza is an annual festival consisiting of a mix of alternative musice, rock, pop, hip jop and EDM. It originally is from Chicago in the United States, but had its debut outside of the States in 2011. It now takes place all over the world in countries like, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Argentina and since 2015 Germany in Berlin. I have already been to its debut here in Germany last year and this year I got the chance to go there as press and officially write about the festival on my blog. But I didn't only get to go there for my blog, but also got to see Bands like Radiohead, New Order, Years & Years and several others.
Lollapalooza took place at Treptower Park in Berlin on the 10th and 11th of September. I was really excited to pack my things again, after I finally had the chance to get proper sleep after the festival tour of The NBHD. The night before we left I slept at my best friends house, with whom I went to the festival. We went to a birthday and when we went to bed we hoped we wouldn't oversleep the next morning, but obviously we did, so we took a train later and began our journey to Lollapalooza 2016.
First day of the Festival - Saturday, 10th of September
We arrived in Berlin around 12pm adn immediately took the bus that woul bring us closest to the festival. It felt like the hottest day of the year and we were already exhausted the moment we reached the station where the bus dropped us off, but we continued walking, awaiting the moment we would get in.
After about 10 minutes of walking we reached the point where people had to get their wristbands. Toni went in and got hers, since I had to get mine at a different entrance, before we continues walking to the festival. When we reached the festival after another few minutes of walking, I still hadn't found my entrance, so I asked a security guy where I had to go and he told me that the press and guest list entrance was on the other side of the festival, so I left Toni and walked around the whole festival, which took me about 40 minutes. I was annoyed and exhausted when I finally reached the entrance after an unbelivably long walk in the burning sun.
I went into the press tent and gave the people that worked there my ID card and told them I'm on the press list as a journalist for my blog. The guy looked into his computer for a few minutes before he told me that he didn't find me on the list, so I got out the E-Mail I had gotten in July, saying I'm on the list. He looked again before he went to one of his co-workers to ask why he didn't find me. The woman looked at the E-Mail and then said that he should give me the press wristbands, as a lot of other people who had gotten their E-Mail from the same guy weren't on the list either.
After surviving this shock, I went inside the festival, still carrying my heavy bag with all my clothes around, so I decided to go to the press area and put my stuff into a locker. The press area was on the other side of the festival, so I walked along the long street to get there, before I met some of my friends. I greeted them and talked to them for a few minutes before all five of us walked to the press area.
When I reached the area I also found my best friend and her parents again. I went inside, paid 10€ and put my stuff into a locker, finally feeling free to go to the first concert, which was Catfish And The Bottlemen for me, as Aileen was there and I was still really impressed by their show at Pukkelpop in Belgium a few weeks before.
I went to the stage and into the first row, to the side, since everything else was still full. I could barley see anything because the stage was too far away from where I stood, but I was too tired to care. I stood in the front row and watched their show on the big screen right in front of me, before I sat down and just listened to it.
During the show I got a message from my friend from New Zealand who had been on an exchange in Germany last year and came back to Lollapalooza, so I left the show shortly before it ended to see her again. It felt amazing to have her back. I got something to eat and drink, before we went to sit in the shadow and watch Jess Glynne perform on one of the main stages. I didn't really know her music besided one song, but she had me the moment she started crying on stage to the point where she couldn't sing anymore, because she was so touched and overwhelmed by everything.
After we listened to a few songs of her we went back to get something to drink and meet up with other friends. I didn't want to see anyone else that day besides New Order, so I went with them. We met Toni again, who was sitting in the back, close to the red Main Stage with her parents, enjoying the sun and the music in the background. We all got something to drink and suddelny I saw Aileen running up to me, telling me she had recognized me by my The NBHD shirt I was wearing. We talked for a few minutes and I asked her if she had fun at the concert we actually wanted to meet at and then went back to my friends.
My friend from New Zealand wanted to go to a concert so my friend Heather, Toni and I followed her until Toni and I lost them both, so we met up with her parents again, just walking around the festival, sitting on the ground listening to Klingande. After that we didn't really do anything besides getting food and drinks, walking around the festival and getting free lighters from Marlboro with a personal engraving, before seeing New Order.
It was already dark when we went to the Alternative Stage to see New Order perform. Toni and I had been awaiting this day since the lineup was released and we weren'T dissapointed. The crowd consisted mostly of older people who had been growing up with New Order, but we didn't mind. It was a really chill atmosphere and no one stressed about people going in front of them. We were pretty much in the back but still had a perfect view on the stage. The show began with a video about Berlin during and after World War ||. It was really emotional and they couldn't have started the show better.
Toni and I enjoyed the show to the fullest along with all the people around us who seemed like they had just been pulled back into their youth. It was an amazing feeling and I felt honored that I got the chance to see them. They had a big screen behind them on which they showed small videos or animations along to every song they played and even though they aren't the youngest band anymore, they put on a very cute and lovely show, with groovy sounds that made everyones mood better.
When they were done after playing for almost two hours Tonis parents, Toni and I went to where they stayed and went to sleep immediately, before we woke up the next morning to begin the last day of the festival with an amazing timetable.
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| The lighter I got |
Tonis parents woke us up after they had already eaten breakfast, to let us know that we could go now. So we went downstairs barefeet, into the dining room and ate breakfast. After we had finished eating we took a shower and then went to a sea nearby to enjoy the sun and some ice cream before going to the festival.
The first act we wanted to see was a group from Germany called Bilderbuch. I didn't know a lot of their songs but was amazed by their show. As they are from Germany, they were able to perfectly interact with the crowd and make everyone enjoy their time, talking about things everyone could relate to but also making jokes about everything, while going crazy on stage. It was really hot again and even though I was enjoying the concert, I was dying of heat within the first half hour, but that didn't stop me.
After Bilderbuch was done I met up with some friends and immediately went to see Years & Years, one of my highlights of the whole festival. This time I went into the crowd and didn't stay outside like I did in Budapest. Olly and the band came on stage and spread a a vibe of joy and happiness. Once again I couldn't stop smiling and dancing during the show. We weren't really in the front so I had a lot of space to dance and sing along and let the burning heat not bother me. They also performed their latest song "Meteorite", which was released a few days later. The show was incredible and Olly once again proved what good of an entertainer he is, dancing around the stage, smiling, singing and just being himself, talking to the crowd all the time.
When Years & Years were done performing, my friend and I went back to where the others were to go and see Milky Chance, who was performing on the Main Stage next to the one Y&Y performed on. We went to the toilet, got something to drink and then sat down in the back, next to the stage to listen to Milky Chance perform. I didn't see anything but for sure enjoyed the music and the break from dancing in the killing heat. Milky Chance and his music spread a good vibe that reached all of us and made us calm down a little bit from all the stress festivals bring with them.
Slowly we became hungry so after the set of Milky Chance Toni, her parents, Carly and I went outside the festival, since it was right in the center of Berlin, and went out to eat something at a restaurant. We stayed there for a while before Carly, Toni and I went back to see Beginner, a german hip-hop group from our hometown Hamburg.
Beginner began with one of my current favorite songs and the moment I heard it starting, I ran across the festival as fast as no one has ever seen me running before. Sadly they were done performing it as soon as I reached the stage. We went into the crowd and watched them perform old as well as newer songs. Toni was completely blown away as they were one of her highlights of the festival, but Carly and I left a little bit earlier to see Radiohead perform on the red Main Stage.
When we reached the stage the crowd already consisted of at least 40.000 of the 30.000 visitors. There was no space and we were literally pushed into the crowd, because more and more people kept coming, it was impossible to leave the crowd. The show started and they played mostly new songs with a few old ones in between. I didn't see a lot of the stage so I followed the show from the screens which showed each band member as an individual so you were able to see the whole band perform at once. After a short time Toni messaged me and told me that her parents want to leave so I had to get out of the crowd somehow to get my things out of their car. It hurt me to leave Radiohead after an hour already, but on the other side I was happy to leave the pushing crowd. I met up with Toni, got my things and then wanted to go back to the festival and see The 1975 who were performing at the same time as Radiohead and I knew I wouldn't get into the crowd for Radiohead again without dying, but Heather and my friend from New Zealand wanted to catch the train so Carly and I left, met with another friend and made our way to the central station, not knowing the ticket for the train we wanted to buy wasn't available anymore, so Heather and Madelaine (from New Zealand), bought a really expensive ticket and left. Because we missed the train and didn't have a ticket anyways, we booked a bus at 6 in the morning and spent the night at the central station.
All in all I gotta say Lollaplooza was a really stressful festival this year and way too big too. It all started with the fact that I had to walk around the whole festival to get my wristband without getting any further information and then having 70.000 people all at one place, without any camping spaces so it was just people everywhere and it was impossible to stay together with your friends. From my point of view it was way too big this year, but I still enjoyed it beacause of the lineup and the time I got to spend with the friends I didn't lose 24/7. For myself I decided to only go again next year if the lineup is as good as it was this year, but for a festival without camping, 70.000 people is too much and too big.
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