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Erstellt am: 17. 4. 2010 - 19:17 Uhr

Sound City Innsbruck: Coming to Life

Or: My attempt to go to 12 parties in one night.

This year's Soundcity festival started on a slightly weird note, due to the fact that there were artists booked who could not come due to nearly all flights being suspended around Europe. These artists included quasi-headliners the Filthy Dukes (scheduled for a DJ-set), among others.

Nevertheless, late afternoon the mood was set at Franziskanerplatz, with DJ Kristian Davideck rocking it loud in front of the ticket booth, with some straight old-school techno atop a makeshift van-stage.

We absolutely insist that you get in the mood to party.

It took a little while, but eventually people started to dance, despite being sober. I decided to take a look around, and see how it was going at some of the 12 venues across Innsbruck, where set-up was well underway.

A little after 21 Uhr, I set out into the Altstadt with a wrinkled photocopy of the timetable and a cheap tourist map. To start with, I decided to play it safe and go see a band I already knew: the Sofa Surfers, performing downstairs at the Treibhaus.

Despite clearly not having had the opportunity to fly here, the ones I spoke to seemed a little jet lagged in person. Weirdly, this did not affect their live performance at all; if anything the show was heavier and more intense than usual.

One problem I always have at these big festivals is never knowing where to go. At any given time, there may be three or more artists playing who I would really like to see. This time I decided to let other people decide.

On the way to Studio 21 (where Shroomtune was probably performing) I made friends with a group of young internationals who insisted I instead go with them to the Weekender Club, to see Port O'Brien.

Despite my initial concerns that said band might not even be there due to the whole volcanic ash issue, this turned out to be good advice.

There they are!

The band played a very high energy set, and at one point invited the crowd in droves to dance on stage with them.

I had a splendid time, and this was a highlight of the evening. The crowd went absolutely mad several times, and in a good way.

After Port O'Brien went off-stage, I headed back to the Stadtsaal where there was some random DJ playing. According to the timetable, it would have been the Filthy Dukes, were it not for a surplus of volcanic ash. Tja.

The DJ was good, no problems there, and so was whoever was playing at the Stadtcafe (where I'd narrowly missed seeing Jahcoozi earlier), but neither venue could match the energy of the live bands I'd seen earlier.

Or maybe it was that I couldn't match their energy, having already expended all of it dancing. Either way, with six clubs, two bands, and at least three DJ sets behind me, it was one hell of a Friday night.