Frequency – Ed Sheeran showed great enthusiasm on the opening day

Sheeran was a guest at the festival in 2012. He played for an afternoon in front of a crowd of about 200 people. It’s another way of describing a career that has gone from an unknown newcomer to superstardom.

In any case, “Castle On The Hill” immediately ignites a spark, and the 33-year-old singer also uses this song as the opening song. Soon after, he explains the indispensable loop station to everyone who attends his concerts for the first time. It is fascinating how the musician builds his songs layer by layer with loops recorded live, so that he sounds like a band.

Sheeran says he played his first songs like “The A-Team” in London pubs and nobody came. Times have changed. Today, this one-man show also works well in front of a large audience. Whether it was “Shivers”, “Give Me Love”, “Shape Of You”, “Love Yourself” written for Justin Bieber, “Think Out Loud”, the widely rapped “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” interlude or the closing “Bad Habits” – the singer-songwriter from Halifax controlled the crowd, right down to the back row. Some pyrotechnics and visuals did the rest.

Before the headliner took to the stage, the stage belonged to Calum Scott – it was only fitting that the British pop star, who rose to fame in 2015 on TV casting show Britain’s Got Talent, has accompanied his compatriot throughout the tour. However, anyone hoping that Scott and Sheeran would sing You Are The Reason together, as they often do, was disappointed. Scott said he sang the song that means the most to him alone. Briefly moved to tears by the audience’s reaction, he delivered solid pop music, ending with his breakthrough song – a ballad version of Robin’s Dancing On My Own, which incorporated a verse from I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.

Ed Sheeran was able to sign up for a show in St. Pölten in the spring, which is why the festival was extended to a fourth day this year. In a way, it was a soft launch – there was no traditional second stage (green stage), Red Bull stage and night park.

The Space Stage was the venue for Wednesday’s event. Here a colourful mix of styles was celebrated. The main stage kicked off at 3pm with Dasha, who played cosy, sometimes rocking country-pop on violin and banjo. In a chatty mood, the hundreds of fans who showed up were impressed (“I love you”) and less impressed with the muggy afternoon (“Oh my god, it’s hot”) – many festival-goers tried the same thing with a (foot) bath. To counteract some of the effects of Traisen, the 24-year-old American also performed her hit song “Austin”, which, as she told the crowd, went viral last year and completely changed her life.

DJ and music producer Regard from Kosovo followed up with a tough cut, a cover of Eric Prydz’s “Call on me,” which was a big hit. However, at Frequency, he delivered a rocking DJ set that included Lana del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” and the 90s Eurodance hit “The Rhythm of the Night” – although the night was actually a long way from the turntable-meat grinder.

The American singer-songwriter David Kushner then moved his musical activities to quieter areas. This gentleman from Chicago, with a distinctive baritone voice, performs melancholic songs in the style of “Sad Man” in front of a growing audience, from “Misery Man”, his first hit on TikTok, to the recently released “Sweet Oblivion”. Included in his first album “The Dichotomy”, released at the end of August.

Tream from Bavaria turned the party area into a giant beer tent with raucous techno music, brass and squeeze bands that seemed to be borrowed from local music clubs. Country youth, alcohol, women and cars were a blue-white thread running through the work of Germany’s first party rapper, who, with a Bayern scarf tied around his neck and short leather shoes and Nike sneakers on his feet, got the cheering crowd going – especially thanks to the flame fountain on his stage. Greetings from the Munich Oktoberfest. Because they wanted to get the crowd’s approval, they chanted “I’m from Austria”.

As the first major event after the Taylor Swift concert in Vienna was cancelled due to terrorist plots, this year’s festival will have increased security precautions. Interior Minister Gerhard Kärner (ÖVP) stressed at a press conference in St. Pölten in the afternoon that the already extensive security measures in the past have been “increased and strengthened” and that controls have been tightened. The head of the department once again assured that there is no specific threat at the frequency and there never was. However, the risk situation has generally increased.

Frequency organizer Harry Jenner certainly has no uneasy feelings after the cancellation of Swift’s concert, also organized by Barracuda. ​​”Not at all,” he told APA. Security is always top priority for the festival, which is now in its 24th year. Now, police and authorities have stepped up supervision again, for example, using metal detectors at the entrance for the first time. Although this year’s Frequency was not sold out, with 45,000 visitors per day, he is already “very satisfied.”

After today’s soft launch, Frequency Music Garden will have a full programme until Saturday. For example, audiences can choose from punk by The Offspring, hip-hop by RAF Camora, rap by Apache 207, relaxed rhythms by Peter Fox or club beats by Brutismus 3000. Sweaty days are inevitable – not least because of the persistent heat, although occasional thunderstorms can provide a brief rejuvenating break.

(Serve – https://www.frequency.at/）