Festival Friday with Peter Fox, Kraftklub, Betterov and Billy Talent

Field patina is the hurricane festival look 2023: In and around Scheeßel it has not rained significantly for weeks and even if the sky is overcast on Friday, it is already dusty on the way to the site, like last year. Once again, the #Hurricaneswimteam is running dry instead of wading through mud puddles like they once did – hello, climate change, is that you?

For the course of the festival, the dry, not too warm weather is of course welcome and so the weekend starts according to plan with acts like Dylan and Sondaschule – “Today is a good day” is also the opinion of the Donots, who open official circle pits in front of the Forest Stage and celebrate for “Everything must be broken” yourself. Conclusion: “It grinds between my teeth, that’s reasonable!” The Ibbenbürener Gang also drops a sentence that can’t be repeated often enough at the moment: “There is no sex, drugs and rock’n’roll without consent!” Say it louder for the people in the back!

But it is also a fact: At the hurricane, there is already a general consensus on how to celebrate peacefully, diversely and consensually. Toxic male, nobody needs that here – only at Hau-den-Lukas some dudes with Viking helmets swell their chests a little when they manage to ring an orange headband with the hammer. Many long-haired rockers now wear precisely styled French braids or cute space buns. Others gallop across the square in dazzling leggings or draw attention to themselves with plush hats whose sewn-on floppy ears can wave to the beat. But the brilliant comeback of bucket hats cannot be denied either – a frog variant is particularly popular, of course also with cute little ears.

On the Wild Coast Stage, Betterov is getting really cozy for the first time – in addition to hits like “Dussmann”, which is sung along enthusiastically and applauded, the new song “Jil Sander Sun” can also be heard. A few meters further, Bosse also plays a new track with “Traum”. Together with the Hanse girls choir and the audience, who can read the admittedly not very complex refrain from the screens for safety reasons, a live recording of the song is made together with the Hurricane Festival.

Shake your bacon

A Peter Fox concert is always a party – and with a whole gallery full of dancers, the open-air gig turns into a sweaty visit to a Jamaican dancehall club. A number of extras shake and celebrate on stage, so that the exuberant mood is easily transferred to the audience. There’s only one thing that still needs a bit of tutoring: “I know we’re in Germany, but please don’t clap the number one!”

If you want to continue dancing after the show, you’re in good hands with Loop Artist Tash Sultana. Whether trumpet, drums, guitar or flute – each of the precisely recorded soundtracks result in catchy compositions that attract more and more Hurricane visitors over the course of the set.

Some of them now look like they’ve been toiling hard in the coal mine all day. Sweat, beer and dust are on the tired faces, but two missions in the cloud of dust are still to come. Fans are celebrating the band’s 20th anniversary together with Billy Talent – the banger “Try Honesty” was released in 2003 and makes the Canadians, who are closing the evening on the Forest Stage as headliners today, a bit sentimental.

Kraftklub let the wheel of fortune decide

Next door, the Kraftklub herald the last highlight of the day with a streamer explosion. The crowds in front of the stage prompted Felix Kummer to pause and point out that everyone should take care of each other. And gropers? They can piss off now, please. Kraftklub apparently finds it difficult to create a balanced set list with all the song material. You don’t necessarily want to play old songs today, but this dilemma can be solved satisfactorily with a wheel of fortune. Spectator Marie has made a sign and is allowed to shoot – the choice falls on a hit from the “late puberty phase”: “Scheißindiedisko”. The Chemnitz band will party until two in the morning – a successful start to what is undoubtedly one of the best festivals in Germany.