Pictures by Stephan Einödshofer
You’re freakin’ out while looking at this beautiful festival-poster designed by Phillip Brosche? Then you should read on! Don’t worry too much if you haven’t heard something about FreakinOut yet. It’s still an underground festival. Ok, maybe you should worry a little bit, indeed, because it’s such a beautiful festival near Munich, Germany. Let me tell you something about the fest. In July the first lovely FreakinOut-Fest ever took place in Waidhofen with the aspiring bands Sleeping Tree, Mount Hush, Limestone Whale and Black Voodoo Train. The organisers decided to bring up another fest. This time the festival was located in Nandlstadt, which is another place in the countryside. Just imagine a location surrounded by nature, fields, cute villages, forest and last but not least… nothing! Except an opposing grass track. Isn’t this perfect for a fuzzy stoner-/psychedelic-/retro-/space-rock weekend? It really was.
Although it was quite cold outside that weekend it wasn’t freezing. Inside the barn, where the stage, merch and also a room with sitting accommodations (and the possibility to get yourself delicious food and coffee) could be found, it was really cozy and warm. Black light emphasizes the trippy and artsy DIY-wall hangings. Man, this looked so cool. I was pretty impressed. Outdoors bonfires delivered warmth.
Due to the fact twelve bands played I can’t and won’t go too much into detail (of course every single band deserves it, the line-up was pretty dope!) and set the focus on the upcoming bands. So get ready to explore some new bands.
Stoabüüz
Stoabüüz opened the festival with a mix of Rock, Grunge and Stoner. The texts are in Bavarian dialect, which is a nice diversion. Moreover the lyrics are quite funny. Jackl, the singer, made a lot of jokes and entertained the audience. He even had a kind of plastic-Halloween hand.. That’s pretty difficult to describe and unluckily I got no pictures. 
Iguana
Iguana. The band, not the green animal. Man, they were so good! I was truly surprised by their show. Everything: the songs, sound, lights and atmosphere chimed together. They also got two synthesizers on stage for nice spaceout-effects. And always-grinning Alexander is probably the happiest bassist I’ve ever seen.
Spaceslug
The three men from Spaceslug did a great job. They came the long way from Wroclaw (about seven hours by car) with their mates and colleagues from Palm Desert. The sound was not too good at the first two songs, but it got better and better until it was pretty good. So I don’t want to complain. At this point props to the sound guy. Listen to their new album Lemanis here.
Wucan
I guess everyone reading this has already heard something about Wucan. Fine krautrock with female vocals and flute. They surely entertained the crowd (after drinking a shot of Jägermeister hehe) and rocked the stage. Mr. Haze reviewed them and to be honest I really don’t know what to add, because it’s complete. So instead of repeating all the facts Mr. Haze already gave I am lazy (sorry guys!) and simply hyperlink the article.
Zone Six
The massive gig of Zone Six showed the immense experience of the great musicians. I mean, hey, they are as old as I am – on this planet since 1997. Yeah, the line-up changed since there. But the band remains the same. On their Facebook-page they talk about a “psychedelic happening when they enter the stage”. I can confirm this for 100%. I was really amazed by their performance combined by their batik-like light-show. Kudos!
Pottwal
Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the first band Pottwal on Saturday (my sister somehow managed to flood the basement, so we were quite busy and came too late 
). Bother! Edit: I went to a Pottwal-gig (they supported Cojones) and it was a blast! Listening to the psychedelic Space Rock-Stoner from the young group feels like entering a trippy fairytale. They even played a cover of Sabbath’s Fairies Wear Boots, which was very suitable. Their Doors-like LSD-organ game is very strong and I’m a super fan of it (obviously hehe). Follow my advice and check them out – their album double-space is great.
Astroboy
So for me the first band on Saturday was Astroboy from Berlin. I was really looking forward to see them live. You should definitely go and listen to their EP, there are great songs on it. It won’t take you more than 20 minutes but it’s so worth it. They mix elements of Garage, Grunge, Stoner and Indie-vocals to a groovy sound (and call it fuzzpop). New stuff from them will be released in December, yeah!
Ultima Radio
Another upcoming band – Ultima Radio from Graz (Austria) – played. I really recommend you to take their EP to heart, too. The first song Moroccan Honey will probably stay in your mind. Besides they just released a split-single with Witchrider. Get into it.
Swan Valley Heights
Swan Valley Heights was the next band. I hope you already know their name, because they produced a killer-album Mr. Groove reviewed here not too long ago. They were on tour that time and the gig was as good as I expected it to be. I was a bit worried about the guitarist, because the stage seemed to be too small for him. He tumbled like two times but kept playing. So I guess nothing happened and he didn’t injure.
Palm Desert
Man this gig was lit as hell. Sorry for repeating myself, but: I was so looking forward to this. They released such great albums like “Pearls from the muddy hollow” or “Songs from the Dead Seas”. I don’t know what to say – the gig was as good as I thought it would be – even a bit better. Those dudes deliver nice albums, great gigs and know how to party.
Spacelords
Spacelords. The name says it all! For me it was the most intense gig from the freakin’ festival with freakin’ bands. Don’t expect short hits – for their music you should be able to engage yourself, take your time and go with the flow. The best way to test whether Spacelords is your cup of tea is to listen to their album “Liquid Sun”, released in 2016. There was no better way to end the fest, like, for real.
For sure none of those words can describe how perfect the FreakinOut was, from the atmosphere to the location. The number of visitors was not too high. This fact created a very familiar spirit among everyone who was there. There was even a very cute dog called Spliff. All knew the boy and almost everybody played with him. Just take a look at my new profile-picture hehe. It was common practice to hang outside at the fire pit – visitors right next to artists. Nowadays, from times of mostly isolated backstage areas, that’s something special and a very nice variety.
Like their Facebook page to stay tuned for their next festival, which will hopefully take place. It isn’t quite sure right now.. But on their Facebook-website favored bands and artists are presented. Follow this link to their official website to get a better picture of the event.
Recent comments