Knorkator - May, 1^st 2001

In Austria, as in many other countries, the first day of May, Labour Day, is a holiday. It is celebrated with parades but also with a festival. As part of the festival, the "Planet Music;" a venue for concerts puts up a stage and invites some bands to play. This years program were the finals of a contest for young bands.
After the contestants three more acts were scheduled: Boon, the winner of last years contest, Knorkator and Tanzwut. Also, I had heard about Knorkator before, I didn't know the band well and I think I would not have gone to the festival just to hear them. I was there to see Tanzwut again.

Unfortunately, they could not play. They had had an accident on their way to Vienna, their equipment was damaged and a member of their team had died in the accident.
We were told this only after Knorkator had finished. I was a bit disappointed, but I understood that they would not play under these circumstances. I hope they will get over their loss.

Anyway, I came to the meadow during Boon's soundcheck. I don't want to say too much about them. They were not bad considering that they were just at the beginning of their career, but I was not impressed. After watching them for maybe half their act I looked for a place to sit. I found a seat in an area where I could not see the stage.
I met some acquaintances and waited for the beginning of Knorkator. It took some time because after Boon had finished the winners of the contest were announced. When Knorkator finally started to play I was still sitting at my bench. From what I have heard about them, I was not sure if I would like their music. It took less than a song to recognise that I wanted to seem them and enjoy the concert up close.
During the next songs I constantly moved closer to the stage through the crowd. I only stopped when I met a friend of mine. He was standing close enough. The sound was well enough and I had a good view of the stage.

Knorkator calls itself "die meiste Band der Welt" (the most band of the world) and they actually are quite crazy. Their show is very funny and the music is to my taste. It's heavy but also has melody. I'm thinking about buying one of their records. They consists of an unobtrusive drummer, a stoic guitarist, an animated singer and a funny co-singer and someone in the background. The singer and co-singer were alternately hammering at some kind of organ, but I think it was only decoration. The music continued to play, when they were not playing the instrument. The singer usually sings in a normal voice but sometimes he switched to falsetto. I'm not sure if he really did it or if it was a technical trick. Anyway, it sounded good and added to their music.
The two singers constantly were handling various stuff and probs. They were poring confetti, vegetables and sausages into the audience or throwing oranges and melons. Fortunately I was standing too far from the stage for any of it to annoy me. The main singer was seemed to be a sports freak and exhibitionist. He amused the audience with various handstands and showing off his intimate and other body parts.

During the encores I again pushed forward as to secure good places for Tanzwut. I made it to 3^rd row. All during the day some people had been dancing wildly near the stage. Actually their activity could not be called dancing anymore. They were jumping around like crazy, pushing and shoving each other and annoying the people standing around them not wanting to be a part of it. They seemed to be on ecstasy or something like it. I usually also like to dance and shake during concerts but not like that. It's a wonder nobody got hurt seriously, but they didn't seem to mind and were in a good and friendly mood.
Anyway during the encore the singer of Knorkator announced he wanted to try stage diving and so her ordered the people to stand together. This stopped the crazy jumping about and they did not start again when the diving was done.

After Knorkator had left the stage I was able to get to the front row, but to no avail. It was announced that Tanzwut was not coming and that was it.
It is regrettable that we were not told earlier. I was holding back a little because I wanted to save some of my energy for Tanzwut. Had I know that Knorkator was the final act I would have let myself go a little more during their songs. I hope they will be come back to Vienna for a concert of their own.

written on: May, 10^th, 2001