Music Editor Jamie Kutos gives us their festival survival guide, having attended rock and metal festival Nova Rock three years in a row.
If you happen to be in Vienna in the first week of July, you might be surprised by the crowds. Pierced, tattooed people in their twenties and thirties take over supermarkets and camping supply stores, all making the same mandatory stops.
My friend and I went to an outdoor shop to pick up our last essentials and got advice from the customer next to us, sporting an Iron Maiden shirt and tunnelled ears, on which black rain jacket is the cheapest. The pink haired sales assistant lamented that she didn’t have enough money to attend while helping us pick out foldable water bottles.
The guy at the off-licence speculates that it will be muddy again this year. An entire city awash with festival fever.
Nova Rock is a rock and metal festival held annually in Nickelsdorf, Austria since 2005 (excluding a two-year break during Covid). It welcomes fans from all over Europe, both for the full four-day camping experience or day tickets.
This year, the overall attendance reached over 200,000, with Volbeat, The Cure, Iron Maiden and Bring Me The Horizon headlining. It was my third year going and I’ve picked up on a few things by now. Here’s what you need to know:
The Weather Is Going to Suck (Prepare for Everything)
This is a universal truth of camping festivals. It’s going to be sunshine and 30 degrees while you are setting up, and storming at the sets you were the most excited for. This year, it unfortunately hit during the brass band Nickelsdorfer Böhmische; a beloved Nova Rock rite of passage complemented by free beer and silly yellow hats. Every year on the third day, a traditional brass band plays to thousands of metalheads crowdsurfing and moshing. It’s one of the most unique and inexplicable Nova Rock experiences, and unfortunately this year’s was cut short by the downpour.
It’s Never Quiet (Wear Earplugs or Endure Buzzing Ears for Two Weeks)
Another lovely part about Nova is the amount of additional entertainment available between shows. As someone who grew up emo in an environment where the only people listening to that music were the ones I shared it with, there is something incredibly special about recognising every song you hear, alongside thousands, when walking across the campgrounds. The party tent, playing remixes of metal hits, goes until four in the morning and the first bands start soundchecking at the Red Bull Stage at ten. good reason to invest in earplugs.
Organise, Organise, Organise (While You Are Still Sober)
It’s easy to underestimate the amount of organisation that goes into successful festival-attending, at least if you want to see all your favourite artists.
The Nickelsdorf campsite is huge and there are three stages so it takes a while to navigate between them. You will want to plan out which bands to see where and what food to get while you are still somewhat rested and relatively sober. If you want to see both the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter and Tom Morello (which you should), you might just have to dodge beer cups, puddles and smokers while sprinting across the grass.
See Artists You Don’t Know (You Paid Already Anyway)
One of the best parts of festivals i is discovering new artists. Whether you’re going to shows because your friends like them and you operate on a buddy system, just hanging out at the Red Bull Stage, which platforms smaller artists, or going to see bands whose name you remember from a magazine, it’s always worth going to at least a few new artists.
I’ve personally found some of my favourite artists through seeing them at Nova, and the same holds true for any other festival.