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fromStefan Simon
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At six locations on the banks of the Main in Offenbach, the weekend riviera festival impresses with live music, art exhibitions and performances.
The setting for a music festival couldn’t be better on this late summer evening in Hafen 2. The tables and chairs are almost fully occupied, people relax and drink their drinks or treat themselves to a small snack.
It is prepared for the second day of the Riviera Festival. The festival for pop and club culture took place over the weekend at six different cultural centers on the banks of the Main. Live music, DJs, art exhibitions and performances mingled in Hafen 2, on the wagon on the Kulturgleis, in the temporary summer building as an open-air and box theater at the Kaiserlei, in the Commons Cafe in the Digital Retro Park in the city center and in the Parkside Studios on the former site of the Allessa chemical factory .
Saturday evening starts a little late with the Dutch trio Lewsberg. With their cool sound, the creaky guitar, the stoic chanting and the cynical, black-humored lyrics, they are definitely reminiscent of iconic groups such as The Velvet Underground, Television and the Talking Heads. However, the ambience doesn’t really fit together. The audience sits like a wall in front of the band and people are talking quite loudly at the next table, children are laughing, jumping around on a trampoline, and chickens, yes, chickens are running around between the chairs and tables.
After the very successful start by Lewsberg, it continues with AS Fanning, a mix of Irish folk music and 60s psychedelic. But the author of this text moves on in the direction of the harbor garden and the blue crane. On the way there, some sprayers let off steam on the graffiti wall, a few people sit in the harbor garden, listening to the electronic music.
The shuttle boat Gaby is supposed to depart from the blue crane in the harbor district. Only a display, which you have to find first, indicates that Gaby is leaving here. A young woman, who is sitting on the floor and is responsible for the entrance control, explains that Gaby drove away a few minutes ago. “The boat only leaves every hour and a half. But it’s worth waiting, ”she says. Isn’t she a little bored sitting around here all by herself? “Nope, I can have my beer in peace,” she says and laughs.
So it is now on foot and not with Gaby to the wagon on the cultural platform. On the way along the banks of the Main there are sleeping geese, in the parking lot next to it a couple of youngsters lean against a car, while Gaby is sailing past. What is noticeable on the way from Port 2 via the blue crane to the wagon is that there is very little to suggest that a music and culture festival is taking place. There are no posters, notices, or arrows hung from green cardboard on lanterns or anywhere else.
In addition, guests only pay admission for Port 2, the summer construction and Parkside Studios. Almost 30 euros are due for the whole weekend. The wagon, on the other hand, is free of charge. “16 euros for a day ticket is really generous. And if you then pay four euros for a beer in port 2, it will be expensive fun. But the audience in Hafen 2 can also afford that, ”says Lou. Lou and her companion Simon were in port 2 anyway to see Lewsberg. The night before, Simon was at Les Trucs at Parkside Studios. Now the two are waiting for the one-man show Idiot Egg.
It’s not easy to aptly explain this bizarre Leipzig man in his egg costume. The website of the Riviera Festival says: “Anyone who thinks that 40 years after the invention of the punk genre has reached the end of the line has done the math without egg punk.” And further: “The self-titled album shines with weird joke lyrics and a mixture of surf and garage on mate overdose. ”Very appropriate.
The audience celebrates the punk egg and Lou’s fears that some of those present will leave if Idiot Egg performs is not confirmed. On the contrary – there will be more. People laugh, applaud the egg loudly and towards the end they carry Idiot Egg on their hands.
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