I don’t know if you ever won something cool or if you can even remember when the last time was that you won something super sweet. As for me, I cannot remember having won anything that would burn a deep enough memory to my subconscious in the last couple of years. It was even more surprising that I did win two VIP tickets to the Frauenfeld festival through the Ron Orp Basel newsletter the other week. The little message announcing that Ron had two tickets to give away was quite hidden further down the newsletter. Not even knowing what the Frauenfeld Festival was, I simply sent an email saying that I’d love to go. A day later I had the news that I would indeed go.
At that point I started sweating when I looked at the festival website and saw the lineup. It was gonna be a hip hop festival. Anyone who knows me would argue that I’m not really the guy who looks like a hopper ;-). After the first shock I thought to myself that it would be a wonderful oportunity to get to know the artists in the genre better. Before I could go however, there was still the challenge of finding a partner in crime to go with, because the festival had already started by the time I had got the news. So it was kind of a now or never situation. In total dispair I spent the whole evening going through my entire phone book to call up my friends, both close and distant. It ended up being the sister of a friend of a friend going to the festival with me. A festival blind date so to speak, yay!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5RKZvHzBOfPH2kVrM6Qdp1?si=G7d2GigATrqOaK6hQr14CA The playlist that probably saved me some awkward moments being the only one who didn’t know any song of any artist.
On the train to Frauenfeld I listened to a spotify playlist one of my most knowledgeable hip hop friends created for me in a hurry. It was a true life-saver. Upon getting to the campsite, I put up my tent and could benefit from the VIP camping super close to the stages, which obviously was very nice. Then it was off to the first artist, Kelvyn Colt. Seeing the concert, and coming from a Metal background, I was surprised to witness that there were so many moshpits going on all over the place. Well, at least somewhat moshpits ;-). Another memorable moment was to hear Kelvyn leave the stage and say that it is important to hold on and fight for one’s dreams. Researching later on I discovered that he had struggled to find his way into the music industry in Germany so that he finally left and found footing in the UK where now he has managed to start a proper career.
After that first concert we decided it was time for some proper drinks. So we went to explore the festival grounds and soon found a beer dispensary. The ice-cold sixpack was a great chance for us to go sit down and relax for a second. As we found a chillout lounge and just wanted to ask two guys whether we could take some of the unused loungers away, I had the sudden urge to just ask the guys whether we could sit down with them. It turns out, that was probably the best idea I had all festival long. The two brothers (we discovered) were super nice and just on the same wave as us, it seemed. Funnily enough they were just burning through their first sixer that day as well. That was kind of the moment we clicked as a group and then hung around for the rest of the festival together. Both of them were fairly knowledgeable about the hip hop scene so that I could listen and learn from them about the artists we were gonna go see.
The crew: Se, Johanna, Sasha & Vinz
That evening we saw some great main acts. Amongst them RIN and J. Cole. Especially the latter mightily impressed me, just chillin’ on stage with his retro Umbro suit, rapping his heart out super authentically. The way he moved, the way he expressed himself musically and the way he took the crowd on a journey was really soothing and really reverberated with my soul. It felt like I was floating throught the beats and the rhymes, catching exactly the frequency that he was on. Although I had only heard one song before, it felt like I knew exactly what was going through him at the time.
After the concert we all felt super tired and I was going to go retire to my tent, my feet hurting pretty good. On the way to my tent however, I spotted a nice burger place and I got cravings badly. So I stopped by and got myself a fat burger that I promised myself I would surely finish until I’d have gotten to my tent. Turns out the patties were so dry, I was still struggling to finish it after I had brushed my teeth. The great news was though that I had something to eat when I woke up again sometime around 5 a.m.. The bad news was, that the burger had gotten so dry and stale that it wasn’t very enjoyable anymore. The short ray of hope for something greasy in the morning was thus gone quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbL9H4yqtzA J. Cole - No Role Modelz Live in New York (there wasn’t a great video available from the Frauenfeld 2022)
The last day at the festival was much like the first. Sixpack with the gang to get the party mood going and then seeing great artists go about their business. In the evening, as we were just getting our good spots to see Yung Hurn, the organizers announced that one of the main acts scheduled for a later slot had encountered issues at the airport and wouldn’t make it. They then moved Yung Hurn back to the slot of this artist. That probably was a bad idea, as Yung Hurn is well know to rap about illicit substances and their use. Judging from the concert, it seemed that he may have had some on the stage even. While his slot was scheduled to last an hour, after 40 minutes, the concert had ended. That was shortly after he sang a song with the line saying that he had only one nose of coke left. :D So probably that kind of did it for him for the evening.
Wir ham’ nur noch eine Nase Koks.Yung Hurn - Frauenfeld Festival 2022
While Yung Hurn was probably having a great time for himself backstage, we then headed over to the next stage where Sido was gonna play not much after that. And deliver he did. His show was the best I had seen all festival long. The epxerience as an artist he brought to the stage, his catchy beats and tunes, as well as his enternaining character really made the crowd go wild. He was followed by A$AP Rocky, probably one of the best rappers out there at the moment. He really blew my brains right out. The only thing that was a bit unfortunate was that his whole setup was really dark and that probably 50,000 people wanted to see him. The mix of that meant that you could hardly see him on the screens and getting close enough to him was no easy feat. But all those who know me will know, that a bit of cheek is just what is needed in such situations. I simply took a stage dive and got down right in front of the barriers, having a magnificent view on the show myself.
All in all the weekend was a fantastic opportunity to get into hip hop more. I definitely took away some great additions to my hip hop playlist and even added some songs to my all time favorites. The only downside of the festival was my catching covid, the risk of which was obviously pretty high with over 100K people coming together. But with the mild course of it I can definitely say that it was worth it.