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the xx - zurich openair 2013 - LOVED IT!

#music #zoa2013 #openair #concert #hipstamatic

awesome moments at #ZOA2013

#ZOA2013 #liveonstage #stage #staff #staffie #live music #awesome #moments #sunshine #nighttime #summer ending

Zurich Open Air Festival 2013!

Santé! Mes amis, c'etait un week-end incroyable! Let me try and break it down for you as best I can. I apologise in advance for the length of this post. Bear with me! Day 1: After accidentally being dropped off at the artists entrance, El and I lugged all of our bags and camping gear (that was graciously donated by Carol and Roman) to the proper entrance of the festival - which set us back about half an hour because we, in classic 'us' style, got lost and were stuck behind numerous locked gates! We were finally given our wristbands and camping passes, and gained entry through the elusive spectators entrance! We set up our mini tent and decided to blow up the mattress later as we wanted to go watch Poliza's set. She was performing on the Tent Stage, which meant that we could revel in the wonderful shade! Poliza put on a wonderful performance. Her band consists of two drum kits, a bass player and various synth layers and the result is heavy beats that often steal your breath and multiple moments of rising intensity! I couldn't help thinking too that she looks a bit like a young Julie Andrews! Afterwards we went exploring to see what stalls were set up and what the other stages looked like. The Dance Circus was also undercover and located directly behind the Tent Stage - meaning that these two stages sadly had the potential to facilitate clashes of music. Oh well. The Blue Stage was the main stage, having both the largest performance space and room for a far larger audience due to its 'open air' location at the end opposite the other two stages. We soon noticed that we had a wealth of choice for food and drink stalls - with choices ranging from Tibetan, Singaporean and Mexican to burgers, chips and crêpes! There was also a place called the Cardinal Factory, where there was a massive fan for cooling off after dancing too hard, and a rooftop chill out space with cushions, umbrellas and a decent enough view of the main stage! The festival also had an initiative running where you would pay 2 extra franks for your drink or plate of food to receive a token, and upon returning your used cup/plate to a deposit station with the token, you got 2 franks back! Sadly, even by the end of that first day you could tell the system wasn't working extremely well - with rubbish all over the ground amounting to who knows how much money! That night we returned to the Tent Stage with 45 mins to spare and staked out a front row position for Two Door Cinema Club! During this time we met Jack, Toby and Tom, who were Scottish, Swiss and English respectively but all lived in Geneva. Pretty cool! Two Door were very impressive and displayed various levels of class during their show. Firstly, they were dressed to the nines in impeccable suits and slick hair, then this was accompanied by their wine glasses that were filled throughout by backstage crew and then of course their music was tight and the lights worked in perfect sync with the beat. I really enjoyed it!

Because we were dead tired, El and I decided to be oldies and go to bed early, without even attempting to blow up the mattress. And boy didn't we regret that decision! Hard ground, moist tent and music blaring till 4 am is not a recipe for sleep that I'd recommend! Day 2: On Friday we were woken by the intense humidity that had been created in our tent as the sun rose! After showering, leaving the festival to find a kiosk for coffee and chilling in the campers tent (where there was a bar and chill music playing), we decided to head into the festival grounds and begin a long day of waiting as we wanted to be in the front row for the bands on the Blue Stage that night. Before we went to sit down in front of the stage, we went to the SRF Radio stall where I won a bandana and a green flower pin for my hair! We then got some yummy Swiss Milk frozen yoghurt with blueberries and went to find a spot in the shade. Whilst waiting we met Katia and Denise, two lovely Swiss girls who were also attempting the same as us! We quickly became buds and sat along the fence together chatting and eating for hours. We soon found out that Katia is Croatian as well and has a Harry Potter tattoo on her leg. Obviously we're soul sisters! Time passed quickly with the girls to interact with and soon enough we were watching the great Belle & Sebastian as the sun began to set! Before their second last song, Steve the lead singer pointed at me and said 'Would the pretty girl with the flower in her hair like to come up and dance?' and just like that I was whisked over the barricade by a security guard and led onstage! I awkwardly introduced myself to the band members and began dancing alone, smiling and waving at the cameras in an attempt to disguise the awkwardness! Slowly other members of the audience were being picked out by security and soon enough I had dancing friends! The view was amazing, the crowd was massive and the adrenaline rush was awesome. What an experience! After their set, I went to the bathroom accompanied by many compliments on my dancing skills haha! In less than an hour the stage was graced by the amazing Franz Ferdinand and yet again we witnessed an impeccable performance by some very talented musicians. This band in particular knows exactly how to please a crowd and keep them involved. Their energy and sound were both incredible, and the mosh really came alive! Afterwards it was an hour wait for the Arctic Monkeys, and you could feel the tension and excitement growing exponentially as the crowd slowly grew even larger! And what a show it was! They played a perfect mixture of old and new, brushing off slight technical issues with ease and maintaining an electric stage presence (aided no doubt by the allure of their front man, Alex Turner, who is a very sexy specimen if I do say so myself!). We jumped, grooved and had a thoroughly enjoyable night! Katia's sister was given their set list after the show, and after appreciating that we walked around in a bubble of bliss for an hour or so because of such an amazing day! Sadly then the time came to say goodbye to our new friends, it was such a pleasure spending the day in the company of such lovely people! When we returned to our tent at about 2am we began to inflate the mattress inside our tent. Much to our dismay, it was soon evident that the mattress was far too big for the tent, making it fold up at the sides before it was even 3/4 blown up! So we decided to leave both it and the bag with the pump beside the tent and fell straight to sleep! Day 3: After a surprisingly sound and comfortable sleep, we were woken on Saturday morning by a mattress whacking the side of our tent. So I jumped out to see if it was in fact our mattress and sure enough, I saw our mattress floating above the sea of tents that sprawled in front of me! I eventually caught up to our thief, and after engaging in a conversation that mainly consisted of him attempting to convince me that it was his, I eventually tired him out and he dropped our stuff and ran. What a win! After that interesting occurrence, we decided we should deflate the mattress and pack it away so as to avoid any other potential robberies! After realising that the music we wanted to watch started at 5pm, we decided to be spontaneous and caught a tram into Zurich city centre!(side note: our festival bands also doubled as unlimited travel passes for the weekend...amazing!). Once there we walked around the shops, grabbed an iced coffee, caught up on some social networking that we couldn't access at the festival due to the lack of wifi and sat in a park eating pretzels. By 3:30pm we began the journey back to the festival and after playing a hilarious drinking game at our tent to try and utilise some of the alcohol Roman had generously given us, we went in and watched the first band of the evening: Everything Everything. These guys surprised me as I had just seen their music as material that would be hard to reproduce live. But their vocal harmonies and the combination of synth keyboard and electric guitar made for a surprisingly good performance! Sadly though the crowds energy levels didn't match that of the band nor their songs, which is always a bummer! We then had an hour or two to kill and so we set out to discover the infamous Aussie tent that people had been telling us about the entire weekend! We found it easily enough because of the massive 'We Come From The Land Down Under' sign alongside their tent! After meeting them we began to watch a fascinating German drinking game that was taking place on the boardwalk. Explaining will take too long, but let's just say it was madness! It was whilst observing this madness that we met two siblings from just outside of Zurich, whose family speak Frenglish at home. So jealous! I am just in awe at how much of a beautifully delicious cultural melting pot Switzerland really is! It was then onward to watch The XX and James Blake. After watching two songs of The XX in the rain and almost suffocating in the enormous mosh, we decided to head over to James Blake early and stake out yet another front row position (apparently they're our speciality!). James' set was incredible, as to be expected. Both him and his two fellow band members are just so talented and their sound is indescribable. It's the sort of music that'll easily send you into a trance and take you on a journey of self-discovery. How awesome. He played his two covers as well (Limit to your Love and Case of You), both of which he does beautifully and even though at times you could hear the distant 'doof doof' from the Dance Circus tent, nothing could deter from the raw emotion and talent being displayed. Truly incredible! And so after yet another amazing day, we said goodnight once more to our cozy tent! Day 4: On Sunday we packed up everything, said goodbye to what had been our home for the weekend and caught a tram back to my cousin Tania's house. After having a much needed shower and packing everything properly, Theo and Tania took us out for a wonderful vegetarian dinner and then saw us off on yet another overnight bus back to France! We are now back home in Tours and our O-week festivities start tomorrow, which I'm really excited about! I shall keep you posted! Sorry again about the length. Seriously, congrats if you made it this far! All my love, Em xx

#zurich open air #ZOA2013 #switzerland #travel #travel blog #france

Everything Everything #zoa2013 #everythingeverything #festival #2013 #zurich

#everythingeverything #festival #zoa2013 #2013 #zurich

Zürich Openair 2013 - Review

Liebe Leute, Bräute und sonstige schräge Vögel des Zürich Openairs 2013, ich möchte Euch danke sagen. Danke für ein friedliches, arschgeiles Openair voller hochkarätiger Acts mit einer eben so hochstehende Bühnenshow. Es war ne super Stimmung, jeden Tag sind wir erst wieder bei Tagesanbruch schlafen gegangen, um den Vorabend wieder aufs neue zu Toppen.

Mein Review, und so mit auch meine Lob- und Kritikmeldung, gehen dieses Jahr in erster Linie ans OK des Openairs. Ihr habt es trotz mieser Soundqualität am Freitag Abend (mit dem Samstag habt ihr Euch gerettet), hingekriegt, ein Openair zu organisieren, das alles in allem recht durchdacht war und ohne grössere "Fails" über die Bühne ging. Ich klopfe Euch hier auf die Schulter. Ein zwei WC Stationen mehr fürs nächste mal und ich bin richtig glücklich!

Zu den Act's, meine Likes und Dislikes:

Absolut top waren Belle and Sebastian, The XX, James Blake, Tom Oddel, Fettes Brot, S O H N & Paul Kalkbrenner. Was mir nicht so gefallen hat oder bei denen ich weis, dass es besser geht, war : Ellie Goulding (sorry honey) & Two Door Cinema Club. Meine eigentlichen Favoriten haben leider nicht so geglänzt. Ich geb hier mal der kleinen Bühne und der Soundqualität die Schuld.

Auch dem Wetter ein Dankeschön, dass es uns grösstenteils mit Sonne beglückte und uns vor grössere Nässe bewahrte.

Und zu guter letzt, möchte ich Euch bitten mir Eure Bilder, eure Storys und euren Spotted oder Lost's Meldungen des diesjährigen Openair Zürichs zuzuschicken. Sprich, habt ihr wen oder was gesehen der Euch nicht mehr aus dem Kopf geht, ihr die Nummer aber nicht habt, oder habt ihr was verloren und möchtet es wieder, dann schreibt an [email protected] und Euch wird geholfen.

Weitere Bilder findet ihr unter anderem auf der Usgang.ch!

Danke Euch und bis aufs nächste mal liebe Freunde. Hat Spass gemacht mit Euch!