Festival finale
Lido Sounds: finale with pop pomp and nostalgia
Lido Sounds 2024 ended on Sunday evening at the Donaulände in Linz with a pompous pop show by Sam Smith. Around 70,000 fans celebrated top national and international stars and created a perfect summer party atmosphere in mostly imperial weather. The 2025 edition, which has already been confirmed, is already selling like hot cakes.
"Linz representig" is a catchphrase at this year's Lido Sounds. Special attention is paid to artists with an Austrian flavor and so the fourth and final day naturally begins with a home game. The three-man punk rock combo Anda Morts, tailored to the frontman, is the perfect choice to shake the dust from the bones of the already somewhat tired fans after three days of full throttle. This is achieved with clever lyrics, a cool attitude of denial and a humorous backdrop, during which the audience's bare buttocks are immediately thrust out at them. Punk has to be dirty, of course. Songs such as "Adidas für Mama", "Wütend", "Nix Dagegen" or - of course particularly fitting - "Sommer". But always with a light-footed pop appeal. Anda doesn't make any big announcements in between, there's far too little time for that. Let the music do the talking - the Linzer Bua and his live band are also less reserved in the following interview.
Casual fun
"We came here straight from the German Fusion Festival, it was a great gig." The early playing time on the big stage is a little unusual for a punk band that normally plays in small clubs or sweaty basements in the evening. "It can go either way, but there were a lot of people there anyway, it was great. But if not, it wouldn't have mattered." Anda Morts' nihilism is infectious. DIY instead of capitalist career goals. Unconstrained fun instead of format music designed on the drawing board. Of course, the Linz scene was also formative for Anda Morts. "We are a small town. Punks, sprayers, hip-hoppers and others come together and people visit and support each other." The next step is a few weeks' songwriting vacation. "Half the album will be solo, half with a band." It will be interesting to see.
The vibrant local music scene is prominently highlighted, especially in the first half of the day. Intense alternative pop with Christl, post-punk with Salo, who spontaneously replaced the ill German band Kaffkiez, and the incomparable art of Styrian Anja Plaschg aka Soap&Skin. Wearing a gray mesh top and massive boots, she sits at the piano and interprets The Doors classic "The End" in a dark form at the beginning of the set. She is then joined by a five-piece brass and string section, and the cellist's desk with the scores falls over. After two days of deadly heat, a bit of wind has made its way into the grounds, the sun hides for a long time behind a diffuse cloud cover. It's almost as if a supernatural force is conjuring up the perfect scenery for the artist.
Styrian force of nature
The exceptional musician plays and sings her way through a chamber music-like set, which one would rather see in the dignified ambience of the Konzerthaus, but which also knows how to spark a special magic in the festival setting. The intense "Me And The Devil" is performed at a high vocal pitch, briefly silencing the last gossip on the festival site. David Bowie ("Girl Loves Me") and Lana Del Rey ("Gods And Monsters") are also given a fervent cover version by the Styrian. The partly dissonant sound, which is not at all suited to a relaxed festival atmosphere, can best be described, like she herself, as a force of nature. With the uncompromising nature of their performance, they stand out thematically and stylistically from the crowd of indie bands.
Nostalgia played a major role on the last day of the festival, which was unfortunately very poorly attended with around 11,000 fans. With the Hives, the Editors and the Libertines, there are three such bands lined up, who mainly shaped the 2000s and more or less unscathed in the more recent past. The Hives kicked things off last summer with the release of "The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons", their first album after an eleven-year break and a surprising end to the band's unspoken hiatus. Since then, they have also been keen to play live again and have added a few more extensive tours to their festival gigs. The brothers Pelle and Niklas Almqvist have aged considerably since their last appearance in Austria in 2015 ("Rock In Vienna"), but you wouldn't know it from their energy on stage.
Return of the forefathers
They made garage rock music history with songs like "Hate To Say I Told You So", "Tick Tick Boom" and "Try It Again", all of which were of course celebrated. In their distinctive black and white suits and with plenty of fire in their asses, they rocked their way through a set full of classics and newer songs. Pelle repeatedly seeks contact with the audience and acts like an exalted dervish. However, the ravages of time are also taking their toll on the energetic Swedes, and your concert with them is no longer quite as explosive as it used to be. "We're a band without a big plan," the Almqvist brothers explain in the "Krone" talk beforehand, "at some point we'll find each other again and make music. Until we finished last year, we didn't even know that we would write another album." Now, at any rate, it's full steam ahead. With the rampant garage rock revival, the forefathers are not to be missed.
The Editors, as experience has shown, have a finer edge and provide the dark touch to the day. With the release of "EBM" in 2022 and the enthronement of keyboardist Blanck Mass, the band has moved closer to its electronic past and scaled back the guitars in favor of synthesizers. Songs like the opener "Strawberry Lemonade" ignite a spicy fire, but overall the performance sometimes comes across as routine and serene. In addition, frontman Tom Smith seems indisposed and fickle, but old classics like "Munich" or "Papillon" still bring the rather sparsely populated fans to ecstasy. But the Editors have been seen more ambitious before.
Playful and stable
With the Libertines, the drugs have now given way to the cheese buffet and the excesses of Peter Doherty and Carl Barât only take place behind closed doors, if at all. With this newfound professionalism, they released the strong album "All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade" this year and are currently playing great festival shows in Europe. Before the gig, young father Doherty strolled with his wife and child to the adjacent pizzeria and fortified himself for the gig, which he performed in an unfashionable rain poncho due to the thunderstorm. From "Up The Bracket" to the new single "Run, Run, Run" and "Don't Look Back Into The Sun", the band played their way through a colorful career oeuvre and proved themselves to be playful and stable. Despite the strong gig, it can't be said often enough: it's lucky that the scandalous noodles are still alive and so vital.
The biggest highlights of the day also came from England and caused a sensation in different versions. Mike Skinner aka The Streets celebrated his Austrian comeback at Lido Sounds after 16 years and won over the audience from the very first moment. After the first few bars of music, he jumps into the crowd, high-fives people, borrows a few sips of beer and is available for selfies. His spoken word vocals are amplified by the five-piece band with various background sounds ranging from pop to electronic to reggae, and a backing singer supports his voice when it doesn't have enough punch. Skinner spends very little time on stage, preferring to be a "man of the people" and mingle with the crowd. A real surprise success.
No limits on anarchy
As expected, the British post-punk mainstays Idles delivered a grandiose performance. Like the Streets, the Idles had just been guests at the renowned Glastonbury and were probably a little surprised by the sparse crowd. But that didn't dampen the joy of playing of the pink-headed Joe Talbot. Guitar eccentric Mark Bowen takes to the stage in a mixture of caftan and purple hospital gown, after which all visual and acoustic hell breaks loose. There is jumping, kicking, screaming and singing. Like a cage full of fools without any restrictions on anarchy. "Mr. Motivator", "Jungle", "Divide And Conquer" and "Dancer" are in the program, the album "TANGK", which is entirely dedicated to love and stylistically much softer, takes up the main part of the evening. What a furioso - even if the overall atmosphere seemed a little reserved.
The festival closes with the most glamorous headliner on the main stage - Sam Smith last wowed audiences in 2023 with a brilliant and brightly colored show in the sold-out Wiener Stadthalle. At the Lido-Kehraus, after the rock and nostalgia-tinged bands that preceded him, Smith only seemed out of place at the beginning and his loyal fans were immediately actively involved in the show. The set starts with the balladic mega-hit "Stay With Me" and meanders through various phases as it progresses. There is a lot of soul, a real disco block and timeless pop numbers. The tenth anniversary of Smith's debut album "In The Lonely Hour" provides emotion and an extended showcase of his work. The opulent show elements of his own tour have of course been scaled back, but with Smith's golden voice, a perfectly rehearsed band and the mega-hit "Unholy" as the festival finale, one thing remains certain: Lido Sounds is here to stay.
Lido Sounds 2025 is in the starting blocks
The third edition of Lido Sounds will take place from June 27 to 29, 2025. AnnenMayKantereit, Beatsteaks, Betterov, Mira Lu Kovacs, the Schmusechor and shooting star Uche Yara have already been announced. More than 6400 three-day passes (previously only available at the festival) have already been sold. Tickets are available from tomorrow, Monday, July 1, at 2 pm - at the "Frühe Möwe" rate on lidosounds.com .
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