The popfest is a free festival with and for Austrian music. [Here’s my review of what I saw of last year’s festival.] This year I saw The Beth Edges, Attwenger and Lonely Drifter Karen.
I have seen and blogged about seeing The Beth Edges a couple of times now. This year I hadn’t had a chance to see them yet. (Bad fan, no cookie.) Which is especially sad because they just brought out a new album. But the popfest finally gave me the possibility to remedy that situation. And it totally paid off.
They openend the festival which is never very easy. Plus it’s open air and the start had to be pushed back a bit because there was a bit of rain. Nevertheless, within a very short time, they attracted many people and the mood was really nice.
Their new album is much calmer than their first one (what I know of it at least) and they played almost exclusively the new album. Which meant there was very little singing along for me, and it was not a very rocky show, but it was just extremely nice to stand around in the sun, sip beer and listen to very good music. Perfect.
Directly after The Beth Edges, Attwenger were playing. It’s the third time I saw them live. The first time was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to, the last one more of a (logistical) catastrophe.
This time, we had good spots and the crowd was good but the mood was a little down. [Later one of the guys said that his father had just died and he dedicates this concert to him, which kind of explains that.]
Nevertheless, even though it wasn’t a very dance-intensive hour and the real party feeling didn’t come up, it was a very nice concert and I had fun.
The next day, I came back again to the popfest and saw Lonely Drifter Karen. I actually hadn’t heard anything by them before the show, but the friend I went with strongly recommended them, so I figured I’d give them a shot.
I didn’t immediately fall in love with them. There music is pretty nice, but also a little bland. I have since listened a bit more to them on youtube and I like them a little better now but somehow they couldn’t transport their charm live.
In any case, it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t blow me away.
And that was the popfest for me this year. [After Lonely Drifter Karen we moved to the edge of the festival area and kind of also heard M185 and Texta [German], though we didn’t really listen to either, so I’m not counting that.] I’ll be there gladly again next year.
kalafudra's Stuff 
Ah, you can’t argue with taste. I really love well-thought through pop and I think that Lonely Drifter Karen has a lot of fresh ideas for a pop band, but I do admit that they struggled a bit to convey their full potential live. It’s amazing that such a productive musician such as Tanja Frinta gives such a fragile and introverted impression on stage. I mean, I didn’t expect her to jump around on stage or do Madonna-like choreography but since her music is somewhat more sophisticated I’d have thought she’d be more emotional about it.
Still, for me they are the best band I’ve stumbled upon in 2012 so far. I guess you already found the “rooftop version” of “A Roof Somewhere” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54G8KRSdkKg
And “Soul Traveler”
good thing you can’t edit comments..
Don’t know what messed up the second youtube link but I’ll post the right one anyway :)
Don’t worry about it – youtube links are easily screwed up. :)
And it’s not that I didn’t like them. I’m just not that excited about them as you are. And there are very many bands who fall flat live. Or the other way round, who don’t work when they aren’t live.
Regarding her musical sophistication, I completely trust your judgment. I wouldn’t know. ;)