Jenner And Tatar Fire Another Nuke

Two years after shifting Nuke Festival to a site less prone to flooding, Harry Jenner and Ewald Tatar are still waiting for rain to test the new ground as this year’s two-dayer basked in glorious sunshine.

The MusicNet and Nova Music chiefs were left to contemplate the other benefits of St. Poelton, including the site’s proximity to a railway station and a main highway.

Another plus is the fact the River Traisen, a tributary of the Danube, flows through the fertile Mostviertel region and right by the site.

More than 35,000 fans, topping last year’s three-dayer, appreciated the opportunity to punctuate their enjoyment of the music with a dip in the water.

The Pielachtal valley region where Nuke is situated is about 90 minutes west of Vienna and one of the capital’s natural recreation destinations. The site is also home to Jenner and Tatar’s Lovely Days Festival (July 8).

The 2-year-old event, dubbed Tatar’s Austrian Woodstock, played true to the spirit of that age as more than 10,000 showed to see a bill that included Blood Sweat & Tears, Ten Years After, Riders On The Storm, Jethro Tull, Barclay James Harvest, Colosseum and Uriah Heep.

Coming within a week of each other on the same site means the festival infrastructure of Lovely Days is just supplemented and spread out a little more to accommodate the larger Nuke crowd.

Jenner is pleased with the way the summer’s gone so far and believes FM4 Frequency 2007 (August 15-17), the last and biggest of the festivals he runs, will come close to selling out its 45,000 capacity.

Among the acts helping Jenner and Tatar fire another Nuke July 13-14 were Beastie Boys, Die Fantastischen Vier, The Prodigy, Wir Sind Helden, The Roots, Calexico and Silbermond.