FM4 Frequency Re-Tools

The non-appearance of Tool wasn’t that much of a spanner in the works for FM4 Frequency Festival as it sold all 40,000 tickets in advance and completed a glorious summer for the Musicnet-Nova Music partnership.

Although Musicnet chief Harry Jenner was clearly disgruntled by the U.S. rock act’s no-show, which was apparently due to singer Maynard James Keenan having a bad throat, he preferred to focus on the success he and Nova Music chief Ewald Tatar – in partnership with Folkert Koopmans of Germany’s FKP Scorpio – have had with the four Austrian festivals they’ve produced this summer.

Ironically, it was German act Die Ärzte – or "The Doctors" – that was there to help anyone sick about missing Tool, whose fanbase appears to be growing so rapidly that it’s even boosting festival attendances.

The success of Frequency, which Jenner described as being the best year the festival has had, was preceded by 50,000 people turning up for Nova Rock June 15-17 to see a bill that included Queens Of The Stone Age, The Hives, and Frank Black – which all played Greenfield as well – along with Manic Street Preachers, My Chemical Romance, Ill Nino and Five O’Clock Heroes.

Another 35,000 per day were at the St. Poelton site by the River Traisen July 13-14 for a Nuke Festival bill that included Beastie Boys, Die Fantastischen Vier, The Prodigy, Wir Sind Helden, The Roots and Calexico.

The second staging of the one-day Lovely Days Festival July 8, dubbed Tatar’s Austrian Woodstock, showed a vast improvement on its inaugural year. 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.

Jenner was particularly pleased that the third stage he added at the Frequency site at Salzburg Ring proved particularly popular, operating as an open talent stage during the day and an electro stage during the night.

The other acts helping Musicnet and Nova stay on the right frequency throughout the 2007 festival season included Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Seeed, Billy Talent, Beatsteaks, Nine Inch Nails and 2Raumwohnung.