Another Super Nova

Ewald Tatar must have been relieved that the weather was kinder to him at Nova Rock, which sold out for the second consecutive year, than it was at his Bon Jovi show at Magna Racino racetrack 10 days earlier.

The rain lashed down and caused traffic jams that prevented some punters from getting into the Bon Jovi show long before it ended. But apart from high winds on the opening day, the Nova crowd enjoyed a warm weekend.

The final tickets for the June 13-15 festival on a 50,000-capacity site at Nickelsdorf were sold just before the gates opened on the first day, and at one point the winds were so strong that Mexican ska band Panteon Rococo was forced to miss its slot.

Tatar enjoyed a calmer time than he had at what a couple of Austrian papers described as Bon Jovi’s "mudbath."

The head of Nova Rock was happy to see the event he started in 2005 record its second successive sellout, shifting 150,000 tickets over three days on each occasion. Nova Rock is part-owned by Folkert Koopmans’ Hamburg-based FKP Scorpio.

Very few festivals have successfully launched themselves on the European outdoor touring circuit in such a short time.

The acts helping Nova rock to success included Die Aerzte, Rage Against The Machine, Beatsteaks, Bullet For My Valentine, NOFX, In Flames, The Verve, Kid Rock, Three Doors Down, Sex Pistols, Judas Priest, Incubus and Motorhead.