Tatar Enjoys Summer In Wiesen

Apart from being pleased that his biggest festival sold out, Nova Rock promoter Ewald Tatar is also enjoying the summer shows his Skalar Entertainment is having on the 8,000-capacity open-air site at Wiesen, Austria.

This is old stomping ground for Tatar, who grew up in a nearby village and began his music career as the DJ in a local bar.

He attended early Wiesen Jazz Festivals and by the beginning of the 1990s he was booking most of the site’s summer programme, 10 years before he joined what turned out to be an ill-fated Austrian Promoters’ Group.

This year’s season began June 22 with a sold-out show from Arcade Fire. It was followed by the only real glitch of the summer, when Bush canceling its European tour meant Forestglade Festival was cut from two days to one.

On July 8 the Lovely Days Festival, or Tatar’s “Austrian Woodstock,” did 7,000 with a bill that had Santana, Mothers Finest, Colosseum, and Osibisa.

The first Nova Jazz & Blues Night July 23 also did well, pulling 6,000 for a lineup with Erykah Badu, Jamie Cullum, Jestofunk and Manu Di Bango.

The second night was switched to the 3,000-capacity Vienna Arena after Amy Winehouse canceled, and it became something of a tribute to the singer who died one day earlier.

Ben L’Oncle Soul played “Valerie” as a tribute to her and the festival sound system also featured Winehouse songs, so much so that she was somehow still part of the second day of the festival in the Austrian capital.

The next show scheduled for Tatar on the Wiesen site was July 30 with Jack Johnson and Milow.