I had the honor to head out to Openair St. Gallen with the band Kids of Adelaide and take pictures of them on and off stage. The weather was perfect, something we’re really not used to from this festival (it usually rains all weekend), the atmosphere was chill and the guys were extremely welcoming and super nice. I can already say, Kids of Adelaide gained at least one more fan: me! Let’s start with Behind the scenes at Openair St. Gallen:
Who are Kids of Adelaide you might ask? Well, this band or let’s say the duo is made up of Benjamin Nolle and Severin Specht from Stuttgart, Germany. I’d put these two guys into the alternative indie rock genre with mostly soft-ish sounds that invite you to dream but also more upbeat songs that will make you want to dance the night away. They have been on the German music scene for a while but were mostly discovered around 2017. They’re in Switzerland quite often too and played a few festivals this year, like Openair St. Gallen last weekend.
Cooldown needed?
It’s pretty atypical for this Festival to have weather like they had this year. Summer made an appearance and brought plenty of sun and high temperatures, no rain clouds anywhere close! Since the guys arrived a bit earlier than needed, they’ve decided to follow the masses and go have a little swim in the river close by. Luckily they have already been informed that they should make sure to be as far upstream as possible… I guess you can imagine why 😉
What does a band do at festivals apart from performing? Wait…
I was surprised about the amount of waiting that had to be done. Wait until the equipment gets picked up from the parking area, wait until you can set it all up on stage, wait until it’s time to perform, wait until the equipment gets picked up again… Exhausting. But, even though you’ll be waiting around a lot, it never really gets boring. The ride up to the stage was an experience on its own.
Since the stage was up on a hill, in the middle of the festival grounds, we were drove up there in mini-pickups. We were accompanied by 3 or 4 guys on foot, that were responsible for a smooth ride.
They made sure nobody would get too close to the vehicles (with many drunk people, that could be a serious security hazard) – we wouldn’t want to run anyone over do, we…
Once we got to the stage, the guys stacked the equipment in the tiny “backstage” area which left just enough space to walk to the stage. After that: more waiting. Time to walk around a bit, get a drink, listen to the band playing on stage right now, or just to try to mentally prepare for the gig later on.
Time to set up and soundcheck
The Swiss band Me & Marie were up on stage before Kids of Adelaide. After they were done, the stage was immediately taken over by stagehands and both KOA and M&M to get the stage ready for the next gig. Everyone knew where to be and what to do. Helping each other out made everyone be done faster. Great teamwork guys! While KOA made sure everything was at the right place, Sebastian, the master of disas… sorry, the guys’ FOH guru made sure the sound was working and obviously sounding great. While the guys were getting ready, the main stage was on, K.I.Z. were performing. Really not my cup of tea, but hey, to each their own, right?
… And what was next? Waiting… Time to get another drink, check cameras and get ready to shoot. In the meantime, the guys had changed into their stage outfits and made sure everything was ready.
Behind the Scenes Pictures: Kids of Adelaide @ Openair St. Gallen
Kids of Adelaide, please take the stage!
The KOA set was supposed to start at 23:30h, but since K.I.Z. wouldn’t get off stage on time, the KOA gig got delayed a bit too. The area in front of the stage has however filled up nicely in the meantime, everyone was patiently waiting for the guys to get on stage. As the sound was turned off, everyone knew what that meant: it was time to go on stage! The atmosphere was pretty amazing. Even though the set was rather late, there were a lot of people, happy, dancing and some were even singing along. It was a super chill night! While the guys were doing their thing on stage, the fans seemed super happy to get some stickers and flyers. By the end of the night, you could see plenty of people walk around with Kids of Adelaide stickers on them, their backpacks or on their flagpoles. The promotion team obviously did a great job 😉
Once the guys ended their set, everything went down really fast. All the instruments and other equipment was taken down, cables were rolled together and put back in the cases. The mini pickups were ready to get loaded in. A little chit chat here and there and that was it. If you thought the guys were gonna go off and party now, you’re wrong. The schedule was full, they had another performance the next day – in Germany. So no drinking, no partying, just one beer to say goodbye and off they went. So responsible 😀 Once everything was back in their bus, they took off. Hope we’ll get to party next time 😉
Kids of Adelaide in Switzerland
If you haven’t seen Kids of Adelaide yet, you really need to check out their next dates. You’ll have a few more chances this year, even in Switzerland:
09.08. Thunfest in Thun
10.08. Openair Malans
09.11. Muuz Festival, Uzwil
Head over to their website to find more dates in Germany. And don’t forget to go follow them on their socials:
Facebook Kids of Adelaide
YouTube Kids of Adelaide
Instagram Kids of Adelaide
Spotify Kids of Adelaide
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