Wiener Donauinselfest 2020: the grand finale of the Corona edition has begun – Donauinselfest

Experienced festival visitors faced a completely different situation.

At least this year, the Danube Island Festival has become a closed event. The difference is already noticeable on the way from the subway to the scene of the action. There is no trace of the masses of the early days. The first look at the island does not reveal any hustle and bustle, neither scenery nor positions.

If you approach the big festival area, the stage is at least not entirely new, for those who knew about the now defunct “Rock in Vienna” festival. Because you find yourself with a spacious area, cordoned off and with an entrance. At the Danube Island Festival, which can be visited for free, there have never been such obstacles. Aside from the baggage checks at the entrances to the island, you can usually move freely everywhere.

Despite the access procedure, no rush was felt. Stress is also not necessary because there are permanently assigned seats. Overall, only 1,250 fans can participate in the two days of shows. That roughly corresponds to the normal rush on the big festival stage, but with sound checks. It’s not uncommon for 100,000 people to attend evening performances. The visit is especially recommended for people who can withstand crowds.

Today, however, the few festival guests on the island had to keep their distance. Beer tables and benches were lined up and free places were raffled off. A set could be occupied by a winner and up to three companions. Keeping distance from other conference tables turned out not to be a great challenge. Because there were still many places available at the beginning of the afternoon.

If you are sitting, you can remove the mandatory mouth and nose protection; otherwise, you should use it, for example, when going to the bathroom or to the restaurant stall. Spontaneous visitors leave empty-handed, they are not allowed to enter the venue. And since the barrier is mostly opaque, it’s also difficult to glimpse the stage from the outside. If you haven’t won any entries, you just have the live stream. The show can be followed via webcast or (sometimes with a time delay) on television or radio.

Speaking of the program: in view of the travel restrictions, they depend on the local players. Today the electro-swing pioneer Parov Stelar, the Austropop legends of Opus, the Granada band, the singer Mathea, the dialect rappers Kreiml & Samurai and Russkaja perform, who were the first to take the stage in the afternoon.

A “Schlagergarten” will follow on Sunday with Edlseern, Jazz Gitti and Petra Frey, among others. So the island is all about cabaret. Those announced include Katharina Dorian, Johannes Glück, Nadjah Maleh, Thomas Stipsits, Gery Seidl, Lukas Resetarits, Andreas Vitasek and Florian Scheuba.

The island festival started by the SPÖ cannot be compared to the main festival of the previous years. The traditional June date was canceled during closing. When the postponement to fall was announced, it was assumed that the event would take place as usual. However, this soon becomes impractical.