Die Goldenen Zitronen
Donaufestival Krems, 2008
Playing a show in a church must be a strange thing to do for a punk band, because a sacred building is normally no place for outspoken political beliefs. The “Zitronen”, as fans fondly call the band from Hamburg, however, have developed beyond just singing politically left-wing slogans to three-chord punk music within the 24 years of their existence as a band. Since the album “Das bißchen Totschlag”, which was released in 1994, they have included elements of rock, hiphop, electronics, jazz and noise in their musical style. At Donaufestival in Krems Die Goldenen Zitronen performed with lyrical contributions of the German actress Irm Hermann, who appeared in more than 20 Fassbinder movies and not only joined them on stage but also in the mantra-like performance of the Zitronen classic “ICE Berthold Brecht”. Lead singer Schorsch Kamerun pointed out that he was certainly not willing to do the classic songwriter-thing – walking lonesome through the streets playing guitar and singing. Instead the full band gathered – still motivated from their show – in the nightly churchyard and started to perform a cappella at once before the camera was turned on, which led to some joking and mock annoyance before they patiently restarted.
- Photography
- Simon Brugner
- Artist
- Die Goldenen Zitronen
Donaufestival Krems
Donaufestival is a festival for advanced pop music, theatre, film and performances in the Lower Austrian town Krems. The festival significantly changed its artistic orientation in 2005, when the “new” Donaufestival started with Tomas Zierhofer-Kin as artistic director. Since then it takes place annually on two or three weekends in spring, presenting and celebrating the most relevant popcultural movements. 2008’s motto is “Angst. Obsession. Beauty.”, which gives space to noisy avant-garde-pop acts like Liars, The Go-Team and Health as well as to numerous queer artists like The Hidden Cameras, Scott Matthew and Xiu Xiu. Contrary to all those common summer festivals music is only a part of the Donaufestival, as there are performances, film screenings and exclusive commissioned works shown on several locations all over Krems. Apart from the Donaufestival, Krems is rather known as a destination for tourists than for its popcultural scene. It is situated right by the river Danube and in the because of its beautiful landscape very popular Wachau region. Krems is particularly famous for its vine-yards located picturesquely on the hills ascending from the Danube (the town even has its own viniculture college) and the Old Town with its narrow cobblestone lanes. The city of Krems dates back more than 1000 years as first settlements of Germans and Slavs were documented in 995. Apart from tourism Krems is known as a place for trade fairs and industry, has a University specialising only in post-graduate-studies and is home of the biggest penal institution in Austria. With almost 30.000 inhabitants Krems is the fifth biggest town in Lower Austria, which is the province around Vienna.