Picture On rock festival in Bildein (Austria) a new Woodstock
This year too, as has happened since 2000, rock fans met at PictureOn in Bildein, Austria.
di Rocco Turi
Lunedì 23 Ottobre 2023
Roma - 23 ott 2023 (Prima Pagina News)
This year too, as has happened since 2000, rock fans met at PictureOn in Bildein, Austria.

Not a simple Festival, but a musical gathering which in Europe has achieved fame and notoriety almost equal to "Woodstock 1969" when in three days, from 15 to 18 August, the youth world of the time managed to overcome the social and political immobilism on long post-war. Picture-On has now become a commemorative festival that takes our memories far away, but not only. Those like me who lived through the era of hippie culture and the so-called "flower children" - and have been present in Bildein for many years - ideally come across a reality that is evolved and updated compared to 1969.

Bethel, site of the Woodstock Festival, was a small village of 4 thousand inhabitants and 500 thousand gathered there - although other sources speak of a million people - to break the taboos of the sexual revolution. My opinion is that - while 32 musical groups performed to become world famous - the young people present at Woodstock were much less than 500 thousand, but it doesn't matter. What is important to remember is that they were young children of the so-called "Beat generation", young people committed to a counterculture ready to "oppose the imposed norms" and - with different intensities and motivations in the rest of the world - to try their hand at drugs, Eastern religions or other emerging situations in the youth context of various countries.

“Opposing the imposed rules”, which at the time was a widespread practice among young people to the point of reaching the excess of terrorism throughout the world, meant taking an active part and contesting the choices of the political class, which imposed its own rules unchanged since post-war.

After Woodstock 1969, since 2000 Bildein has been the location of PictureOn in a village with a few hundred residents, but in three days of the Festival three thousand arrive. In Bildein, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who lived through the contradictions of the Woodstock time gather together. Families and children arrive in Bildein and, playing, listen to music as an opportunity for growth and well-being in a place free of contestation.

In Bildein you don't ideally oppose the "imposed norms" like in Woodstock, but you participate for pure fun. Critics of this trend say that all this (pure entertainment) is excessive, and that young people are pursuing opposite objectives compared to then, such as inertia and laziness. Maybe it's true but three days spent every year in Bildein are an irreplaceable remedy, even if occasional, for the social and political crisis of recent years, for the stress that is now negatively affecting the majority of young people. It is no coincidence that the Festival in the small Austrian village on the border with Hungary has lasted uninterruptedly since 2000, with the exception of the period in which the pandemic had blocked the social life of citizens.

So, there's room for fun and pleasure for three days, imagining being in a clearing like at Woodstock. Arriving in Bildein you come across a large campsite with people of all ages, where the skyline appears friendly, relaxing for the mind and body; arriving in Bildein you come across a huge, fun labyrinth and two stages inside an apple field on which around 30 musical groups perform over three days.

Perfect and relaxing organization where there is space for hammocks and deckchairs, but also for the sand next to the stage where children play and parents listen to their favorite music, dance and enjoy their beer. In short, in Bildein there is fun, lots of relaxation, and quality music.

Wanting to express a preference regarding this year, I am pleased to mention Canned Heat, a historic and widely renewed group, with which Larry Taylor (1942-2019) performed in 1967 and was also part of Woodstock 1969. However, another preference goes to the group that sparked enthusiasm in Bildein this year: the Australians “Airbourne”.

The 2023 program was packed with Austrian, German, English, Hungarian, American and Australian bands. This time the organization has recalled, thanks to a large illustrative panel, all the bands that have performed in Bildein since 2000. The Finnish "Leningrad Cowboys" are unforgettable and, in my opinion, remain unsurpassed among the groups present in the years of my correspondence from Bildein. “Leningrad Cowboys” are also famous for their look, for having been part of the films of Aki Kaurismaki, the most famous Finnish director of all time, and for having played in numerous concerts together with the Red Army Choir.

Italy never present at Bildein, except for the 2023, this year, due to a young and talented Austrian singer whose only name is Italian: Laura del Fiore.


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