Out Of Line Weekender 2019, Day 1

Astra Kulturhaus – Berlin, Germany

Out Of Line Weekender 2019 edition was taking place on 04.-06. April at Astra Kulturhaus Berlin, Germany. The three day affair was covering electronic, techno and various heavy metal genres.

Thursday was completely under the sign of electronic music. Friday was unifying both worlds and hosting two headliners. And Saturday was a metal day. On each night after the headliner set there was an after show party with changing DJ sets.

Not knowing anything about the venue, I arrived on Thursday afternoon at an area full of derelict buildings and was amazed to find out later that it is one of the few remaining alternative compounds in Berlin and used to be until 1994 a train repair yard. Since 1999 the structures have been converted into cafes and bars; beer gardens, flea- markets, artist work spaces. The graffiti covered grounds are also home to the venue Astra Kulturhaus where Out Of Line Festival was taking place.

Day 1

The first day of Out Of Line Weekender was featuring techno and electronic music with some industrial influences. The festival openers were Belgians Motor!k. The band’s frontman Dirk Ivens is already a regular guest at the festival and while hypnotizing images were projected on the stage backdrop, the trio were captivating their audience with psychedelic sounds.

www.facebook.com/MOTORIKBELGIUM

Local Berlin three- piece Any Second were on stage next. Any Second started out as a duo and when Oliver Senger from German aggrotech band Agonoize joined, the group became what they are today known for delivering body trembling heavy industrial sounding electronic beats.

www.anysecond.eu

Classed as one of the most important rejuvenators of the classic electronic body music sound, hiding their faces under helmets with large dark visors next on stage were The Juggernauts. The Belgian trio has been busy touring Europe last couple of years and it was a pretty easy task for them to get Out Of Line Weekender crowd moving in the rhythm.

www.thejuggernauts.be

Next set was featuring heavily synth pop infused melodies. Swedish trio Priest featuring ex- members of Ghost is mystery wrapped. According to themselves, their goal is to “safely guide humanity unto the next evolutionary step- the merging with machines”.

www.facebook.com/priestofficial

Now the stage was taken by Chrom, a very popular electro- pop duo in Germany. Their quite heavy club beats well-combined with soft vocals sound very melodic and are very easy to dance and sing along. And dancing and singing along was exactly what the crowd was doing.

www.chrom-music.com

Born in 1985 as a solo project of Mark Ickx and adding later two other members, Belgian electrowave group A Split Second is a big fish and highly respected within the genre. Not afraid to experiment with different sounds, they were delivering tonight at Astra Kulturhaus exhilarating yet very danceable beats.

www.facebook.com/A-Split-Second

Tonight’s headliners Kirlian Camera are no newbies to the genre. The project founded in 1979 has had a turbulent past and was pioneering act of Italian synthpop scene. But the early days of experimentation and line-up changes are history since the entrance of vocalist Elena Alice Fossi in 2000. These days Kirlian Camera is a frequent guest at European dance floors and festivals with their melodic and catchy synth arrangements.

www.kirliancamera.com

Full line-up

If this seems like something you’d be interested to catch next year, save the dates in your calendar: Out Of Line Weekender 2020 will be taking place on 30.04.-02.05. at Astra Kulturhaus Berlin, Germany.

www.outofline.de/weekender

www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

For more, check out our coverage of DAY 2 and DAY 3 from Out of Line Weekender 2019.

Arta Gailuma

Metalhead travel junkie and a geek.

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