“There is enough free space, you just have to design it”

When the rumbling of the cobblestones stops, the first bass wafts over from the distance. The smell of damp fields and forests gives way to the familiar note of Dixi toilets, body exhalations and frit fat at the open window of the bus. There it is finally again, the feeling of the festival ribbon on your skin. Rock am Ring, the Fusion or the Melt may not have taken place this year. But in the Valtental, not far from the Czech border, this weekend the charming We Go Apart With Art festival is nestled in the richly forested landscape of the Upper Lusatian highlands.

It is a place where all the doubters of the past year are taught better. Those who had already declared culture dead in the pandemic. Those who have long wanted to write off the rural regions in the east. And those who like to label Generation Z as lazy and spoiled affluent children.

It was three 17-year-olds from the Neukirch area who, in the middle of the pandemic, came up with the crazy idea of ​​holding a non-commercial festival in the Saxon province. “It is good to live in the country, there is enough space, you just have to design it,” they write. Actually intended as a farewell to the region of her childhood after graduating from school, the event is now a creative anchor in her own homeland.

You can pay contactless in the middle of the field

Strict Corona requirements also continue to apply to the fresh air in the country. All are tested or vaccinated. You can pay contactless in the middle of the field. In fact, there is no trace of backwoods provinciality. Vegan and vegetarian dishes are served and ecologically sustainable behavior is pointed out at every corner. There is even an awareness tent where all those who do not feel safe can retreat. Quite far-sighted in an area in which the AfD has more seats in the local council than the alliance “Neukirch needs a future”.

The average age on and in front of the stage is an estimated 20 years. Acts like the indie pop band Power Plush or the rapper Rémi may still be at the beginning of their journey, but they perform with a casual naturalness that also reflects the creative defiance of past months. You feel a bit out of place on stage with the melancholy dream pop of your own band. Music from the pre-Corona era – is anyone still listening? Better to stare at your shoes again, as you learned to do in the nineties.

With Betterov from Berlin, an artist who has just been nominated for the “Prize for Pop Culture” has even found his way into the valley. While you are in your mid-thirties and don’t even think about reintroducing shaking hands, the crowd can’t be stopped from crowd surfing. Then the DJs take over and immerse the meadow in rich bass. When the police intervened around 5 a.m. and asked the organizers to reduce the volume, even that felt like a small triumph. Finally everything back to the way it used to be – when you were 20 yourself.

Note: The author himself played at the We Go Apart With Art festival.