Traveling without moving

I’m back from the Fusion festival. The coolest, weirdest, most left-wing, alternative and dirty festival north of Australia. Except for massive performances by Steve Bug, Flowjob, Mia & Magda, Helltown Chicks, Leningrad, Neelix, Ost & Kex and Dirt crew, me and my allies got completely lost in the world of east European decorations, rockets, flying circus, mud, REAL UFOS, more mud, sunsets, Tibetan flags, Mad Max vehicles and never stopping music that we managed to sleep trough anyway.

The festival takes place since 10 years ago on an abandoned (and later purchased by the organizer) Sovjet airbase just outside Berlin. Hangars make the perfect dancefloors and outlook stations on the hills perfect “chill-out before sunset” areas. No matter if you dig electronic productions, reggae, gothic post rock or Canadian neo-punk you will probably find something you have not heard before, to relate to, to capture and to bring it back home with you for the inspiration. Mix it all up with Germans with Mohawks driving around in futuristic jeeps, lots of exotic (and mostly vegetarian ) food and drinks and a guy making music with live loops using ping-pong balls, antique music boxes and a hairdryer. What do you get? A recipe for a different, yet perfect way to spend your weekend if you don’t mind lack of sleep and tons of mud all over you. This is probably as close to Burning Man you can get and B.M. is definitely a place to visit before I’ll retire.

(Rambo)

Big thanks to Rambo, the best light installation artist in Scandinavia, Mr Bacid for getting me some expresso in the morning even though he decided to set up his camp 2 miles away from where all the action was, and finally Markus the funky photographer for telling me lots of mind blowing stories about Tibet, for paying for my chai and taking lots and lots of photos that I can’t wait to check out. Last, but not least a big shout-out to Karin for bringing me back to my tent when I got completely lost on the other side.

Only three questions remain unanswered; What happened to the funk? What happened to the techno? And since we all saw the UFOs, does it make them even more real?