Festival Season Begins: These Pop Highlights May Bring

Everything new comes with May. Admittedly, an old saying, but it applies in many ways to the festival scene, as the first highlights of the season are coming up in the next few weeks - and they are indeed spread across the entire country. While the avant-garde takes center stage at the Krems donaufestival, the 80s and 90s are celebrated at the Donauinsel Open Air. And while Blood Incantation blasts through space, the following treats are also on offer:

It's been a while since the Salzburg Residenzplatz was filled with pop music. Fans fondly remember performances by Herbert Grönemeyer, Pearl Jam, or Tina Turner. This year, it's happening again: With the local duo Wanda and Christina Stürmer (May 9) and the German star DJ Paul Kalkbrenner (May 10), there is once again a prominent live lineup. And one can also look forward to a stylish ambiance in Krems, where the festival at the Steinertor (May 28-31) features performances by Michael Mittermeier, Jan Delay and his Disko No.1, the Fantastischen Vier, and Pizzera & Jaus. A colorful program between humor and danceable sounds seems guaranteed.

Freshly awarded the Austrian Jazz Prize for Best Live Act, the quartet Synesthetic4, led by the multi-talented Vincent Pongracz, presents a new album. On "Bread," released on May 16, the group primarily focuses on a lot of groove and drive, as expressed in the irresistible head-nodder "Hö." Together with guitarist Peter Rom, bassist Manuel Mayr, and drummer Andreas Lettner, clarinetist Pongracz explores sounds that are anything but ordinary, yet not off-putting. Not to forget his dadaistically tinged lyrics, which create great urgency in the title track. Live, the work, which lasts just over 12 minutes on record, will be presented on May 18 at Vienna's Porgy & Bess.

In the early 2000s, the Deconstruction Tour brought together a renowned punk lineup as a one-day festival to tour Europe together year after year. After almost a 20-year hiatus, there is now a revival of the format, now called the Reconstruction Tour, which will also stop at the Vienna Arena on May 21. There, alongside the melodic punk legends Pennywise and the hardcore band Comeback Kid, one can especially look forward to the Canadians from Propagandhi. The formation has been at the forefront of the political punk scene for almost 30 years, musically acting with quite a variety and not denying influences from metal or alternative. At the beginning of the month, a new studio album titled "At Peace" will be released, which will certainly place the title in a global political context. Chris Hannah and colleagues have never been shy about making clear statements.

For the fifth time, the Klagenfurt Festival will take place from May 23 to June 13. Between Musilhaus, Burghof, and Stadttheater, a rich offering is served when the Viennese formation Buntspecht combines handmade sounds with compositional finesse, Soap&Skin sings through her own and others' songs as a lady of pain, or the sibling duo CocoRosie presents their new album "Little Death Wishes." "Walking Concerts" are offered by the humorous Austrofred or Marina & The Kats, while literary offerings come from Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, Peter Licht, or Lars Eidinger alongside his DJ activities. And tasty-humorous “Rouladen” are provided by Christoph Grissemann and maschek member Robert Schwanz.

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