Last weekend the summer holidays officially started in large parts of Austria. Not for me though, sadly, as I have left my summer holidaying days far behind. Still I got a little bit of summer (festival) feeling with some amazing gigs at Clam Castle (easily Austria’s greatest outdoor venue for concerts).

Clam Castle is located in Upper Austria, about 1 ½ hours drive from Vienna. It’s a pittoresque little castle amidst a lovely landscape near Danube river. My friend Christina and I got treated to a private tour by the owner Carl Philip Clam Martinic (had we known beforehand we would be meeting the Count of Clam himself, we might have chosen our outfits more carefully – but there we were, all pink hair and groupie attire… oh well).

He showed us around his amazing estate, told us about the impressive history and architecture of the place and also provided us with some insightful stories about previous guests (mostly rock stars).

Clam Castle is open to the public for tours and also for overnight visits (“Schlafen wie Grafen”). After having spent an amazing night at Hever Castle last year, I can highly recommend an overnight stay at a castle. It’s amazing to experiene historic places first-hand and get a feel of how life must have been there hundreds of years ago (while enjoying all modern amenities and excellent service, of course ;)).

The best thing about Clam Castle is undoubtedly its use as a summer concert location.

28 years ago Georg Clam Martinic decided to use the castle as an event venue and since then some of the biggest musicians of our time (among them Elton John, Sting and Bob Dylan, to name just a few) have graced the castle grounds with their shows

I myself have been there several times – most recently only two days before to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

 

The night of the Nick Cave show was cold and rainy,  but that only added to the atmosphere. As Nick Cave himself remarked when he started the show around 8.30 pm, “It’s fucking daylight!” I can’t even begin to think how weird SUNSHINE would have been. Wrong, just wrong!

On Saturday there was sunshine though, and loads of it. It was the perfect festival weather, not too hot but sunny and warm and we enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere (and excellent food – the Grafenweckerl being the most delicious thing I ever ate at a gig).

I really liked the crowd too – everyone seemed happy and relaxed (except maybe the Meet & Greet people – I saw several girls sobbing after meeting Johnny Depp – I suppose they were happy tears though).

After local band Sergeant Steel got the evening off to an entertaining start, The Darkness took over the stage. Boy, that jumpsuit of Justin Hawkins really left nothing to the imagination! Their show was good fun, gotta love that British humour (and seventies glam extravaganza).

Then it was finally time for Hollywood Vampires! The kind-of supergroup consisting of Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp is currently touring Europe with a setlist made up mostly of cover songs and some original material. Of course the main attraction for me (and almost every other female person present, I’m sure of it) was Johnny Depp. I have adored him as far back as I can remember (growing up with movies like Edward Scissorhands and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape). I have to say, he looked quite put-together. But then again, maybe next to Alice Cooper ANYone would look put-together.

Surprisingly enough the gig was really good! We were watching from the photo pit (we tried the front-row in the crowd but the screaming women nearly made my eardrums burst) and could tell the guys were really having fun. Johnny Depp seemed in good spirits and interacted a lot with the crowd, no traces of arrogance or airs.

My personal highlight of the night was Johnny Depp singing Bowie’s “Heroes” – the man can sing too! Who would have guessed?

It was the perfect summer (festival) kick-off and almost reconciled me with having to return to work on the following Monday. I actually managed to keep the summer spirits up for a bit (till Tuesday, to be precise) …

School’s out forever!