The With Full Force Festival wants to position itself more clearly politically. It seems that they have now found a cozy spot at the far right. In line with this reorientation, the nationalist rock band Frei.Wild has been added to the headliner list for this year's open-air festival. It seems that bringing in the entire fascist rabble into the audience is both known and not entirely unwelcome. The organizer comments on the booking as follows: Frei.Wild is the "hottest, most popular, and most celebrated, but also one of the most controversial bands in the streetpunk sector." It remains to be seen whether the other bands want to share a stage with the brown crowd.
Update: The Three Monkeys has canceled the WarmUp Party for the With Full Force Festival in light of this band booking. Here is the complete statement:
No "With Full Force" WarmUp Party 2013 at Three Monkeys!
Due to the recent festival booking, which confirms the band "Frei.Wild", we at Three Monkeys have decided not to hold the WFF WarmUp Party for Hamburg.
We still thank you for a great collaboration with the WFF team over the past 4 years, where we were allowed to host the only official WarmUp Party for Hamburg.
No power to the Nazis. Nowhere. Never.
PS: We are all the more excited to present you this year (again) the Party.San WarmUp Night and (brand new) the ExtremFest WarmUp! So: Keep your eyes open.
The Visions music magazine has now halted all promotion for the festival. Visions was previously an official supporter of the WFF. The statement from the publisher Michael Lohrmann reads as follows:
Good day! I’m intervening unasked. Of course, tickets are sold through the band - that’s the reason why an organizer pays a lot of money for the fee. Alone in Dortmund, there were 12,000 people - it’s certainly not true that Frei.Wild has no fans (and day tickets will probably be available too?). Not to mention that the band is musically unbelievable garbage, I believe that some Frei.Wild songs, including new ones, are absolutely unacceptable in terms of lyrics - nationalistic and extremist texts are unfortunately not improved by confessions that one is against the right and extremism in general. And which people in Germany feel picked up by homeland pride slogans and this martyr pathos (“us against them”, “enemies of your enemies”) should be clear to all of us. NPD officials do not say without reason that they agree with a large part of Frei.Wild's lyrical statements and they view the band’s “against Nazis” statements as the best way to reach a broad mass in terms of breeding ground and infiltration - it’s like back in the day with the Onkelz: the band serves two camps at the end of the day, and that with targeted calculation and considerable skill. Of course, it’s not the case that people who go to a Frei.Wild show are automatically Nazis or right of center. And perhaps that’s exactly the problem, because a significant portion of Frei.Wild fans indeed swings right of center, as every band attracts the audience it deserves - there are good reasons why NPD officials discover Frei.Wild for themselves and not the Beatsteaks or Deichkind. And for those who are politically rather unaligned, such a show thus becomes a possible place to drift into questionable territories. Because one might celebrate with the wrong people. Because a brotherhood and solidarity arises (us against them, enemies of your enemies, yes yes). Because one thereby becomes part of something that one later defends to the blood, because: "They are not Nazis, they even said from the stage that they are against Nazis!". And suddenly one is biased and sees in anyone who criticizes the band a leftist Antifa spinner who thinks Germany is shit and parrots the mainstream press (easily observable on the WWF page on Facebook). Where, pray tell, does this lead? In conclusion: I am curious to see what happens at the festival when left-leaning people and punks meet Frei.Wild disciples. This has the potential for extremely unpleasant scenes. In short: Visions will withdraw from the presentation of the festival. We cannot recommend our readers to attend a festival where a band like Frei.Wild is paid with their money.
Update: The official statement from Visions regarding the withdrawal of support can now be found on their homepage: With Full Force - With Frei.Wild, without us
Jägermeister is also openly considering ending their support for the festival. It’s nice that the industry is still concerned about its reputation. Here is the response from the liqueur manufacturer to an inquiry.
Mast-Jägermeister SE has firmly anchored values such as openness to the world, tolerance, and respect in its mission statement. We stand by these values. We live these values. Jägermeister is consumed today in around 90 countries worldwide and is thus at home not only in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, but in diverse cultures around the world.
In light of our values, we will initially stop the planned sponsorship of the "With Full Force" festival. We expect a clear statement from the organizer regarding the planned appearance of the controversial band Frei.Wild at the festival. Should the organizer continue to confirm the booking of the band, we will cease our sponsorship activities.
The festival guide has publicly demanded a statement from the organizers. Until then, the website will pause its presentation of the WFF. Here’s the link: Frei.Wild at With Full Force.
Update: On the evening of February 15, there is some good news to report. Frei.Wild themselves have canceled their appearance at the With Full Force. Of course, as is fitting for this band, not without portraying themselves as the good ones who are wrongfully attacked by a few denouncers. For the band, it’s another piece in their self-presentation as honorable fighters against a wicked and unjust world. That the organizer held on to this band despite all criticism should not be forgotten, as the motto "Commerce over political decency" should not be supported in principle.
Frei.Wild will not perform at the "With Full Force Festival". The band deeply regrets that a performance under the given circumstances is not possible. Philipp Burger: "We were really looking forward to the performance and to meeting the festival visitors of With Full Force again. We fondly remember the WFF performance in 2010. That was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the year, but we do not want to and will not jeopardize the existence of the organizer and thus the festival."
A small but efficient group of internet freaks has managed to start a so-called "shitstorm", a phenomenon in social networks where emotionalization leads to mass outrage, which resulted in a hectic media coverage. The festival organizers have come under such pressure that Frei.Wild feel compelled to cancel their performance of their own accord. Philipp Burger on this: "We play where people look forward to us without reservations. We do not seek confrontation with our opponents at all costs. Most of all, we feel sorry for our fans. Our audience is great and knows our positions, shares them, and does not fall for the agitation of some media. The accusations are old hats with rotten holes that, unfortunately, seem to have lost none of their media explosiveness to this day."
Update: Jupiter Jones, who are known to be very skeptical of Frei.Wild, have published an official statement regarding the cancellation of the performance. Here is the PDF. An interview, or what one might call it, has been conducted by Visions with the organizer, who still sees no problem in booking right-wing bands. Well, somehow the interview also draws conclusions about the intellectual capacity of the interviewee. With Full Force - Organizers in Interview.
