Picture Discs at Noble City Rock Festival
The Noble City Rock Festival is an annual festival held in Noble City, Sylvania, hosted by the label Warped Records and music magazine Tone Factory. It is the largest festival of Lovia in terms of visitors. Despite its name, not only rock acts play at the festival. The festival was organized for the first time in 2004. It is held in June.
2013 Edition[]
The event is held at the Woodstock Forest park in Little Frisco, Noble City. It is the largest natural park of Lovia, and suited to the size of the event. The organizers expect 30,000 people (equivalent to 15% of the total Lovian population) to turn up, by means of an extensive media campaign on radio and national television. West Wave radio will broadcast the whole event during the course of the festival. Live media coverage is present, and a summary will be broadcast on television.
Despite the large-scale set-up of the festival, only a couple of foreign acts will play at the festival. The organizers want to spend as little money as possible, due to an extremely tight budget, and rely on the goodwill of bands and their fans.
There are two stages and a tent at the 2013 edition, as well as several smaller events not related to music. The 2013 Edition is held from June 21 to June 23, and visitors can either buy day passes, or a weekend pass, which costs the amount of two day passes. Free camping is included with the weekend passes.
The main stage is called the West Wave Stage and sponsored by the West Wave radio station. The secondary stage is called the Seaman's Ale Stage and is sponsored by Seaman's Ale. The tent is called the Warped Tent, after Warped Records. The stages are referred to as A and B by personnel, while the tent is referred to as Z.
Acts[]
| Act | Time slot | Genre | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Diamond Sea | June 21 | Indie rock | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Eggwhite | June 21 | Punk rock | West Wave Stage |
| Devil In The Details | June 21 | Alternative rock | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Picture Discs | June 21 | Indie rock | West Wave Stage |
| Boy + Girl | June 21 | Indie pop | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Jitana Electrica | June 21 | Electro-swing, jazz | West Wave Stage |
| The Neon Adventure | June 21 | Tech house | Warped Tent |
| Automotive Jazz Ensemble | June 22 | Jazz | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Full Frontal Buddha | June 22 | Folk | West Wave Stage |
| John Craig Ilava | June 22 | Singer-songwriter | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Fox Force Four | June 22 | Jazz | West Wave Stage |
| Five Lonely Parrots | June 22 | Reggae | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Naselni Jazzeek | June 22 | Hip-hop | Warped Tent |
| Popscene | June 22 | Indie rock | West Wave Stage |
| Justin Dix, Shlomo, Knobtwister and Teknik Bass | June 22 | Multiple live-sets | Warped Tent |
| First Fold Then Tear | June 22 | Rap rock/Indie | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| Marki Jólkavský | June 23 | Rap | Warped Tent |
| Lost Cosmonauts | June 23 | Synthpop | West Wave Stage |
| Car Crash Sex | June 23 | Punk rock | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| The Senate | June 23 | Indie rock | West Wave Stage |
| Man Ský | June 23 | Live-set | Warped Tent |
| Hyperbola | June 23 | Progressive rock | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| The Coasters | June 23 | Indie rock | West Wave Stage |
| First Fold Then Tear | June 23 | Rap rock/Indie | Seaman's Ale Stage |
| The Towners | June 23 | Indie rock | West Wave Stage |
| Justin Dix, Tapedeck Destroyer, Noisewave and Infant | June 23 | Multiple live-sets | WarpedTent |
Course of the event[]
The first day was dominated by rock acts, such as punk rock band Eggwhite and indie rock band Picture Discs. The amount of acts playing on the first day was slightly lower than the other days, as it was the opener day of the festival. As a result, it wasn't as busy as the other days. The closer act of the day, The Neon Adventure, threw a mighty party until deep in the night. The set was reminiscent of a rave party, and dominated by neon-clad youngsters. No real incidents happened the first day. Tone Factory praised the perfomance of Devil In The Details.
The second day slowly collapsed in a good-natured chaos when Naselni Jazzeek and Popscene played the crowds perfectly. Naselni Jazzeek attracted many casual music fans, causing many of the more seasoned festival-goers to migrate to either Five Lonely Parrots or Fox Force Four. As Popscene exceeded its time slot by more than two hours, playing until 3 AM, the Warped Tent went wild -courtesy to Justin Dix, Shlomo, Knobtwister and Teknik Bass. Their live-sets were much-frequented by members of other acts. A guest appearance of John Craig Ilava at Shlomo's set made for an unforgettable experience.
The last day was characterized by small fights, drug busts and chaotic acts such as Car Crash Sex and Hyperbola. The members of Hyperbola desperately tried to outdo the -admittedly meager- musical dexterity of Car Crash Sex. As The Coasters climbed the West Wave stage, Hyperbola saw a large share of "their" crowd leave for the golden oldies of Lovian music.
Side events[]
Whenever there were no performances at the Warped Tent, the DJ's of the West Wave radio station hosted mixes to entertain festival-goers that got bored of the main stages, according to a schedule of theme hours revolving around indietronica, popular music, "guilty pleasures" and the harder genres of EDM.
Warped Vinyl had a temporary fan shop where band goodies and a selection of vinyl, band T-shirts and CDs were sold. A row of small shops selling all sorts of small junk and goodies were located around the Warped Fan Store.
West Wave had set up a sky box, where hosts reported the event 24/7. Two small stages around the sky box were used for performances by local bands. Ferenc Szóhad held a lecture on saturday evening on "the relation between popular music and youth protest movements".