The Phungo Festival is one of those festivals that has something for almost every taste in music. On the one hand, as in 2021, the metal evening, on the other hand singer/songwriters like Stoppok this year or the now traditional Hier kommt der Bass day with techno DJs. We will report on this year’s metal evening elsewhere, this is about the techno evening, so that we can also look beyond our horizons. It all started at 11 a.m. with local DJ Boris Lutz, who had a two-hour set. As it is usual at techno festivals, there is no direct changeover break, but the next DJ starts setting up his equipment while his predecessor is still spinning, which in turn starts dismantling as soon as his successor has started. It sounds complicated, but it’s not, so there was a smooth transition and no music interruption. Three more local DJs then played their sets until 6 p.m. and delighted the crowds. The crowd was so big this evening, that Phungo attendance record for the entire festival’s history was broken. At 6 p.m. DJ DAG, who is no stranger to the scene, entered the stage. He was one of the trance DJs that contributed to the Sound of Frankfurt, resident DJ at Dorian Gray and Omen, which are considered the birthplaces of techno in Germany. He also played several times at the Nature One. However, he can also be counted among the local DJs, as he lives in neighboring Gernsheim, where he later drove back comfortably on his motorbike.
This year’s highlight of the evening was a woman who should not be unknown to anyone who has heard a little bit about techno and especially the
Love Parade. And it was none other than Germany’s Techno Queen,
Marusha. At least most of them should have heard their biggest hit to date,
Somewhere over the Rainbow. Unfortunately, I never made it to the
Love Parade in Berlin myself, so I was all the happier that a piece of the same history will come to
Pfungstadt, where I live, to DJ there. I also think that the visitor record is to be owed to her. You could also tell that she was having a lot of fun. She stayed true to vinyl and continues to DJ with it. She had a bigger bag with her records on stage. When it got darker, not only did the lights from the stage and the otherwise very unusual and beautiful lighting from the grounds come better into view, but the two stilt walkers also came out very well, as they were illuminated with smaller LEDs and very artfully dressed. They went through the spectators and the dancing people, only to dance a bit in front of the stage themselves, as far as the stilts allowed. Where
DJ Dag played for 90 minutes,
Marusha was allowed to stand at the mixtables for two hours and chase her music through the speakers.
Tom Wax, another “local” DJ, was allowed to end the evening, as he was born very close to Pfungstadt and, like
DJ Dag, was resident DJ at the
Dorian Gray, both at the same time. He also DJed at the
Love Parade, the
Mayday and other big well-known techno festivals, but that didn’t stop him from going back to his roots and honoring the
Phungo Festival. While he was DJing,
Marusha stayed a bit in the background of the stage and danced to his music. He was then allowed to make people dance until 11 p.m., whether in front of the stage or in the queues in front of the drinks stands. That way did end an all-round successful day for the
Phungo Festival, which will be difficult to top next year, but hopefully will come close.
