180,000 expected at Electric Love Festival
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The Electric Love Festival on the Salzburgring near Koppl and Plainfeld (Flachgau) started on Wednesday evening with a warm-up. The concert program on the big stages started on Thursday. The organizers are expecting 180,000 visitors over three days.
The program at the festival runs until the early hours of Sunday morning: more than 160 DJs and musicians perform on a total of five stages. After a CoV-related cancellation in 2020 and a greatly reduced edition in the previous year, up to 60,000 visitors per day are expected again today.
Lots of rain, but “very, very low” risk of severe weather
The festival guests will get wet at least on the first night – because large amounts of rain are announced. According to meteorologists, ten liters of rain per square meter fell on Thursday evening. The organizers have ponchos ready for the festival guests and wood chips for the muddy ground.
As long as it only rains, the program will go ahead as planned, says organizer Manuel Reifenauer: “The risk of thunderstorms and severe weather is very, very low. That’s really what concerns us as organizers: gusts of wind or lightning. Those two things are uncomfortable.” In 2015, a squall knocked down a lighting tower at the festival. The tower fell on a visitor who was killed. However, according to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, there should not be such high wind speeds as back then. It will be windy but not stormy.
“Only beginners don’t have rubber boots with them”
Nevertheless, the mood on the camping meadows around the Salzburgring was already good on the day of arrival, Wednesday. Many were looking forward to the DJs, but also to a “good time with my friends”. The tents were also made rainproof as much as possible – some visitors also had tarpaulins and rain ponchos with them. And rubber boots were also often seen: “Only beginners don’t have any with them,” commented one festival visitor.