Six nights. Various labels. A proper venue. And an amplifier that goes all the way up to 11. Indie Label Week is where Mozart would hang out if he were alive today.
- Music festival at the Reigen Wien venue
- Typically 2-3 indie bands and acts every night
- Genres range from hip hop and electronic to heavy rock and punk
- 2020 dates: Oct 19-24
- See also: Vinyl & Music festival | Waves Vienna
Six strings, one plectrum
Back in the early 19th century, no A&R man sat in the Palais Collalto twiddling his cravat and thought, “This Mozart kid has promise; we should get hold of a demo tape”.
Music has changed. And Vienna with it.
Once in a while, it pays to look beyond the stylish classical concerts and magnificent operas, and dive into the city’s independent music scene. For example, at the Austrian Indie label Week. This took place for the first time in 2019 and looks set to be a regular annual event.
It’s too early for the 2020 programme, but the first six-day event gave five independent Austrian labels a night each to showcase two or three of the talents in their care. And the rock magazine, Stark!Strom!, took over the Friday night for an evening of music of the heavier kind, followed by an aftershow party.
So you had:
- Electric Fire Records with the bands Dusk, Naplava, and Diamond Skull (ranging from rock and roll through heavy rock, stoner and psychedelic, to stoner heavy doom. Mozart would approve)
- Sunshine Music Division with electronic acts, including Noah Frankl
- The Hip Hop label, Heiße Luft, featuring Gigolo D & Jermc, WSDG & Melonoid, and Tudas & Devaloop
- Noise Appeal Records with The Ghost and the Machine, Scarabeusdream, and Convertible
- Konkord with pop, rock and punk from My House in Spain, Brainmanagerz, and The Base
The Stark!Strom! night featured Fingerlyxx, Raptor 200, and Maiden Für Jeden, the latter setting hearts aflutter for anyone who knows how many minutes there are left until midnight and whether the number of the beast is a human number. (Hint: Two and Yes, it is).
The venue for Indie Label Week is the Reigen, also home to most of the gigs in the Vienna Blues Spring Festival. If you want to combine your visit with something a little older or furrier, then Schönbrunn Palace and Schönbrunn Zoo are close by.
2020 dates and tickets
Indie Label Week 2020 fires up the amplifiers from Monday, October 19th to Saturday, October 24th.
Expect tickets to be available direct from the Reigen venue.
How to get to the Reigen
We can thank the forward-thinking city planners of the late 1800s for planting an urban rail line right opposite the Reigen.
Subway: take the U4 line to Hietzing station and it’s about a 30 second walk, depending on how long it takes for the lights to change so you can cross the road
Tram: the 10 and 60 tram lines also stop at Hietzing station
Address: Hadikgasse 62, 1140 Vienna | Website