Trägertal Festival 2024 | Review
Partying with a holiday feeling to it. Where nature’s beauty meets loud beats in a hidden corner of Bavaria. But how good can that clash really be?
Location:
The Festival occurred at Gut Aichet, a picturesque estate in the idyllic countryside near Passau, Bavaria. Gut Aichet is a historic property that dates back over 500 years, with a rich tradition deeply rooted in the region. The estate encompasses hundreds of acres, much of it heavily wooded, and features its own sawmill, which has been used to produce the boards needed for constructing new buildings, such as the massive horse arena.
Over the years, the family has adapted to the times, transforming Gut Aichet into a multifaceted venue hosting various cultural and sporting events while maintaining its rustic charm. They rebuilt the buildings at Gut Aichet, including the stunning hunting lodge. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is evident in every corner of the estate, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere that perfectly complements the natural surroundings.
Organizers provided shuttles for people to get there and highly encouraged their use, as going by car usually poses some difficulties. Taking a bike also isn’t ideal as that would result in a ~35 minute ride with a steep incline in the last third. But I will revisit that topic in the “Organisation” chapter.
No official after-party was provided, and the possibilities in Passau are limited. That means that everyone I spoke with either went home or continued in private.
Overall, the location is lovely! It matches the “A Lovers' holiday” motto perfectly and creates a sense of homeliness and relaxation. Unfortunately, the price is some distance to the city, making the arrival/departure tricky. A small official after-party also felt like a missed chance. While rating it, memories from Third Room x Henrichshütte came up, which struggled with similar issues, but was equally as impressive as a location (just in a completely different way): 7.5/10
Sound-system:
There were three “true” stages that I am going to rate here. There were two additional music points, but those were multi-purpose and I’ll cover them in the next chapter.
The “Koppel” floor translates to the English word paddock and mainly acted as the performance stage for live acts and bands. It was a pretty long stage with an FOH positioned in the middle to support the acts. I sincerely don't know what brand they used, but there were 3 line array elements on each side and 8 subs in total. Those looked like single 18" or 15". No delay, no front fill. Nothing more. I spent some time there in the beginning when there were only a handful of people and the music was calm (chanson, rap, indy). This was fine, but as soon as it filled up, the amount of speakers just felt inadequate. Every time I returned to the stage at night, the sound was disappointing. It wasn’t very loud, it lacked a punch, and if you didn’t stand in the first quarter it was underwhelming. Double the amount of subs and some delay speakers would have been appropriate. The worst sound out of all stages: 3.5/10
The “Bangkok” floor featured a sound system that (most likely) was self-build. Looking at the Trägertal website, we can see that they rent one out, which consists of 2 x 600W Tops, 4 x 600W Kick-Bass, 2 x 1kW for deep bass. It sounded good — that's about it. The speakers successfully delivered emotions without causing any discomfort in your ears. It didn’t leave an impression on me, but a friend said that he liked this system the most, because the highs weren’t super sharp. And he was right. This system sounded fine without earplugs and although not super powerful, it got the crowd moving and grooving: 7/10
The organizers called the last stage "Bunker" and placed the Funktion One Soundsystem in a structure that can be best described as an artificial bunker. It consisted of 4 x Evo 6E and 6 x F121. They positioned the bass as a mono-block only on the right side. This left the left front side with a “hollow” spot lacking some bass. But it wasn’t as bad as one would imagine which surprised me. However, and I don’t use this lightly, standing on the right side in front of the sub-stack felt like being at Berghain. Clear, punchy, and leaving an impression on your whole body. Every time I took out my earplugs I could understand the comment my friend made as the highs were indeed very sharp. This was a pity because very few people used ear protection (get yourself some good ones ASAP!). But with those in, in my opinion, this system sounded the best by far: 9/10
Calculating the average over all three stages this results in a 6.5/10
Lights and Atmosphere:
This category is doomed from the start. Just kidding, but for some context: the festivals I already visited this year (sorry I didn’t write a review) were all in Belgium or the Netherlands. Those two countries are experts when it comes to style and stage design. The Dutch are often super technical and bring out the latest tech, while in Belgium a lot of emphasis is put on a very visually pleasing overall experience. Coming from that background, what I experienced at Trägertal felt a bit basic and maybe slightly disappointing. Not because it was bad — it just wasn’t special.
The “Koppel” stage was equipped with some strobes and basic projections on an otherwise simple stage build. As I didn’t spend much time there I can’t comment too much on the visuals used, but the few times I’ve seen them they felt generic. All the light was heavily focused on the stage and left the dancefloor dark and unengaged. Some washes or lights on the side and the FOH would have made a big difference. Some good lasers would have been ok if the light was coming only from the front, but the way it was done here with washers and moving heads felt mehhh.
The “Bunker” while creating a good contrast to the surrounding sand and featuring a huge mirror behind the DJ didn’t feel much different. Again it was very one-dimensional, and even though some LED bars have been hung over the dancefloor it didn’t create an immersed feeling. Presumably, they tried it by using a lot of smoke later in the evening, but it still felt very front-heavy. With the lack of equipment used, it felt impossible to achieve the feeling of forgetting where left and right are — this however would have helped the stage so much!
At last the “Bangkok” stage. This was probably the visually most interesting one. It reminded me very much of the “Tunnel” at Sisyphos in Berlin (if you’ve been there you know what I am talking about). A lot of small details immersed you into an Asian atmosphere. Painted mirrors, oriental-style masking tape, and a mirrorball in the middle of the stage. While not perfect and also losing some charm during the night (due to a lack of lighting) this felt by far like the most unique stage and gave the whole festival some character. Fun, playful, yet somehow simple, while being completely out of place. I mean, we’re in Bavaria, not in Thailand — duhhhh. Please, give us more of that spicy flavor.
In regards to atmosphere lighting: it was mostly static and generic. This is the main part I noticed compared to Belgium, where often some lights and tactically placed smoke machines transform the surroundings into a magical place. While at Trägertal it felt more like: “We need some lighting such that no one gets hurt at night”. Missed opportunity. And don’t get me wrong. It's not about the money invested or the equipment used. That matters for multi-million dollar festivals and it would be unfair to use them as a metric. But take a look at e.g. Klub Dramatik in Antwerp. Super simple yet interesting design. The arrangement and structure, while incorporating your surroundings are key to good design. It helps create an aesthetically pleasing environment that stands out.
What Trägertal has going for it is the lovely scenery of Gut Aichet. Except for maybe the Bangkok stage the technical light setup felt average at best. But since I am rating the whole feeling, atmosphere included, this category gets a 7/10
Organization:
On Friday, the festival began at 15:30 and ended at 01:00. On Saturday, it went a fair bit longer from 14:00 to 02:00. On both days, I arrived early to the festival grounds and had no issues with the shuttle. However, I also stayed till the end. On Friday the way home was super annoying! When I arrived at the shuttle station directly in front of the festival, I saw a huge amount of people and already knew that I was doomed. I waited a good hour till I finally stepped into a bus. By that point in time not only was my will to live gone, but also a certain “companion” I planned to bring home — Press F to Pay respect… On Saturday the organizers announced that they booked more buses. This second time I left 15 minutes earlier and immediately got on one. What made the difference, I don’t know, but I guess both adjustments played a role. Still, others told me, that they had issues on both days while going in both directions. To be fair, it is a double-edged sword because there will always be peak times when you can’t provide seamless transportation, so I won’t rate this as an unforgettable mistake.
However, something else was super problematic in this situation: the behavior of the security. Especially on Friday they were extremely rude, didn’t allow people to sit down while waiting, and were screaming and some. I get that it was a tense situation, but I saw no guest, that behaved in a way that justified that kind of reaction from the security. Everyone did what they were told directly after the first time (move, make some space, etc.) and still some security threatened the guests. It was simply unnecessary and I can imagine that certain people (e.g. sensitive and drugged) felt super uncomfortable with such a situation. The organizer definitely should brief those people!
Luckily during the festival, I didn’t see such behavior. Everything was calm there. The guests, the bartenders, the security, and the medics all existed in harmony. I don’t remember explicitly seeing an awareness team (or an announcement that there will be one), but I am not sure in that regard. In every case, the people at the bar and medics always looked approachable and I didn’t experience any tense moments.
There was one toilet area with 7 toilet stalls and a bunch of urinals for men and either 14 or 21 stalls for the girls. They suffered from low water pressure, but have been cleaned multiple times throughout the day. Except for some peak times, there was little to no waiting time. Due to being in Bavaria the organizers surely profit from the fact that most people use the toilets for their intended purpose and the flow is rather steady instead of stalls being occupied for a long time.
One crucial point that only crossed my mind afterward was rain. For a few minutes, it lightly rained, but that was about it. However, none of the stages was covered, which would have also been terrible with extreme sun (especially “Koppel” and “Bangkok” stages). But if I imagine severe rain I don’t know what would have as they seemingly had no setup for that. The weather was truly in favor during that weekend.
I already mentioned that there were three true stages. Additionally, there have been 2 music points. One next to a bar and one inside of the hut which was their multi-purpose area. There I saw people playing DanceStar, watching a football game, or a DJ seemingly spontaneously playing a set. This was cool. However, the DJ booth next to the bar was unnecessary and made ordering there super annoying because the speakers were directly next to it.
Everything went well. Only rarely were there long waiting times for drinks/food and enough places have been provided to sit in and out of the sun. But the security most definitely needs to get briefed on how to engage with possibly intoxicated people and the setup should be more versatile towards different weather conditions: 7.5/10
Music:
I’ll try to keep this short and concise. Friday started by listening to Elimako’s calm voice, however, some topics became a bit too deep for me so early on, so towards the end I switched to DJ Susi on the Bangkok stage. They surely brought me into a party mood as the music played was bouncy house, leaning towards trance with lots of good-vibe samples and 90s edits. Super playful vibe, but I felt a bit sorry for “Doo the dance” (DJ name) who played after her and needed to drop a lot of bpm. Unfortunately, this is quite common with newcomers. They lack the big picture, only focusing on their playtime and forgetting that the party goes on for much longer after they leave the stage.
This didn’t negatively influence me, because after DJ Susi’s set, I took a break from dancing and went socializing. I then switched to the Bunker stage to catch Dancekowski, who was good and played some proper house, but honestly didn’t leave much of an impression on me. However, by this time my muscles were warmed up, and I was feeling social and ready to turn it up. After a short stopover at Ikkimel, which was embarrassing — bad performance, terrible sound, arriving late — I found myself back at the Bunker floor. I was very much looking forward to seeing Maruwa, and I may be biased (see last chapter), but she didn’t disappoint. On Friday this was my highlight set! Groovy, strongly leaning towards tech house, and much less new school trance than I expected. But still filled with some progressive elements and breaks towards the end. It felt very natural and casual — the first festival day, summer evening, and a sunset in the background of a scenic Bavarian ranch.
Additionally, the vibe on the dancefloor was superb. During her playtime Germany played in the European football championship and additionally to a certain crowd Ikkimel drew away, this left some more room on the dancefloor. The people that stayed seemed way more into the music with lots of smiles and interaction within the crowd. Super lovely and by the time it got dark Maruwa got the floor boiling. This didn’t go unnoticed and more and more people joined in, really hyping it up. By playing some breaks and challenging the dancers she could keep this energy till the end. On this musical high note, my evening ended as I was afterward busy and didn’t specifically listen to another act.
Then came Saturday. I was feeling dead! Honestly, on my way to the festival ground, I was sure I would need to call it a night very early. Little sleep, super hungover, and out of energy. But then one bro saved my day: Ulepuschkinrose
Like on Friday I started my day on the “Koppel” stage with some live performances. But even though Ule is more known for his own tracks he played a DJ set. Ghetto, Dirty, Breaks, mixed with Rap. This is my description. Unfortunately, I can’t find a set of him anywhere online. We were ~30 people at the stage as it was still quite early and everyone was going mad! This set brought me back from the dead! Super cool German rap mixed on breakbeats with some techno elements, somewhere between G-Tech, Grime, and Drum&Bass.
As I was mostly looking forward to Narciss I went to the Bunker stage afterwards. Zimmerbauer played some known tracks and it did the job, but wasn’t noteworthy. Then Kim Swim came on and just destroyed the floor. Mad energy! People jumping, going crazy to some new school trance, high energy G- and Hard House. Just wow! And nearly no overplayed tracks and lots of new stuff that I’ve never heard before. Compared to her Narciss who came after just felt underwhelming. I didn’t feel the energy that he brought to the dancefloor last year (2023). It felt bland and too (tech) housy compared to what he is known for.
I am gonna stop here as I feel like I’ve already written too much and that category doesn’t even get rated as music and taste is subjective. I hope the interested people still enjoyed it ;)
Pricing:
I am sorry, but I am not super aware of the price (a friend organized something — thanks a lot!). If I recall correctly, the final price for the weekend was €75 and 40/€45 for Friday/Saturday. This, in my opinion, is fair given the popularity of the artists booked. Friday was more live-focused, while Saturday featured more prominent DJs. The booking seemed super on point. I was personally surprised by the popularity of the artists who were booked when I talked to other guests. It seemed that many of them gained some momentum some months before the festival, which truly speaks for a great future-oriented booking.
In Passau, boat parties are really popular. Please don’t ask me why, I don’t get it myself. Those mostly charge 25–40€ entrance for around 4 hours of music on only 1–2 stages. I hope I don’t need to clarify that with Trägertal you get far more for your money. Comparing it to other Bavarian festivals like Moments (Chiemsee) or Schall im Shilf (Munich) the entry prices are on the same level. The shuttle was priced at 10€ for a single day and 15€ for both days and honestly — that could have been lower.
Regarding drinks, once again sorry, I was negligent and didn’t pay attention. I mostly drank Wine (6€ for 0.2l) or Water (2€ for 0.4l). The wine was provided by Rosato Boys and it was excellent. As there was no water fountain you were forced to buy water, which is not the best option, but at least the price was right. Most bartenders were young people and easy to chat with, so if you left a tip they also provided you with a better mixture or no ice (and more wine).
For food, I remember that it was 4,5€ for a nice portion of fries or nachos. There were also more options like sausages or loaded fries which hovered around the 10€ mark, but please don’t quote me on that.
From entry to drinks and food, the pricing was fair. The quality and selection were above average. A better value than the popular boat parties: 8.5/10
Having a very price-sensitive crowd (students) I have the feeling there won’t be much wiggle room in the future.
Conclusion:
Do you have any relation to this part of Germany and want to use a festival as an opportunity to visit family or friends? Then Trägertal is a great option. It is mostly well organized, the pricing is fair for the setup presented, the scenery is super romantic, and the booking is diverse. Their slogan “a lover's holiday” truly fits. I wasn’t blown away by anything in particular, but overall it was done to a standard that a good time was basically guaranteed. This leads me to a final score of 7/10. I see a lot of potential for future editions and hope the organizers will challenge themselves next year — hit me up if you need some guidance or inspo ;)
My state of mind:
Disclaimer: I was put on the guestlist by Maruwa. This didn’t influence my rating nor the musical description of her set. I am otherwise happy to pay for entrance, but I don’t live in Passau anymore, meaning I had additional costs for the train and a hotel, which resulted in me going for that option.
The reason I even went to Trägertal is, that I wanted to see some of the people again, that I’ve met during my time in Passau. The festival was perfect for this as a bunch of people were there. I guess I knew around 50 people, so I spent most of my time socializing and catching up. This was obviously a very positive mood but led to a heavy crash on the second festival day. Luckily I found my way out of that sooner than I expected and was up for action on that day as well — full send.
Having that kind of social structure in place was greatly elevating my experience. I lived in Bavaria for over 5 years, but I also lived in West Germany for a few years and am originally from Berlin. There is a stark difference in culture and not necessarily one that is beneficial when partying. Bavarian people can be very friendly and give you the feeling of inclusion, but that usually takes (a lot of) time. For example, people from the Cologne area are much more open to welcoming new people to their crew, asking you about yourself, and having little hesitation when you approach them. Bavarian folks usually greet you with a big portion of skepticism. Who are you, what do you want, why are you here? It takes a fair bit of confidence to overcome that initially and you still might get a backlash. But that's not all. There are two additional obstacles: a super young crowd and a high dependence on alcohol. Let me explain!
The biggest share at Trägertal was students. Which is nice and cool and a young fresh crowd… but with them, this skepticism is even more prominent as they are super bound to their clique and if you don’t belong to it, it can get difficult. People judging is still very prominent. And even though this might read like an issue specific to flirting, NO, this spans across most interactions regardless of gender.
Now onto the second observation. The vast majority are completely restrained if they are not drunk. I could tell you stories… But what do you expect with a deeply routed beer culture and a minister who openly opposes cannabis even though Germany just legalized it? On one hand, it's refreshing coming out of Berlin and just partying where you’re not constantly hunting for the next “toilet break”. On the other hand (next to GBL), drunk people are usually the most annoying ones. Luckily I didn’t encounter any aggression, but sometimes there was some tension.
This is super subjective and a mixture of my experiences during the festival as well as my observations during the years I spent in Bavaria. I thought it was a good thing to write it out, such that one can better understand my wording in the conclusion. This was also the first review in nearly a year. It took me a long time to get back into it. The result was that instead of writing it within 3–5 days, I was writing on and off for nearly a month. This might have caused some inaccuracies and blunders, but it also motivated me to get back into a habit for some exciting upcoming articles. Stay tuned!
