Nova Rock proved why the Rock scene in Europe is well and truly alive as some of the greatest bands in the world performed to thousands of fans from Wednesday to Saturday at Austria’s Nickelsdorf.
Five Finger Death Punch was awesome on the Wednesday and they played a cover of Bad Company.
They seemed to end their set on Burn MF as their was so many mosh pits but then there was a acoustic start to Wrong Side of Heaven, that soon finished with a bang. The band finished on The Bleeding and provided an awesome set before Linkin Park.
Linkin Park played on the main Blue stage despite the criticism of fans from their latest album One More Light. The crowd jumped up and down and it was amazing to be part of this special moment
Pianist and rapper Mike Shinona went into the crowd, and got an Austrian flag and pinned it up on stage.
Fat Boy Slim was great and started off with the likes of Praise You as well as Renegade Master and Eat Sleep Rave Repeat.
The solo artist remixed loads of songs so that everyone could enjoy it.
Shame was the first act on the Blue stage on Thursday while Avatar was on Red Stage
Architects bus broken down before their therefore their set was 20 minutes late but made sure they done it
They played Gravedigger among others and thanked the crowd for sticking around and singing the songs which meant the world to them.
After playing A Match Made In Heaven, the band played a rather special song.as lead singer Sam Carter said that their song Gone With The Wind was for their brother Tom, brother of drummer Dan Searle , who died last year.
The band thanked Good Chatlotte and crew who got them to the gig as Good Charlotte started with The Anthem and played their classic song Girls and Boys.
The band then performed their new record Youth Authority, the title song of the latest album and then played Life Changes.
Good Charlotte got the whole crowd singing Happy Birthday to guitarist Billy Martin before they played favourites Little Things and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, it really was a set to remember.
Back over to the Red Stage and A Day To Remember wished their camera man a happy birthday and then asked fans if they knew what
Lead singer Jeremy McKinnon asked fans about Crowd crowd surfing meant. It meant when fans surfed on crowd surfers. The band played Naivety of their latest album Bad Vibrations as a lady pumped t-shirts into the crowd. Another new song Bullfight then was played as Jeremy then turned it down a notch with the beautiful If It Means A Lot to You but soon got heavier with All Signs Point To Lauderdale. It looked like Jeremy was wearing a Neck Deep shirt as they then dedicated their last song Downfall of us All to Architects.
Pendulum were insane and played Watercolour as well as Propane Nightmare which certainly put dub step into the rock festival.
Blink-182 were sick and certainly proved they’ve still got it. Matt Skiba was particularly good and his vocals were on point throughout. Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker aswell as Skiba entertained thousands of pop punk fans with Feeling This to start off followed by The Rockshow before a track of their latest album, California, called Cynical which went down great.
I Miss You was a classic song on the night as Skiba took on the tough challenge of performing it despite not being in the original line up. Travis Barker had an awesome drum solo as the likes of newer songs such as She’s Out of Her Mind and old ones like Dysentery Gary.
Mark then put on a frozen mask on to finish off Los Angeles as a kid finished the drum solo with Travis and confetti went down on thousands of fans.
Sleeping With Sirens were awesome and really got the early crowd going on the Friday and Pierce the Veil were amazing, and created a big circle pit for Caraphernelia.
The song was without Jeremy McKinnon however Sleeping with Sirens singer Kellin Quinn joined the band on stage instead.
Of Mice & Men played Broken Generation which was amazing and it was also interesting to see how they got on without Austin Carlile and they were great.
Moose Blood then played on the Red Bull stage and they were certainly flying the flag for British Emo rock as they played a fairly small set but it was certainly quality. They played Honey from their latest album Blush, and older ones such as I Hope You’re Miserable. Lead singer Eddy Brewerton.
Prophets of Rage played before System of a Down as they played Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name which was just an overall great experience.
System of a Down were great, played Chop Suey! and ended on Sugar as they played 30 songs in total. With the likes of Violent Pornography and Deer Dance in the middle.
Dead! opened up the Blue stage of Saturday with tracks Something Not Original and Jessica.
The English pop rock band also played a My Generation cover and Enough. The lead singer went into the crowd for Your So Cheap to finish their set.
Rag n Bone Man also took to the stage as he played his hit song Human with backing singers.
Suicide Silence guitarist wore a Architects jumper and got a kid to play drums a little as the band certainly were one of the heaviest band in the festival.
Canadian band Simple Plan then brought some Pop Punk into the festival with Welcome to my Life.
Drummer Chuck Comeau replaced lead singer and stage dived as the singer lead singer played drums as the lead singer, Pierre Bouvier, said ‘Chuck is fucking crazy, this is Crazy’ as they then played Crazy and Perfect.
Rancid were a proper punk rock band as Kevin from The Interrupters joined them on their set.
Green Day went on to the stage Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Blitzkrieg Bop as drummer Tre Cool came on as a bunny.
Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong got someone on stage for Holiday and started to add lyrics in with no Donald Trump and no Homophobia to add to it.
Billie Joe continued to entertain the crowd as he said ‘Tonight is about freedom, looking for love’
Green Day started with an acoustic version of Boulevard of Broken Dreams but it soon kicked in.
A fan then gave Billie Joe a flag and toy cow as the band played classics such as Longview being played as well as newer ones like Bang Bang from Revolution Radio, Green Day then played another new oneYoungblood. Billie Joe then after sprayed water and threw t-shirts to the thousands of fans before playing an old one, 2000 Years Light Away.
Hitchin’ a Ride lasted longer than normally as they, got the crowd going and Tre Cool had a great drum solo.
Green Day then played their cover of Knowledge and it three people on stage to find someone to play the right chords as third person was awesome and owned the stage.
Billie Joe climbed the stage for King for a Day as Tre Cool also started to sing their cover of Shout. As the lead singer pointed out to a fan being on the phone, Billie Joe managed to get everyone on the floor with him as they also sung Hey Jude. It was another great Green Day gig as Mike Dirnt and Jason White both performed amazing as usual. They finished with two acoustics after Jesus of Suburbia with Ordinary World and Good Riddance (Time of your Life) finished a truly magical set.
Legend David Hasslehoff finished the live music on the Red Stage with some covers West Virginia, Sweet Caroline but really him just being their seeing him enjoy himself was the main attraction.
Overall it was a awesome few days in Austria with some amazing people and acts. There was also fireworks which was a perfect way to end.
Nova Rock 2017 photo gallery by Ben Smith