From the Crowd: Heroes Festival Freiburg 2025

They say music festivals bring people together. Whoever they are, they've clearly never stood in semi-wet socks watching Bonez MC scream into a fog machine with 15,000 other people.

Heroes Freiburg 2025 didn't try to be something it wasn't. It gave us rain, sun, muddy shoes, and maybe a mild case of exhaustion. And yet? It might've been the most honest weekend of the summer.

I didn't expect to leave Heroes this year with so much on my mind. I went for the music, like everyone else. But somewhere between the rain, the overcrowded waves, and a few things people chose to say on stage, this weekend turned into something more meaningful than just a good time.

The first thing you noticed when walking into festival premises wasn't the crowd or the merch tent or even the weather; it was the stage setup.

For the first time in Freiburg, Heroes scrapped the usual split between indoor and outdoor stages and built two open-air main stages directly next to each other. The idea was simple: one act ends on one stage, the next starts immediately on the other stage. It looked good on paper. But in practice, it changed everything: how people moved, how long sets could run, and how much space there was to breathe between artists. Especially in the front wave, it got tight fast. There was no real way to reset between acts. Once you were in, you were in.

Even before we caught the first act, it was clear that this year was going to feel different.

Friday: Aggu, Makko, Rasenschach

It started raining while we were still on the way in. Not the cute kind that passes after a few drops, but actual, heavy rain. People were already soaked by the time we got through security. Shoes were done for. Phones disappeared into inner pockets. No one pretended to care about staying dry.

Filow was on stage as we arrived. It wasn't full yet, but people were already having fun despite the rain. The floor was slippery, but it was also alive. Filow played like he knew most people didn't plan to be there that early, but now they were. His set landed clean. Before that, BABYJOY had opened the day and remained the only woman officially booked across the whole lineup, and also the only act we missed on Friday due to traffic.

Later in the day, Makko brought one of the most consistent sets of the weekend. His energy was level, no filler. At one point, he brought out Eli Preiss to sing "Sailor Moon" with him. It was a soft shift, but something in the crowd changed. It felt rare to see her up there, because she was one of the very few women to take that stage this weekend. And when she did, it clicked.

$oho Bani came on after Makko, and it immediately felt different. He didn't say much, but the way he moved and stood on that stage held weight. The whole team was dressed in white: The band and the background singers were completely in sync visually. Meanwhile, his social media person was in all black, and their face was covered. Bani wore only one glove, on his left hand, and didn't reference it. Nothing about the setup felt random. It was clean, controlled, and a little surreal in the best way. His delivery was steady, and the crowd stayed with him the whole time. One of the loudest sets of the day and one that people paid closest attention to.

Ufo361 came on late in the day and built his set deliberately. The visuals were messy, foggy, and red. During his encore, he performed "Ich bin ein Berliner" and brought fans up on stage. Not VIPs, just whoever made it through the side barrier. They danced behind him, filmed each other, screamed every line like they had known him for ages. It felt less like a performance and more like a crowd folding in on itself.

Saturday: Mittelmeer, Sunset, Pashanim

Saturday felt calmer than Friday. The weather was warm but steady, the kind of temperature you don’t really complain about. But the exhaustion from the day before was still in everyone’s body. You could see it in the way people moved slower, held onto the rail with both hands, sat down wherever they could. The front wave was already packed early, and once you were in, there wasn’t much space to shift or step back.

Apsilon was strong as always. OG Keemo came later in the afternoon and played a set that didn’t need anything extra. His voice cut straight through. No big crowd chants, just focus. It landed. Gola Gianni, Chapo102, and CIVO kept things moving between stages. When Bausa walked on, people reset a little. His set was smooth and well-paced. During his set, he held up a Palestine FC jersey and said something like, “You see this jersey? This is a Palestine jersey.” It wasn’t a throwaway gesture. He made sure it was seen. Then he moved into his songs, and the crowd followed.

Then came Pashanim, and the mood changed. The sun started setting. His set wasn’t loud or theatrical; it was just him. He played what people had come to hear. "Airwaves", "Sommergewitter", "Bagchaser Can", the crowd knew every lyric. "Mittelmeer" came right as the sun was setting. That’s the moment I’ll probably remember most. Everything slowed down. It was soft in a way most festival moments aren’t allowed to be.

What was said and what it meant

There were a few moments across the weekend that stayed with me longer than anything else. Not because of how they sounded, but because of what they said and how rare it still is for people in this space to speak clearly.

During his last song on Saturday, Pashanim had the words Free Kurdistan and Free Palestine looping quietly in the background. Nothing was announced. There was no pause for it. Just those words, shifting fonts, staying on screen the entire time during his last song. Before that, Bausa walked on with a Palestine FC jersey in hand, holding it up for everyone to see during his set. A gesture that landed because so few people in the music industry make their positions visible at all, let alone that directly, especially with his kind of platform.

I thought a lot about Makko's set from the day before, too. How he ended with the words “Fick die AfD, fick die Nazis und Freiheit für Palästina.” (Fuck the AfD, fuck nazis and freedom for palestine). It was clear and loud. It wasn't performative. It felt like something he just didn't want to leave unsaid. I know artists aren't required to speak up. But in a country where silence is so often the default, it meant something to see people use that platform, even briefly, to show where they stand. And to not dress it up.

Final Thoughts

Some of the sets really held something, especially in how present they felt. There were artists who made room, said things clearly, brought people on stage, and let moments sit without dressing them up. There were crowds that stayed in it even when everything hurt a little. And there were softer parts, too. Like Mittelmeer in the sunset. Like Rasenschach with no beat under it. Small things that somehow made sense in all the chaos.

I left tired, but full. And I think I'll remember this year's Heroes for a long time.

Early bird tickets for Heroes Freiburg 2026 are already on sale; you can find them here.

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