As soon as June begins, the air above Poland gets filled with thrill and excitement, the collective counting down days and hours, piling up savings on train tickets to Gdynia, Katowice, Plock or Krakow. The reason? Music craze! Indeed, along with the Orange Warsaw Festival and preceding Krakow’s Selector, the festivals’ summer kicks off. Young people in masses leave their hometowns in order to settle for a few days on campsites and a little bit more sophisticated accommodations: dormitories or couch-surfing lodgings. Poland is recently emerging out of the cultural-entertainment shadow and meeting the needs of fans yearning for good gigs. The music festivals are not only better organized but their line-ups are getting comparable with those of most famous Western ones. To justify those statement let’s take a glance at the most important annual Polish music events that should not be missed:
1. Heineken Open’er Festival – taking place on the North coast of Poland, in Gdynia, usually in the beginning of July, is the biggest and most attended music celebration in the country. This year’s line-up included: Coldplay, Prince, Caribou, The National, Pulp, Foals, The Strokes, The Wombats, M.I.A and Two Door Cinema Club and loads of other less or more renowned artist from all over the world.
2. Tauron Nowa Muzyka – in case you are a fan of contemporary jazz, electronics and dance genres, without hesitation you should reserve the last weekend of August and head towards Katowice. This year’s mind-blowing line-up included: Amon Tobin, Modeselektor, Emika, When Saints Go Machine, Little Dragon, Apparat, Darkstar, Teebs and Superpitcher. The festival was crowned with Jamie Woon’s closing down concert at picturesque evangelical church.
3. Audioriver - an international upfront, quality electronic and techno music festival, held on the beach at the Vistula River in Plock. 2011’s headliners include: Trentmoller, Paul Kalkbrenner, Vitalic, Pretty Lights, We Love, Ernesto Ferreyra and a vast amount of top-ranked djs.
4. Selector Festival – focused mainly on electronic, innovative sounds, but with plenty of space for big rock names as well. The location of the festival seems to be perfect - Krakow, said to be the most beautiful Polish city! It is worth to mention a part of 2011’s rich line-up: La Roux, Klaxons, Crystal Castles, Hercules and Love Affair, Ladytron, Katy B, Does It Offend You, Yeah?
5. Warsaw Orange Festival – another annual mass music event, held in the very heart of the Polish capital in a month of June. Artists that performed in 2011 were eg.: My Chemical Romance, Skunk Anansie, Moby, Plan B and Jamiraquoi.
6. Off Festival – last but not least! Usually held in August, an ultimate mecca for fans of alternative tunes. The line-up is created each year by the artistic director Artur Rojek, the lead singer of Polish rock group Myslovitz. That is why the festival initially took place in his hometown – Myslowice. Two years ago the “headquarter” moved to Katowice. In a nutshell, among this year’s artists we may point out: Mogwai, Blonde Readhead, Junior Boys, Ariel’s Pink Haunted Graffiti, Warpaint, Twin Shadow and Matthew Dear.
Now, when music summer 2011 is already over, let’s focus on the next year! If thinking about attending one of the festival above, we recommend you to go to medestino.com and book your vacation 2012 right now!!
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