English Section

OFF music festival starts in Poland

02.08.2019 16:00
OFF Festival, one of Europe’s top alternative music fests, was launched in the southern Polish town of Katowice on Friday.
Photo: pexels.com
Photo: pexels.comCC0

Headlining the three-day event this year will be UK indie rock legends Stereolab, Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, UK psychedelic jazz trio The Comet is Coming and UK rock pioneers Suede.

Also playing at the fest are indie rock heroes Foals, rising stars of noise Black Midi and young rapper slowthai, all three this year shortlisted for one of Britain’s foremost musical awards, The Mercury Prize.

Another performer is Trupa Trupa, a Polish band from Gdańsk, who this year received praise from the prestigious American Rolling Stone magazine.

The festival’s eclectic lineup also includes artists such as Aldous Harding, Electric Wizard, Lebanon Hanover, The Gaslamp Killer, Daughters, OM and Zespół Pieśni i Tańca “Śląsk.”

In addition to the music, the festival also hosts a variety of other cultural events such as art exhibitions, workshops and screenings of movies.

OFF Festival was first held in 2006 in a small Polish town of Mysłowice.

The fest has since then grown substantially and moved to the much larger site of Dolina Trzech Stawów (Valley of Three Ponds) in Katowice.

The festival has helped change the image of Katowice, a city which until recently was widely referred to in Poland as the country’s industrial mining capital, since the event was first held there in 2010.

In 2015, UNESCO named Katowice a "City of Music." 

OFF Festival has in the past drawn stars including Iggy Pop, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, The Flaming Lips, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The festival runs until the late hours of Sunday.

For more information, click here

(jh/pk)

Source: PAP/off-festival.pl

See more on this subject: Off Festival