Rock
Photo form previous concert, Phoenix, photo by Michał Murawski / Alter Art Traditionally the festival offers a lot of great rock acts and this won’t change this time around. Rock-and-rollers might want to get ready for Alabama Shakes, who will play on the festival’s opening day, Kasabian, who are set to perform on the 4th, and the New York band Swans who will take the festival’s Alter Stage on the 3rd. The Polish rock scene will be represented by groups such as Trupa Trupa, a band that plays alt-rock and whose last album, Headache, was released by the English label Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records. Headache, the third studio album of this band that makes nearly all of their songs in English, contains compositions that are based on simple guitar and organ motifs and feature rather pessimistic lyrics. During concerts the group, unlike most rock bands, is calm and focused. Visualizations also play an important part in their shows. Trupa Trupa are set to perform on the 4th.
Hip Hop
Opener Festival 2014, photo by Tomek Kamiński / Alter Art A number of hip hop artists are scheduled to play at the festival. Drake will perform on the 1st (this will be the first show in Poland for the Canadian rapper), and Die Antwoord and A$AP Rocky will give their concerts on the same day. The noted Polish hip-hoppers Fisz Emade Tworzywo, who channel jazz and funk, are set to appear on stage on the 2nd. Fisz Emade Tworzywo was founded by the brothers Piotr and Bartosz Waglewski in 2002 and since then the band has released four albums. This year the group’s last LP entitled Mamut won a Fryderyk, which is the Polish equivalent of a Grammy, for best electronic, indie, or alternative album of the year. Mamut is an eclectic album on which one can find distinctly hip-hop numbers such as the dance song Pył or the jazzy tune Ślady.
Dance Music
Opener Festival, photo by Tomek Kamiński / Alter Art This year’s Open’er will also include dance music. The Prodigy will play on the 3rd and the Australian Flume will take the festival’s Tent Stage a day later. Rysy, a Polish band that makes dance music featuring catchy melodies and original lyrics, is set to perform on the 2nd. Rysy play as a trio consisting of the composer and producer Wojtek Urbański, the DJ and producer Łukasz Stachurko and the singer Justyna Święs. Their music, which combines ethereal sounds with hypnotic beats and engaging stories is sometimes described as conceptual and narrative. Rysy’s 2105 EP EGO shows that the artists from this group are well up to date with the newest trends in dance music.
