A number of years back a festival was unleashed on
the summer circuit, with a view to shaking the branches of those old festival
oaks. Some of them have been spewing out the same old family friendly
line-ups for decades, to keep their Radio 1-loving audiences happy for too long. It is essential for new and exciting festivals, offering challenging alternative music to emerge from the shadows every now and again.
Primavera Sound has catered for an alternative audience
for a number of years, but the festival I’m referring to is Poland’s OFF Festival. Since 2006 it has established itself as one
of the foremost representatives of true alternative music (and its fans) on the
summer festival circuit. It manages to attract exciting off-kilter bands who
receive little or no exposure at bigger, hype-driven mainstream festivals.
Situated in Katowice, south Poland, it was the brainchild of Artur Rojek, who created and now heads the festival. Any festival starting out has to rely on home-grown talent and OFF was no different in this regard, with line-ups largely comprised of Polish bands at the beginning. Nowadays there are bands from all over the world, and
importantly those from Poland’s very own pool of musical talent. There is no sense of genre discrimination with everything from r 'n' b and hippy metal to folk and noise rock/pop. Over time it has grown in
stature, attracting bands such as Iggy
and the Stooges, Swans, Thurston Moore, James Chance and the Contortions, The
National, Primal Scream, Gang of Four, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mogwai
and this year My Bloody Valentine
and The Pop Group will appear
alongside a list of other great bands, in another strong line-up.
Acts of this calibre help attract more attention for
OFF! festival, and it is sure to expand in the coming years. Hopefully it will stay true to its roots and continue
distinguishing itself from its competitors. And considering the standard of acts on offer, it
is the best value-for-money ticket you could ever wish to buy, with 3-day
tickets costing about £30. The Katowice air is sure to be thick with corruption come August 2, and
I for one can’t wait to be a part of it.
For this year’s full line-up and more information
about the festival, visit the festival site:
Visit my facebook page
By Garrett Hargan
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