It’s the final day of Open’er festival in Gdynia, Poland today (July 5). So, before I take up a rare opportunity to see Kings Of Leon play a main stage festival slot, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve learned during our time here.
1: Crystal Castles might just be a bloke in a hood pressing ‘Play’ while his disconcertingly younger band-mate flails around yelling at the front of the stage, but at 1am in a very big tent it’s enough to make your heart start banging very hard without the use of any kind of narcotics whatsoever.
2: Not that you’d ever attempt to smuggle anything of the sort into Open’er in the first place. You don’t mess with security here. You just don’t. That thing would hurt if it hit you in the face.
3: Open’er can teach the UK a few things about festival scheduling. At the time where at Glastonbury you’d already be waist-deep in a mud-bog after accidentally downing a bottle of poppers somewhere north of the Green Fields because after the headliner finished you went off for an “adventure” with the Geordie with dreadlocks you just met, you’d still be rocking out to the bands here. This is a good thing.
4: Q-Tip fans are the best dancers of the festival.
5: Open’er might lack the mystical Glastonbury-style element that means that, for example, you could turn a corner around a hedge and suddenly find yourself face to face with a gaggle of breakdancing mages rocking out to a band fronted by Keith Allan and Neil from The Office at any moment. But there are a few wizards around, notably in the nearby Gdynia city centre. And they’re usually happy to pose with small children.
6: Oh, and Arctic Monkeys at Reading and Leeds should be pretty darn good – even if the sound cuts out for ten minutes.
Thanks Open’er, see you next year. x