Open’er
GDYNIA, Poland | July 3rd-6th
On arrival to the Open’er’s Babie Doly site, the first thing to take in is that it’s absolutely fucking massive. It seems to be plonked right in the middle of an airport with the most sparsely placed array of stages. The main stage, draped in beer branding (like most of the site), is colossal. This would probably lend its self quite nicely to a bunch of international stadium filling headline acts across four days in the Baltic sunshine.
Thursday
We arrive on the festival’s second day, and a glance at the previous night’s programme informs us that we missed out on Savages, Blur and Kendrick Lamar. Gutted. But with Tame Impala on at the Main Stage, tonight kicks off to a promising start. However, their kaleidoscopic psych-rock sound doesn’t really lend too well to the wet conditions, especially in comparison to the idyllic sunny conditions at their Glastonbury set the week before.
We chip off for half an hour with Jose Gonzales’ Junip who provide some nice light melodies over in the Tent Stage, as we have a sit down and warm up for tonight’s headliners due on the Open’er Main Stage. Alex Turner leads out the Arctic Monkeys on the main stage at 10pm sharp, adorning a pinstripe blazer and the current short back and sides haircut he’s been rocking this year. It’s a style which contrasts to the Monkey’s pragmatically unfashionable drummer Matt Helders, who’s still sports the same Adidas trackys he probably wore at Sheffield’s Leadmill in 2005. They launch straight into new single Do I Wanna Know? to the appreciative crowd before running through a slew of hits, new and old. They’re on good form and it’s a proper greatest hits set from the Sheffield four piece, topped off with the trio of earlier classics Mardy Bum, When The Sun Goes Down and 505 for the encore. We feel a tinge of pride to see such a solid group reppin’ the UK on the continent. A band with the autopilot dial set to amazing.
“She was a catch. We were a match. I was the match that would fire up her snatch” Nick Cave croons, proving his sexually potent lyricism to be as popular as ever as he closes the main stage with The Bad Seeds. It’s a set focused on material from his excellent recent album Push The Sky Away, and culminates with old classic Red Right Hand, which Cave introduces as the song ‘made famous by the Arctic Monkeys’ in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the bands cover of the track from a few years back.
Friday
Friday hosts the double header of Queens of the Stone Age and The National on the main stage. The sun is shining down and we’re so content with basking in the sun on the dry grass that we endure Skunk Anansie’s entire set. A particular lowlight is when lead singer Skin fellates the microphone in some proper cringeworthy behaviour. I mean she’s not fucking Grace Jones. The highlight is probably when they launch into their big hit Hedonism from 1997, which no one actually remembers.
Then it’s onwards and upwards to the Tent stage, where These New Purtians reveal their new album Field of Reeds to be one 2013’s most satisfying growers (although many nonplussed audience members seem to think they’ve stumbled into some kind of Muse side project, you won’t find a better dead ringer for Matt Bellamy than the ‘Puritains lead singer and multi instrumentalist Jack Barnett). Imagine Mogwai’s subtlety timed and delicate drum patterns laced with a dense baritone and hymn-esque organs. You know, the sort of music you’d hatch an evil plan too. Our favourite moment was the rendition of recent single Fragment Two.
As the free alcohol set in and attention levels started to wane, we opted for heftier thrills in the form of Queens Of The Stone Age, who launch into Feel Good Hit of the Summer and run through their arsenal of classics including Crack favourite Little Sister. They’re looking in great shape for the …Like Clockwork tour.
Saturday
Our final day in Gdynia presents us with the choices between Jonny Greenwood, Kings of Leon, Animal Collective, Crystal Fighters, Mount Kimbie and Miguel, to name just a few.
It’s a delightfully sunny evening on the north Polish coast, and after watching Manchester quartet Everything Everything fail to ignite the crowd with their jerky art-rock (their perky single Schoolin’ falls particularly flat), we get ourselves excited for Miguel. The neo R&B star’s band arrives first, and what a badly dressed bunch they are, with the guitarist’s white rimmed sunglasses adding an extra layer of cheese to the proceedings. But what about our main man? He’s waiting in the ranks while his band dance around to Get Lucky. Finally Miguel (who’s sporting pristinely ripped jeans) arrives and performs to a growing crowd, engaging regularly, asking the confused crowd ‘do you like drugs?’ before launching into his anthem which bears the line in its chorus. At one point, the big screen shows a pissed up Rihanna (who’s here for her set the following night) sat in the pit at the front sipping on drinks with a fag behind her ear. It’s the biggest cheer Miguel gets during his set, although the closing double header of Adorn and Mariah Carey collab #Beautiful is definitely enjoyed.
Let’s face it, we all adored the first two Kings Of Leon albums, and maybe even the third at a push. But the Followill’s are certainly starting to age in their post-Sex On Fire years somewhat, with Caleb’s hairline gradually diminishing year by year. They run through earlier classics such as Molly’s Chambers and a slightly rusty version of The Bucket, but it’s Use Somebody that really sends the crowd wild with singsongs, making 80,000 Poles feel like they’re through to X Factor’s bootcamp.
As the result of a bizarre decision made by the programmers, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood follows KoL. Tonight, Greenwood performs Steve Reich‘s 1987 composition Electric Counterpoint – a half hour performance of layering pre-prepared and live guitar tracks in which he engages the sparsely remaining crowd, before Reich himself arrives to close the Open’er stage.
We dip our heads into Animal Collective’s set and catch their heartfelt classic My Girls before heading over to the Beat Stage to see Dirtybird stalwarts Catz N Dogz’s homecoming show, where they send everyone mental with a blend of party-tailored beats and their signature bass heavy house.
We’re not usually ones for babbling on about the logistics of a festival, but there is one crazy rule here at Open’er: you can’t take alcohol into the main arena. So if you’re thinking of chucking the rest of your pint over your mate during a Florescent Adolescent singalong, then think again. So look out for the assigned ‘fun’ zones rumoured for 2014, they’re bound to be a hit. If you want a tightly organised festival with a hefty selection of globe conquering bands, then you’ve come to the right place. There’s a beach down the road too. But at the end of the day, when all things are said and done, the Arctic Monkeys are the best rock band this country has seen since the 90s, and they pretty much defined the whole weekend, along with Heineken, which we won’t be drinking for a while.
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Words: T.C. Flanagan
Photos: Tomek Kaminski, P. TaraSewicz, B. Bajerski + Betsy Flanagan
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