Open’er 2023. Rumors about the death of the festival are premature

Relax, dear reader, I will not bully and answer the question, “Is Open’er dying?” I won’t leave until the last paragraph. No, he’s not dying. Rumors of his death are premature. He is doing well and there is no indication that this will change in the foreseeable future. But it is also not the same event as it was a few years ago.

I’ve been going to Open’er for ten years. So I know what it used to look like and what it looks like now. But it’s not about giving boomer wisdom here and complaining that once there were times, now there are no times. Especially since a lot of things are changing for the better. Here’s what catches your eye right away.

– Toilets with light. Thank you, good man, whoever you are, for such a great idea. Anyone who has tried to deal with an urgent need, in the middle of the night, in a dark toilet, after a few more beers, knows that this task requires a lot of dexterity, spider sense and hmm, increased tolerance to substances that are found in every public toilet. Being able to defecate in the light immediately adds 100 points to well-being. And if there is still water and soap in the toilet (and there were at Open’er), even 200 points.

– Trampling makes sense. From year to year, the field at the airport in Kosakowo is getting more and more even. It’s getting harder and harder to fall into a hole and twist an ankle. You can see that the rolling of tens of thousands of people from the main stage to the tent stage and back is an effective way to level the ground.

– Shelter for the needy. This year, the organizers launched “Shelter”, a place where those who for some reason did not feel safe could find shelter. They could receive psychological and medical help on site. And very well. Such places are needed. Who knows, maybe in the coming years there will be an idea to expand the shelter to the rank of an entire zone, just like the NGO zone.

– Popularity of stronger liquors. The oldest highlanders remember that once the Heineken brand was even the title sponsor of the festival. It hasn’t been for a decade, but beer with a red star in the logo is still the main fuel of festival goers. And while last year the queues for beer were kilometer long, this year the stands of stronger alcohols aroused much more interest. Built like mini clubs, with their own DJs, with their own dance floor, they experienced a real siege. Meanwhile, the wind blew over the beer. Is this a plus – everyone will judge for themselves, depending on your taste. It’s always better to have more choice than less.

Open’er Festival 2023. Queues for beer? What lines for beer? Agata Kalińska/gazeta.pl

Exactly. Competitive events at stands with vodka or whiskey. The crowds that flocked to them indicate that people want to dance to the music played by the DJ. And it’s very cool, only when one of the world’s stars performs on the main stage, and in the background you can hear collectively shouted “Let’s get loud, let’s get loud!”, that we start to wonder why we are there. And is it really about decibels pounding from the alcohol stand drowning out what is most important at the festival – the music from the main stages?

And here we come to the heart of the matter. So who performed at Open’er and why these and not others. The fact that the lineup of the festival has been arranged with special care for the needs and tastes of the “Z” generation, i.e. generation Z, is no secret and has often been mentioned in the conversations of festival goers. The songs of artists such as Lil Nas X or SZA collect billions of streams on Spotify, the triumphs overseas of Saint Lizzo (by the way, you gave a great concert in Kosakowo, Mrs. Lizzo! Thank you!), rapper Lil Yachty’s song “Poland” is viral, and Machine Gun Kelly is known to every reader of gossip portals. But so what, since the performances of these artists, although well received, did not attract inexhaustible opener crowds.

Open’er 2023. The moon over the main stage Agata Kalińska / gazeta.pl

Crowds, however, were at Arctic Monkeys and Queens of Stone Age concerts. That is, bands that appeal to audiences in their thirties. Where to look for an explanation of this situation? Maybe in the GUS tables. There are less than 350,000 20-year-olds in Poland. Thirty-year-olds – already 480,000, while forty-year-olds – almost 667,000. You can’t cheat life, there are simply more older people. Add to that purchasing power. Thirty- and forty-year-olds have the money to buy a festival pass for a few hundred zlotys (or more, depending on when we buy it), and then sip a small beer for PLN 17 or have a bite for PLN 40. Yes, the famous fries for PLN 25 are an economical option at the festival.

Open’er 2023. Tip for a good cause Agata Kalińska / Gazeta.pl

At the same time, the idea of ​​the organizers to show young performers is very good. We don’t want to see the same faces over and over again. It’s Open’er, not Opole. That’s what people go there for, too, to listen to something new and lick the trends. Those who jumped under the stage during the performances of Ezra Collective, Zulu or Szczyla will surely agree with this. Or Christine and the Queens, Kaleo and Nothing but Thieves.

Fortunately, everyone was reconciled on Saturday. Labirynth and Kendrick Lamar gathered a real crowd in front of the main stage. Those from generations X, Y and Z. And it was really beautiful.

And one last observation. Yes, it must rain at Open’er. It doesn’t count otherwise.