Heineken Open’er Festival 2012

The first thing all Polish attendees of Open’er said when I explained that was British was how crazy I was to go to Poland when Britain has some of the best festivals in the world. They may have a point, but international festivals are definitely underrated.

As Open’er was an evening-only event, this provided time during the day to wonder around the cute little seaside town. A free shuttle bus departs every ten minutes from the campsite to the centre which made it incredibly easy to make the most of Gdynia.

Although there were not very many tourist attractions, getting up at 11am and joining the epic queues for the hot (yes hot!) showers and having to return by 6pm meant there was not much time during the day to sightsee anyway. This made Gydnia the perfect sized town to spend the waiting time.

Highlights included Barracuda, the best seafood restaurant in Poland overlooking the Baltic Sea, the market square, Cold War style milk bars selling traditional Polish meals for around £3 (main, dessert, and drink), and any café with a clean toilet.

To answer the obvious question of why was I able to get up as early as 11am which is pretty lame for a festival-goer is because of my over-the-top disgust of portaloos.

This meant that I missed out on the diuretic nature of £1.50 Heineken/ Desperados pints. Unfortunately any other alcohol onsite (including the campsite) is banned. This isn’t really a problem as everything is so cheap that pre-drinking in a bar wouldn’t set you back much.

Getting around five zloty for £1 is one of the best parts about Poland as a festival destination. Tickets cost £70 for four evenings of music and seven nights’ camping. Bargain!

The festival itself echoes the cosy nature of the town it is in. There were only two main stages, with four others exhibiting smaller bands. There was also a fashion stage, cinema and small art exhibition. Although this meant there was not much choice in terms of acts, it is very convenient if you like most of the artists as it means no sacrificing and it does not take too long to get from one stage to another.

Headliners were Bjork, Justice, Franz Ferdinand, and the XX; although my personal highlight was M83 who managed to get the crowd disgustingly sweaty. It was a good chance to check out Polish music, but having three quarters of the line up as some of the best British acts at the moment, it is difficult to not want to miss them.