Veteran German band Scooter have been announced as headliners for the inaugural edition of Poland’s two-day Fajer Festival.

Promoted by Kraków’s DM Agency, the festival will debut at Silesian Park in Chorzów on 21-22 August, with separate days dedicated to electronic music and hip-hop.

Polish composer Bass Astral has also been confirmed for the event, for which tickets start at PLN 199 (€47).

In other festival news, it has been announced that New Zealand’s Homegrown will be relocating after 18 years in Wellington. The event has been held on Wellington Waterfront since its inception in 2008, but this year’s edition will mark its last time in the capital.

“For a myriad of personal and logistical reasons, Homegrown is moving cities after this year”

“For a myriad of personal and logistical reasons, Homegrown is moving cities after this year,” says festival director Andrew Tuck. “We couldn’t be more grateful for the unwavering support we’ve had from fans and the city. The support from WellingtonNZ and Wellington City Council has been massive over the years, so we’re keen to knock this last one out of the park as a heartfelt thank you to Wellington.”

Homegrown’s Wellington swansong will be held across five stages from 14-15 March and will include the last ever performance by local legends Shihad. The bill also features domestic artists such as Synthony, Shapeshifter, Kaylee Bell, Stan Walker, Lee Mvtthews and Katayanagi Twins.

Organisers are yet to reveal where the festival, which reportedly brought NZ$3 million (€1.6m) of economic value to the region last year, will take place from next year onwards. But Wellington City councillor Geordie Rogers tells RNZ the festival has outgrown its location in the capital.

“The beautiful thing about the Wellington waterfront is that it is such a tight knit space,” he says. “That means you can have really special experiences but it does mean you get a little bit stuck when it comes to massive event numbers. We’ve got a lot of work to do I think in Wellington to find out where our venue for those numbers is.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Austria’s Barracuda Music is reviving “the mother of all festivals” Forestglade to mark the event’s 30th anniversary in 2025.

A forerunner to the CTS Eventim-backed promoter’s Nova Rock and Frequency Festival, Forestglade was launched in 1995 but has not taken place since 2012.

However, the company is resurrecting the festival on 11 July, topped by three former headliners: Cypress Hill, The Sisters of Mercy and Therapy?

H-BlockX, K’s Choice, Dog Eat Dog and The Godfathers are also confirmed for the reboot, which will be held at Esterházy Palace Park in Eisenstadt.

Standing tickets are available at the opening rate of €79.99 until 13 December, after which the price will rise to €99.99. Seated tickets are also on sale for €139.99.

Barracuda has also announced outdoor shows by Bonnie Tyler & Nazareth, who will perform on the Mörbisch lake stage on 29 July, and Public Enemy, who will grace Vienna’s Arena Open Air on 14 July.

Separately, Nova Rock will be headlined by Korn, Linkin Park, Slipknot and Electric Callboy in Pannonia Fields, Nickelsdorf, from 11-14 June, while FM4 Frequency Festival will return to Green Park St Pölten for its 25th birthday edition on 14-16 August, with the lineup still to be announced. Other Barracuda events include Lovely Days and Clam Rock.

“We’ve seen a lot of competition this year that we did not have in the past, like Live Nation’s Rolling Loud festival and the Lido Festival from Arcadia,” Barracuda co-MD Richard Hörmann tells IQ of Austria’s growing festival scene. “So there is more in the market, but all the festivals seem to sell well.”

“No other promoter is doing festivals on this scale in such a way”

The new issue of IQ Magazine, which will land on subscribers’ desks in the coming days, features a market report on Austria.

Elsewhere in Europe, Poland’s Good Taste Production is debuting Bittersweet Festival next year in Citadel Park, Poznań from 14-16 August. Nelly Furtado is the first headliner to be confirmed, with other acts including Rag’N’Bone Man, Hurts, Mel C and Ella Eyre. Three-day passes are on sale now at the introductory price of 588 Polish złoty (€138).

Speaking to IQ earlier this year, Good Taste creative director Sara Kordek explained the company has a different take on festivals to most, with a stable of smaller events.

“All of them except one are up to 5,000 capacity,” said Kordek. “And I think that makes a difference because they’re calculated in a different way when you think about the production. You don’t need international superstars to make them work. And the sponsors are more eager to invest because they know that they have a more dedicated audience.”

Among Good Taste’s productions is Jarocin rock festival near Poznań, the boutique Salt Wave on Hel Peninsula and the travelling Letnie Brzmienia festival.

“It has Polish arena-level headliners – eight slots per day – and we’ve played in nine cities,” added Kordek. “No other promoter is doing festivals on this scale in such a way, so we don’t really have any competitors in this field.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Poland’s Fest Festival is to return next year following a “restructuring process” at organiser Follow The Step.

The scheduled fourth edition of the event, which last took place two years ago, was cancelled in August 2023 – just days before it was due to take place – and filed for bankruptcy after selling only 50% of its tickets.

Follow The Step began a restructure in the wake of the cancellation, which came two months after it called off its Warsaw festival On Air, and suspended its participation in all its pending events, which it switched to other promoters.

However, Fest Festival 2025 has now been confirmed for Silesia Park in Chorzów, near Katowice, on 15-16 August.

“We spent the last year on intensive restructuring work,” says a statement by organisers. “The 2023 edition was a huge lesson for us and we learnt from it. We are coming back humble, stronger, and with an ambitious plan to create an even more beautiful festival.”

The 35,000-cap festival, which was set to feature the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Kasabian and Peggy Gou, had previously seen its attendance expand by 30% per year to become one of the fastest-growing music festivals in eastern Europe.

“Participants who have not received a refund for their purchased tickets will receive passes from us to next year’s Fest”

Next year’s capacity will revert to 20,000 – the same number as the first edition of the event, with ticket-holders left out of pocket by the 2023 cancellation to be offered free admission to the event. Tickets go on sale on 23 September.

“Our main goal is to focus on what matters most – you, our participants,” continues the statement. “We start the new year with a settlement from 2023 and as promised earlier, participants who have not received a refund for their purchased tickets will receive passes from us to next year’s Fest.

“Five thousand tickets will be given for free to customers who did not receive a refund for previously purchased tickets. The remaining 15,000 places will be divided into 12,000 two-day passes and 3,000 one-day tickets for each day of the festival.”

In order to be “completely transparent” with fans, the team have detailed the plans on the event’s new website, including a rolling ticket sales counter.

“The 2025 edition is held under the sign of full transparency and transparent communication,” it adds. “To prove these words, we have placed a counter on the website indicating the current number of participants in the upcoming edition of the event. This data will include the total number of tickets sold and participants who received tickets for the next edition of the event.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

With the European festival season in full swing, IQ is previewing what the forthcoming weekend has in store…

Dutch festival Down The Rabbit Hole (5–7 July) will welcome a sold-out crowd for its 2024 edition, after selling all 45,000 tickets in less than 45 minutes of going on sale.

The Mojo-promoted event at De Groene Heuvels near Ewijk will feature performances from the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Michael Kiwanuka, The National, Jungle, Raye, Jessie Ware and Khruangbin.

Meanwhile, hip-hop festival franchise Rolling Loud will debut in Austria (5–7) as the only European edition in 2024.

The Live Nation Germany-promoted event, dubbed Rolling Loud Europe, will take over Racino in Ebreichsdorf, an open-air venue on the outskirts of Vienna.

Nicki Minaj, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott will headline the premiere, with support from acts including Ice Spice, Shirin David and Don Toliver.

In Belgium, Rock Werchter (4–7) is already underway at Festivalpark in Werchter. The Live Nation Belgium-promoted event is headlined by Foo Fighters, Dua Lipa, Lenny Kravitz and Måneskin. Day tickets have sold out for four of the five dates.

Bombay Bicycle Club, Snow Patrol, Yungblud and Sum 41, The Last Dinner Party, Nothing But Thieves, Avril Lavigne and Khruangbin, Michael Kiwanuka, Arlo Parks and Royal Blood will also perform at Belgium’s biggest festival over the coming days.

Hip-hop festival franchise Rolling Loud will debut in Austria this weekend

Dua Lipa and Foo Fighters are also headlining Open’er (3–6) on the north coast of Poland, in Gdynia, alongside Doja Cat.

Addition acts for the Alter Art-promoted event include Hozier, Charli XCX, Don Toliver, Måneskin, Disclosure, Ashnikko, 21 Savage, Ice Spice, Air, Loyle Carner, Michael Kiwanuka, Floating Points, Kim Gordon, Tom Morello, Sampha and Slowdive.

Ruisrock (5–7), the second oldest rock festival in Europe, will once again take over the national park of Ruissalo in Turku, Finland this weekend.

The Chainsmokers, Hardwell, Disclosure, PMMP and Stormzy are top are top billing for the 2024 edition, which will host up to 35,000 people a day.

Elsewhere, electronic music festival Balaton Sound (3–6) is afoot on the beach in Zamárdi, Hungary.

Marshmello, Alison Wonderland, Adam Beyer, Amelie Lens and Timmy Trumpet are among the acts performing at the event, organised by the team behind Sziget in Budapest.

Other festivals taking place this weekend include Electric Love Festival (AU), Lovely Days Festival (AU), Lytham Festival (UK), Les Eurockéennes de Belfort (FR), Awakenings Summer Festival (NL), Love Supreme Jazz Festival (UK) and Comfort Festival (IT).

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Warsaw’s authorities have outlined plans for a new 22,000-capacity arena for sports and entertainment events.

Poland’s capital city, currently, does not have a large indoor venue and is now looking to progress plans for a €350m project.

The arena is slated to be built on a site next to the National Stadium, PGE Narodowy, on the east bank of the River Vistula. The plot must first be transferred from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, which is set to happen in July.

It is estimated that all the relevant permits can be obtained within the next two years with construction taking another three years.

Renata Kaznowska, the City of Warsaw’s vice-president, told local reporters that the project is essential for Warsaw, claiming it is the only capital city in Europe to not have a large indoor venue.

“I am aware that Warsaw, and also Poland, miss many events; many international entities would like to organise events in our capital but have nowhere to do so,” said Kaznowska. “That is why Warsaw simply needs this hall.”

“I am aware that Warsaw, and also Poland, miss many events… Warsaw simply needs this hall”

The project is most likely to be funded by either a public-private partnership or a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by the State Treasury, said Minister Nitras, adding that a draft bill concerning finance has already been prepared.

Nitras told newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza: “The hall, similar to the National Stadium, would have a ‘national character’ and become an arena for the most important events in the country. Its construction is, therefore, important not just for the city but for the entire country.

“In Poland, only the Tauron Arena in Kraków is close to the standard [that we want]… The organisation [of the most important events] in the capital would also have an impact on the popularisation of Poland as a tourist destination, attracting fans from all over the world to Warsaw.”

Although work is underway on building a 6,000-seater sports hall in the city’s SKRA complex, currently the only viable indoor venue in Warsaw is the outdated 4,800-capacity Torwar.

The country’s existing arenas that host live music include Arena Gliwice, TAURON Arena Kraków, Ergo Arena in Gdańsk, Spodek Arena in Kraków and Atlas Arena in Łódź.

Read more about Poland’s arena market in the recently published Global Arena Guide 2024.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Polish festival Kraków Live has been called off for a second consecutive year due to organisers failing to secure a site.

Promoter Alter Art, which also organises Open’er and Orange Warsaw, announced in 2022 that Kraków Live would move from its longtime home, the Polish Aviation Museum, for the 2023 edition.

Last year’s event was ultimately cancelled, with organisers promising a “new formula and location” for 2024.

“We will inform you about the location and format of the next editions as soon as possible”

But it was recently announced that this year’s instalment would also not take place as organisers were “unable to provide and create a new festival space that would enable the implementation of the Kraków Live Festival at the appropriate level and scale,” according to a statement.

“We hope that the Krakow Live Festival, which has been an important element on the cultural map of the city, Poland and Europe for many years, will return in the new Krakow reality in 2025,” it continues. “We will inform you about the location and format of the next editions as soon as possible.”

Kraków Live, known as Coke Live Festival until 2013, has taken place at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków since 2007.

The two-day event has hosted stars such as Calvin Harris, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Lewis Capaldi and The Chemical Brothers, and typically attracts 60,000 people each year.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Estonian ticketing company Piletilevi Group is expanding its presence in Eastern Europe with two new acquisitions in Poland.

The firm has acquired majority stakes in Kicket and Biletomat, which will increase from 77% to 83.8% by 2026.

Piletilevi Group says that, as a result of the mergers, it’s now the second-largest ticket sales company in the Polish market and the largest player in Central Europe.

Piletilevi Group brokers tickets for nearly €320 million per year

“We now face the task of effectively connecting the companies that are being purchased and our existing company GoOut Poland, so that the best functionalities of Piletilevi Group and the new partners reach all our customers as quickly as possible,” says Sven Nuutmann, co-owner and CEO of Piletilevi Group.

The Group, which isowned by Nuutmann’s investment company EastCom Capital and BaltCap (the largest private equity investor in the Baltics), brokers tickets for nearly €320 million per year.

Founded 27 years ago, the Tallinn-headquartered firm operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

The company have invested nearly six million euros into a new platform, which will be completed in the first half of 2025.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

With a new, more liberal government incoming, and a population whose demand for live entertainment is increasing year on year, Poland appears to be on the brink of a new era. However, some tricky obstacles during 2023 have made that path a bit more complex to navigate than many in the live music business would have wished. Adam Woods reports.

These are significant days in Poland – “the end of the evil times,” as prime minister-in-waiting Donald Tusk called them, after taking a close second place in the country’s parliamentary election in November, in a result that looks likely to oust the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in favour of a centre-left coalition.

For now, liberal democracy seems to have given populism a bloody nose in the fifth-biggest nation in the EU, although certain obstacles – including an incumbent right-wing president – still remained at the time of writing.

And just as Poland’s political direction is both full of promise and yet somewhat undecided, so its live business is an intriguing work in progress. It has been buffeted lately by some familiar challenges, but it remains a maturing market with huge untapped potential, moving in the right direction. “And we know it,” says Mikołaj Ziółkowski, founder and CEO of Alter Art, promoter of Poland’s biggest festivals, including Open’er and Orange Warsaw. “We have not been using our resources to their full potential. We feel we have still got space to develop as an industry, and we are really optimistic about the upcoming year.”

Certainly, Poland has a great deal going for it. In terms of national wealth, its GDP per capita of $45,343 sits just ahead of European markets such as Portugal, Hungary, and Croatia, and not too far behind Czechia, Spain, Lithuania, and Estonia [source: IMF]. Likewise, its appetite for tickets is also formidable, and while Warsaw is clearly the focus of things, other big cities are in the mix, such as Kraków and Katowice in the south, Łódź in the centre, Poznań further west and Gdańsk on the Baltic coast.

“There’s certainly a lot of things happening,” says Good Taste Production creative director Sara Kordek. “You have lots of festivals, at all levels; you have different venues, at all levels; you have 38 million people that listen to music.”

“We now have to work twice as hard to build trust among our potential clients to make sure they have no reservations about buying tickets in advance”

It is true that the year nearly gone has been a complicated one, due to a list of factors any live professional can reel off with ease: cost of living; production and talent inflation; competition for headliners; and the effect on the market of several years’ worth of stadium shows all arriving at once.

Under these conditions, highly active Polish promoter Follow The Step came unglued in August. The heavily undersubscribed On Air and FEST Festival events were both cancelled as their parent company’s troubles mounted, and Follow The Step has since suspended operations and focused on attempting to settle its liabilities and find a buyer for certain assets.

The impact of the failure of such an ambitious promoter has been felt across the business, with sponsors losing some of their nerve and ticket-buyers questioning the safety of their investment.

“A situation like this affects everyone in the business ecosystem, including artists, industry professionals, customers, and venues,” says Konrad Kozioł, director of sales and marketing at Arena Gliwice. “We now have to work twice as hard to build trust among our potential clients to make sure they have no reservations about buying tickets in advance.”

Poland is accustomed to playing a difficult hand. With Germany to the west and Belarus and Ukraine – and, of course, Russia – to the east, it has regularly been caught in the push and pull between bigger powers, leaving a question mark against its name in the minds of many further west – booking agents among them.

“Poland stands out as a unique market in various respects”

“Poland stands out as a unique market in various respects,” says Filip Potocki at FKP Scorpio Poland. “On one hand, the enthusiasm for live events in the country is comparable to that of the largest European markets, with Warsaw closely trailing its Western counterparts. However, on the other hand, Poland’s geopolitical location poses challenges that can significantly impact the industry.”

But particularly in Poland’s big cities, which typically are strongly pro-Ukraine and pro-EU, the electoral swing towards Europe feels like a welcome platform for good things to come.

“All the economic predictions for next year are very good,” says Ziółkowski. “Our industry is very connected to what is happening with the country, and if the political situation and the economy are better, more stable, more progressive, it will give us the opportunity to develop the market as well.

“If you compare Poland to many other countries, I really hope we are coming back in the right way. I hope we will be a bright star of Europe.”

Promoters
The Follow The Step debacle, which erupted in early August, has had major consequences across the Polish business. In addition to the two cancelled festivals, there have been debts unpaid, many tickets unrefunded, and outstanding concerts taken on, in some cases, by other promoters and venues.

“They did a lot of wonderful shows. I went to FEST Festival several times, and it was a really great festival”

Initial reports of bankruptcy turned in September to talk of “restructuring”, with FEST Festival ticketholders contacted and invited to accept free future tickets in lieu of refunds. FEST president Marcin Szymanowski said in October that the festival will be sold to a new investor if the restructuring can be settled, though no further updates have yet been announced.

One sad aspect of the Follow The Step collapse – which Szymanowski attributed to extremely soft sales of On Air and FEST Festival tickets, combined with crippling production costs – is that the promoter in many respects represented an ambitious and energetic face of the Polish scene.

As well as the much-admired FEST and other festivals, it staged 100 international headline shows per year for artists including Alan Walker, Avril Lavigne, Melody Gardot, Hardwell, Robert Glasper, Boris Brejcha, Rise Against, and Denzel Curry – though clearly there were flaws in the model, and the market may bear the scars.

“It damages Poland because they over-offered for so many artists. If an artist usually gets around €10,000 in Czechia or Austria, for example, they would offer 15k or even 20k in some cases,” says Charm Music Poland promoter Weronika Tomkowska, who is also quick to give Follow The Step credit for a commendable booking policy.

“They did a lot of wonderful shows. I went to FEST Festival several times, and it was a really great festival. It’s a real pity that it’s happened. But I know several people that worked [at Follow The Step] – all wonderful people – and there was a kind of a [standing] joke that they were constantly losing money on a sold-out show. So, the agents are now used to the fees that Follow The Step offered, and other promoters don’t really have a fighting chance.”

“There were 11 stadium shows in two months, all sold out, and the rest of the industry still worked well”

The evidence of a busy summer suggests that damage to consumer confidence, at least, is unlikely to be permanent. The Live Nation stadium roadshow that did such good business across Europe this summer came to Poland in force, with two Beyoncé shows, plus Imagine Dragons, The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, P!nk, Harry Styles, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all at Warsaw’s PGE Narodowy Stadium.

Live Nation has operated in Poland for many years, with Steven Todd, managing director, Central and Eastern Europe, at the helm since 2014. In spite of its heavy megastar calendar, Live Nation’s Polish business is broad; in 2019, it acquired Poznań-based promoter Go Ahead, the country’s leading promoter of club shows, and now stages numerous smaller shows for both international and domestic artists.

And while blockbuster shows clearly drew a great deal of money out of the gig-goer’s pocket in 2023, local promoters are satisfied at how well the broader ecosystem held up. “There were 11 stadium shows in two months, all sold out,” says Ziółkowski, “and the rest of the industry still worked well. Our attendance in 2023 at Open’er was the same as in 2019, with completely different ticket prices. We knew 2023 wouldn’t be easy, and we were happy to get the result we got.”

As well as its festival business, Alter Art promotes headline shows – including, most prominently, three Taylor Swifts at PGE Narodowy Stadium on the first three nights of August next year.

“We sold out three National Stadium shows, which is a record,” says Ziółkowski. “And our other headline arenas and clubs – because we go from small clubs to stadiums – is looking very good, as are our family entertainment shows. We are maintaining our numbers; we have got a lot of shows going on.”

“Our approach is characterised by thoughtful planning, a focus on the long term, and a commitment to avoiding hasty decisions”

FKP Scorpio Poland is a big player taking things carefully in Poland. Under Warsaw-born Potocki, who also heads FKP Austria, it will next year bring Ed Sheeran to the Polsat Plus Arena in Gdańsk for two nights, though typically its shows, while numerous, are generally more modest.

“We have deliberately pursued a strategy of gradual and consistent growth in the number of events we organise,” says Potocki. “Our approach is characterised by thoughtful planning, a focus on the long term, and a commitment to avoiding hasty decisions. Looking ahead, we anticipate a substantial boost in our market presence next year.”

Among FKP’s Polish shows this year were Irish rockers Inhaler and YouTube-powered Hungarian stars Peter Bence and Azahriah, with British comic Bill Bailey and Finnish stand-up ISMO coming in the new year.

“This year marked a successful foray into organising not just musical events but also comedy shows,” says Potocki. “We are pleased to observe a growing interest in Poland for events tailored to individuals who are at ease with the English language.”

Good Taste Production mixes a connoisseur’s appreciation of jazz – having put on Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Jacob Collier and others in recent years – with international stars such as Jack Savoretti and Jamiroquai, plus a lot of Polish talent.

“We have 30 arena shows announced for domestic acts like Mrozu, Daria Zawiałow, Kwiat Jabłoni, and Ralph Kaminski”

“We do have lots of domestic acts,” says Kordek. “In fact, we have 30 arena shows announced for domestic acts like Mrozu, Daria Zawiałow, Kwiat Jabłoni, and Ralph Kaminski. Last year, we were doing club tours with these artists, and then we put them on our Summer Sounds project, our travelling festival, and now we have announced arena tours for spring, and they are selling pretty well – like, 80% sold out in some cases.”

While international artists may initially have been spooked by the nearby war, there are suggestions that efforts to reroute around the conflict may be benefiting the Polish market.

“Before, most tours went to Germany and Czechia, then Ukraine and Russia, and then to the Baltics,” says Kordek. “And now, suddenly, artists that didn’t intend to stop in Poland have to cross Poland, and when you have 800 kilometres to cross, it’s actually reasonable to give it a try.

And then you stop by, and it works.” To establish exactly what the Polish market is capable of, Kordek suggests it is important for promoters to try different things and establish new circuits.

“We have a very different strategy to other promoters,” she says. “We have more smaller projects, but we cover the whole of Poland. Most of the promoters do tours, but it’s Warsaw, Poznań, Kraków. We might offer 20 shows, because Poland is quite big, and we don’t have many mid-size venues – we have 1,000-cap clubs and then you have arenas. So, for artists that are more like 2,000-cap or 3,000-cap, it can be better to do a small tour. You can actually go to the fan base, and it just works better.”

“We did several shows on Progresja’s Summer Stage. It’s kind of the only outdoor space in Warsaw… that offers this kind of festival vibe”

Charm Music, an offshoot of Turkish promoter Charmenko, has run in Poland since 2009 and has recently promoted Eros Ramazzotti at the Atlas Arena in Łódź, as well as artists including Alt-J and Foals, with, as yet unspecified plans for a couple of stadium shows next year.

“We’ve got a bit more into outdoor shows as a promoting agency. We did several shows on Progresja’s Summer Stage,” says Tomkowska, referring to the 9,000-cap outdoor stage erected by the nearby Progresja club in Wola on the west side of Warsaw. “It’s kind of the only outdoor space in Warsaw in the capital city that offers this kind of festival vibe.”

Kraków’s DM Agency, meanwhile, scored a coup with its stadium tour for local artist Sanah in August and September, which stopped at the Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, the Polsat Plus Arena in Gdańsk and, finally, PGE Narodowy in Warsaw, where she became the first Polish female star to sell out the venue, with 70,000 in attendance. Also on DM’s books as the year wrapped up were a show for Bryan Adams at Arena Gliwice and one for veteran local metallers TSA at Spodek Katowice.

Among other promoters in Poland are Prestige MJM, which has a busy 2024 in sight, including the Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews Band, and Andrea Bocelli in Warsaw.

Knock Out Productions specialises in rock and metal and is one of the promoters of Gdańsk’s Mystic Festival and B90 Club. Knock Out also promotes indoor arena shows together with B90’s Arkadiusz Hronowski, who notes the rise and rise of domestic music within Poland’s own borders.

“The Polish music scene is doing well. But it is a closed camp, because apart from a few bands, most of them are unknown outside Poland”

“The Polish music scene is doing well,” says Hronowski. “But it is a closed camp, because apart from a few bands, most of them are unknown outside Poland. Most of the fans come in droves to concerts, both club and indoor and recently even stadiums. The biggest problem of the Polish scene is going outside of Poland. I think that many of them dream of a career outside, but they are not ready to go out of their safe bubble because they know that often the mission is impossible. [Gdańsk-born extreme metal band] Behemoth is an example that you can achieve success all over the world.”

Festivals
The 20th anniversary of Poland’s biggest festival, Open’er, took place between 28 June and 1 July 2023, at its usual home of Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport on Poland’s Baltic coast, with more than 110,000 attendees and a lineup Ziółkowski remains enthusiastic about, including Arctic Monkeys, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, SZA, and Kendrick Lamar, plus Labrinth, Caroline Polachek, Rina Sawayama, Queens of the Stone Age and others.

Part way through the 2024 booking process, and with Foo Fighters and Dua Lipa already announced, Ziółkowski is pleased again. “After a few months of work and dealing with the headliners and the artists, it’s looking positive,” he says.

In a nation of independent festivals, alternative beacon OFF Festival in Katowice is more independent than most. Founded by musician Artur Rojek and wife Anka in 2006, OFF has been described as “one of the best-curated festival experiences in Europe” and Artur can reflect on a successful 2023 against a turbulent backdrop.

“This was the first post-pandemic edition without rolled-up sales like we had in 2022, when we had an audience with tickets bought before the pandemic and with tickets bought after,” he says. “Additionally, this year, the festival industry was hit by a crisis. Most festivals in Poland had a decline of around 30-40%. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt us that much. We had almost a full audience, and great shows by Pusha T, King Krule, Confidence Man, and Tamino. Due to the fact that the lineup included artists such as Homixide Gang and Lancey Foux, there were also more young people.”

“No other promoter is doing festivals on this scale in such a way, so we don’t really have any competitors in this field”

And even if festivals have had a bumpy year or two, plenty of promoters have further festival ambitions, Charm Music Poland among them. “Definitely. I mean, the place that FEST Festival used was amazing,” says Tomkowska. “It was this huge, beautiful park in Silesia [Silesian Park in Chorzów, near Katowice], and I think it has a huge potential. And if someone doesn’t just jump in and take over, it’s going to be a waste.”

Good Taste Production has a different take on festivals to most, with a stable of ten smaller events. “All of them except one are up to 5,000 capacity,” says Kordek. “And I think that makes a difference because they’re calculated in a different way when you think about the production. You don’t need international superstars to make them work. And the sponsors are more eager to invest because they know that they have a more dedicated audience.”

Among Good Taste’s productions is the venerable Jarocin rock festival near Poznań, the boutique, experience-focused Salt Wave on Hel Peninsula (which separates the Bay of Puck from the Baltic Sea), and the travelling Letnie Brzmienia [Summer Sounds] festival.

“It has Polish arena-level headliners – eight slots per day – and we’ve played in nine cities,” says Kordek. “No other promoter is doing festivals on this scale in such a way, so we don’t really have any competitors in this field.”

In Łódź, musician and producer Maciej Werk organises the long-running Soundedit, the International Festival of Music Producers and Sound Designers, which this November drew 700 people to the city for workshops and shows by the Sisters of Mercy and Hania Rani at the city’s Wytwórnia Club.

“We have now got to the point where it’s so saturated that it’s become quite hard to sell out an event, which was previously an achievable goal”

“Łódź is a musical city,” says Werk. “At the beginning of the 1990s, end of the 80s, there were a couple of scenes that started to develop in Poland, and Łódź was really good: electronic, post-industrial, gothic – these types of genres. The local artists are very strong.”

Venues
While some note the Warsaw-centric nature of the Polish live business, the odd fact is that, of all the active larger arenas in Poland – from the largest (the 22,000-capacity Tauron Arena in Kraków) to the newest (the state-of-the-art Arena Gliwice in Upper Silesia, which opened in 2018) – none of them are in the capital.

Mikołaj Ziółkowski, for one, hopes that the likely new ruling coalition has a few ideas on that score. “We need a new big arena in Poland,” he says. “In Warsaw, there is no proper 20k arena. As you can imagine, that would give us a lot of opportunities, so I hope that is something the new government will look at pretty quickly.”

Arena Gliwice, located near Katowice in southern Poland’s industrial heartland, has been visited by 350,000 people in 2023, between shows and sporting events and corporate functions. The 13,752-seat main arena, which can scale up to 17,178 spectators, has become a frequent stop on international tours, though Kozioł notes the challenges of the market.

“The market in Poland is continuously growing,” says Kozioł. “We have now got to the point where it’s so saturated that it’s become quite hard to sell out an event, which was previously an achievable goal.

“The post-Covid market in Poland is a bit different now. People are buying tickets last moment, sometimes even the same day”

“Predicting the total cost of events in advance is still a challenge given the changing prices of energy and labour costs. We’ve also seen a shift when it comes to marketing events. Strategies that were effective last year aren’t producing the same results this year, which means that we have to look for new ways of reaching our audiences.”

The largest arena in Poland is the 22,000-capacity Tauron Arena Kraków, which opened in 2014 and hosts a wide range of sport, as well as taking the pick of the touring international shows, with recent visitors including Harry Styles, Alicia Keys, The Cure, Backstreet Boys, Alan Walker, and Pearl Jam, as well as Louis Tomlinson, whose concert was originally intended to be a Follow The Step event.

“The agency went bankrupt, and we were wondering what would happen with Louis Tomlinson’s concert at our venue,” says Tauron Arena’s Łukasz Pytko. “Fortunately, another agency took over the organisation, and finally, the artist played here in September.”

For its tenth birthday next year, the venue will promote a large concert of its own for the first time in its Main Arena. And while events are still numerous – around 380 last year, and a similar number this year – Pytko notes that the mechanics of the market have shifted.

“The post-Covid market in Poland is a bit different now,” he says. “People are buying tickets last moment, sometimes even the same day.”

“We will be hosting some of the most legendary names in the music industry, like Depeche Mode, Niall Horan, Rod Stewart, Sting…”

The 13,805-capacity Atlas Arena in the central city of Łódź – Poland’s third-largest city – is the second-biggest indoor arena in the country and has seen Avril Lavigne, Scorpions, 50 Cent, and Il Divo this year.

“Our undoubted advantage is our location in central Poland, an hour’s drive from Warsaw by highway,” says vice president Maciej Łaski. “Łódź is experiencing significant development in infrastructure and urban renewal, and new investments in public transport, including the modernisation of tram lines and road networks, are enhancing connectivity.”

Next year, Atlas Arena will celebrate its 15th anniversary. “We will be hosting some of the most legendary names in the music industry, like Depeche Mode, Niall Horan, Rod Stewart, Sting, Within Temptation, Architects, Alessandro Safina, and André Rieu, and we expect more big announcements in the coming months,” says Łaski. “The family entertainment segment is also doing very well in Atlas Arena, and we have announced some great Polish stars with very ambitious music productions.”

In Katowice, the Spodek Arena, built in 1971, was the largest indoor venue in Poland until the arrival of the Tauron, but it remains well frequented, with international volleyball, the prog-focused Summer Fog Festival and a visit from Megadeth all taking place this year.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

IQ 124, the end-of-year issue of the international live music industry’s favourite magazine, is available to read online now to give you some reading matter over the holiday season.

The December/January edition brings down the curtain on 2023 by wrapping up the key trends and takeaways from the global live music business over the past 12 months, as well as looking ahead to what’s in store for the industry next year.

In addition, we celebrate trailblazer Memo Parra’s 30 years in music, charting his unique journey from stock market trader to director of international talent at giant Mexican promoter Ocesa.

Elsewhere, we crown road warrior Malcolm Weldon as The Gaffer 2023, and Derek Robertson glances back across the first ten years of First Direct Arena in Leeds – speaking to the people who have helped make the last decade such a success.

And in our latest market report, Adam Woods visits Poland to learn about the growing optimism among live music industry professionals.

For this edition’s columns and comments, FanFair Alliance’s Adam Webb highlights the reasons for the UK-based campaign’s relaunch, as ticket touts get ever more sophisticated, while Christina Hazboun, Keychange Project Manager, UK, at PRS Foundation outlines some of the initiatives the gender equality scheme is employing to end the music industry’s patriarchal landscape.

As always, the majority of the magazine’s content will appear online in some form in the next few weeks.

However, if you can’t wait for your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ from just £8 a month – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.