- 25,000 fans from Poland and abroad
- Sold-out Thursday and Friday
- Fascinating performances by 69 artists
The best musical event of the year is done and dusted! On the penultimate weekend of June, Katowice’s Culture Zone turned into a vibrant festival village. Over the course of four days, the capital of Upper Silesia was buzzing with the freshest sounds, and the hot festival nights guaranteed an abundance of thrills and emotions. The lineup of the 14th edition of TNMK included the pioneers of electronic music Kraftwerk, the king of grime Skepta, electropop stars GusGus and Apparat, and several dozen other artists.
Taking place on Thursday, the sold-out opening concert headlined by RHYE inaugurated the 14th edition of Tauron Nowa Muzyka Katowice. The four-day-long event that wowed everyone with its atmosphere and artistic offer was attended by 25,000 people. The absolute highlight of the programme was, of course, the performance of the pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk. Already an hour prior to their concert, the venue saw a long line of fans of every age. The 3D multimedia show was full of Polish accents. The visuals presented by the group included the Spodek arena, where Kraftwerk already gave two unforgettable concerts in 1981. What aroused the greatest enthusiasm was the performance of “Pocket Calculator” with Polish lyrics. Excellent sound system guaranteed the highest level of comfort for the participants of Kraftwerk’s show.
The performances of other stars also gathered proper crowds. The king of grime, Skepta, masterfully enchanted the crowd of many thousands, giving an energetic concert encompassing his greatest hits. From the opening “That’s Not Me” to the very last megahit “Shutdown”, the whole MCK hall, filled to capacity, was constantly buzzing with huge amounts of energy. GusGus have thousands of devoted fans in Poland, who took every single spot available in the Tauron Music Hall. The Icelanders proved that live shows are their thing, maintaining high energy levels and dramatic tension over the whole course of their performance. The Red Bull Music stage was pulsating with rhythms until the early morning, as always enjoying huge popularity among the fans of heavier dance sounds. The same goes for the FUTURE!/carbon stage, which was dominated by women, while the fans of jazz, hip-hop and contemporary music besieged the NOSPR Amphitheatre and the NOSPR Chamber Hall. The extremely diverse music programme allowed festival-goers to discover new artistic phenomena and at the same time enjoy some well-known ones. The culmination of the festival was Sunday’s dance marathon at Sztauwajery headlined by an Israeli duo Red Axes.
Excellent weather only enhanced positive festival experiences. The sun was shining almost the whole time, guaranteeing high temperatures. All festival stages were surrounded by the good aura as well as impressive crowds of fans. The audience came to Tauron Nowa Muzyka Katowice from across Poland, but there was also a strong group of representatives of other European countries, including festival-goers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Germany, and even Scandinavia, Spain and Italy.
The co-organizer of the festival was the City of Katowice. During this year’s edition of the festival, for the first time ever, the participants were allowed to bring their own water containers. In an effort to promote eco-friendly attitudes and courtesy of Upper Silesian Waterworks Company and the Marshal Office for the Silesian Voivodeship, there was free artesian water available at the festival. Distributed within the Culture Zone, the water helped reduce plastic use. The festival-goers have drunk over 9,000 litres of water from the historic “Zawada” water supply station. It’s the equivalent of 18,000 0.5 litre plastic bottles!
The festival programme also encompassed a number of accompanying events. Located within the Culture Zone, Muzeum Śląskie organized a series of exhibitions and performances for the participants of Tauron Nowa Muzyka Katowice. What sparked particular interest was the exhibition presenting the beginnings of Polish hip-hop, titled “Zajawka”.
Tauron Nowa Muzyka Katowice has opened the summer season in grand style. The impressive number of satisfied fans proves how successful this festival taking place in the capital city of Upper Silesia really is. It’s one of the most recognised and appreciated music festivals in Europe and this year’s edition confirmed the status.
The co-organizer of the festival is the city of Katowice.