Poland's Woodstock music festival underway
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
04.08.2017 08:30
Some 60,000 people have descended on the western Polish town of Kostrzyn nad Odrą for day one of the free Przystanek Woodstock music festival, which has in recent years drawn crowds of more than half a million.
Przystanek Woodstock. Photo: PAP/Lech Muszyński.
Lauded by its organisers, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, as one of the biggest open-air festivals in Europe, the four-day event, which ends in the early hours of Sunday, is expected to cost up to PLN 10 million (EUR 2.4 million).
The festival was originally conceived as a way of thanking the charity’s many volunteers, who during the most recent winter fundraising campaign helped collect PLN 105 million for hospital equipment.
Many of the festival-goers have, according to tradition, pitched tents at camp grounds, fields and even nearby forests.
Concerts will be performed by artists from Poland and abroad, including Archive, Amon Amarth, Trivium, Orange Goblin, Kyle Gass Band, The Qemists, Nothing But Thieves, Michał Urbaniak & Urbanator, Slaves, Prong, Wilki and The Bloody Beetroots.
For the second year in a row, the festival was considered “high risk” by authorities and was forced to make additional security arrangements. More than 1,500 police are manning the event this year.
The Przystanek Woodstock festival first took place in 1995 and has been held in Kostrzyn nad Odrą every year since 2004. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP