Tauron Arena, Krakow, Poland
Having retired the Mystic Festival in 2006, heavy metal promoters Mystic Production have brought this year the event back with a bang! Mystic Festival 2019 was taking place on 25- 26 June at Poland’s largest sports and entertainment hall Tauron Arena in Kraków: 2 days, 3 stages, 28 amazing bands!
Tuesday, 25 June:
| Main Stage Slipknot Amon Amarth Testament Eluveitie Jinjer | Park Stage Omnium Gatherum Vltimas Soulfly Powerwolf In Flames | The Shrine Batushka Possessed Power Trip In Twilight’s Embrace |
Wednesday, 26 June:
| Main Stage Sabaton Within Temptation Trivium Frog Leap Grand Magus | Park Stage King Diamond Emperor Carcass Hatebreed Lost Society | The Shrine Immolation Crowbar Municipal Waste Entropia |
As a really quick overview: a very well organized and planned out festival. Nice touch was the creepy artwork around The Shrine stage and also the water hoses for freshening up in the over 30-Celsius degree dry heat. Loved the little exhibition/ print sale at the arena by Polish artist Zbigniew Bielak who is known in the realm of heavy metal for his record cover illustrations. From photographers’ point of view, I was not very impressed with the fact that despite strict pit rules, there were people in the pit standing on footstools and holding cameras up distracting view not only for their colleagues but also for fans and the security, when challenged, were extremely rude in return.
On the first day all festival areas were very crowded, massive queues for food and drink- I ended up having to wait over half hour for my souvlaki pita. Considering the amount of people visiting the festival on that day, the place could have done with some extra food stalls.
Day one was headlined by American, Iowa heavyweights Slipknot on the main stage, Swedish heavy metallers In Flames on Park Stage and Poland’s most controversial band Batushka on The Shrine stage.
Day two at the Mystic Festival turned out a lot less busy than day one. By the looks of it, the festival goers did much more prefer the band selection on Tuesday, but at least that meant it was less crowded and no large queues for food and drink.
On second day headlining duties did go to mighty Swedish power metallers Sabaton on main stage, Danish heavy metal band King Diamond on Park Stage and American death metal quartet Immolation on The Shrine Stage.
All in all a nice festival with an amazing line-up, but for a festival junkie like me, it was a bit too quiet and formal, lacking some atmosphere or that “Mystic” element. But, considering, it was only the first edition after a long gap, I’m sure we can expect improvements and great things in future.
And for next year the festival is planned as a fully open-air event, what could make a big difference to the overall atmosphere.
Mystic Festival 2020 will be taking place at the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow (Muzeum LotnictwaPolskiegow Krakowie) on 10-11 June. No band announcements have been made yet, but Blind Bird tickets are available here:
mysticfestival.pl/index-2020-pl.html
www.facebook.com/MysticFestival2019
