THE STORY
• It all began in 2002 r., as a one-day event in Warsaw, featuring, for the first time in Poland, he Chemical Brothers.
• In 2003, the festival moved to Gdynia. Cassius, Kosheen and Layo & Bushwacka! rocked the crowd at Skwer Kościuszki, In 2004, all music lovers could enjoy the festival for as much as two days, to the music of Cypress Hill, Pink, Goldfrapp or Massive Attack, and fulfilled all of the Skwer.
• In 2005, the promoters brought the biggest names to date. 25,000 festival goers got their chance to watch Snoop Dogg, Faithless, Fatboy Slim, Lauryn Hill, The White Stripes and Underworld. On the 1st day, all one-day tickets were sold out.
• Skwer Kościuszki became too crammed for the crowd, so in 2006, the festival moved to Gdynia, Babie Doły – Kosakowo airfield. The promoters stretched the festival to three days. Gdynia was invaded by world’s finest music stars, including Placebo, Pharrell Williams, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Rós, Scissor Sisters, The Streets, Kanye West, Basement Jaxx.
• 2007 brought an even more impressive line-up, with concerts from Sonic Youth, Groove Armada, Beastie Boys, Muse and Björk.
• In 2008, as many as seven stages were set: Main Stage, Tent Stage, World Stage, Young Talent Stage, Alter Space and two electronic spaces. 50K audience witnessed performances from, among others, The Chemical Brothers, Jay – Z, Roisin Murphy and Editors.
• In 2009, the programme was enhanced by the addition of Alter Space – the place for novelty projects.
• 2010 witnessed the performances from, among others, Pearl Jam and Kasabian, and the appearance of even more new activities, e.g. Kids Zone.
• During the last edition, Babie Doły was the place for fun for 85,000 festival goers, of which 1/4 lived in the camping field, and the event was reviewed by ca. 500 journalists.
THE ARTISTS
• This year, the festival featured who may be the biggest stars to date, who never visited Poland before, such as Prince, Coldplay and The Strokes. They are not the only artists, who played Poland for the first, and often the only time, at Open’er Festival Other include Snoop Dogg, The White Stripes, Underworld, Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand, Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Muse, Kings Of Leon, Arctic Monkeys or Interpol.
• The Open'er audience could also witness exceptional concerts, such as Faith No More, reunited after years of silence, or the punk legend Sex Pistols.
• The festival is also a great place for Polish artists, giving them a unique opportunity to perform in front of an audience of dozen thousands, often for the first time. There is no better place for publicity for local acts.
WE WERE THE FIRST!
• This is the first event in Poland to be so rich and so lengthy event in Poland. Yet, Open’er Festival is not only a benchmark of scale, but also a pioneer of festival solutions, imitated by other events.
• In 2006, when the festival was moved to Babie Doły (Kosakowo) airfield, special free shuttle buses were provided to transport the festival goers from the main railway station to the festival area.
• It is during Open’er Festival that the cash-free accountings - festival coupons and Mastercard® PayPass™ were first used
• The regular announcements of artists in Polish Radio 3 are always greeted with strong emotions.
• The festival’s reputation made it the single event to begin the ticket sale for the current edition before even announcing the first artist.
FASCINATING FACTS
• In 9 years, we spent 189 days at the festival site. It is just as if Alter Art crew prepared the festival non-stop from January to mid-July.
• The total number of festival goers in nine years amounted to 341,000, which equals the population of the capital of Australia – Canberra.
• In nine years, the festival site has spread from 3 hectares in 2002 to 75 ha in 2010. During all these years combined, we took up 388 ha, a surface of a small airport.
• During that time, we built a total of 35 stages, of 309.19 meters (ca. 338 yards) of height, outnumbering the Eiffel Tower.
• The total energy consumption of Open’er Festival in nine years accounted to 36,056,000 watts – enough to power 120,187 laptops
WE WERE AWARDED
2005
• Sztorm Roku (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Nocne Marki (Aktivist)
2006
• Sztorm Roku (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Nocne Marki (Aktivist)
• Machinery 2006 (Machina)
• Effie 2006
• As Empiku 2006 as Event of the Year
2007
• Sztorm Sztormów (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Effie Awards 2007
• Cultural Event of 2007 - by Trójkowy Dom Kultury listeners
• Miazga 2007 (PULP)
• First place in Event category in the competition for best promotion of tourism in Pomerania region in 2007
• Event of the Year (Press - Top Eventy 2007)
2008
• Sztorm Sztormów (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Sztorm Roku (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Cultural Event of 2008 - by Trójkowy Dom Kultury listeners
• Skrzydła Trójmiasta 2008 in Muzyczne Trójmiasto awards, granted by trojmiasto.pl readers
• BizTrendy 2008 in Events/places category
2009
• Best Major Festival - European Festival Awards
• Musical event of 2009 (ONET.PL)
• Cultural Event of 2009 - by Trójkowy Dom Kultury listeners - słuchaczy Trójkowego Domu Kultury
• One of European Top 20 festivals (The Times)
• OOH! AWARDS 2009 as: COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Events
• BizTrendy 2009 in Events/places category
• Festival of the year (mmtrójmiasto.pl)
• Most important action/event that has built a positive image of cities and regions (20yearsofRP.PL –LET’S BE PROUD!)
• „Elle” plebiscite for „reason to be proud of Poland”
2010
• Green’n’Clean Award, which is granted only to environmentally- friendly festivals. This initiative comprises the appropriate control over transportation, production, energy and power supply, catering and other important elements of festival life.
• Heineken Open'er Festival has been granted European Festival Award as Best Major Festival twice in a row.
2011
Heineken Open’er Festival has been elected one of the 100 symbols of Poland by Kocham Polskę (I Love Poland) foundation among Poland’s most important places, people, historical events and achievements (including, among others, „Solidarność” movement, Copernicus, the relief of Vienna in 1683 or the Baltic Sea) collected in the album „Polskie Symbole” (“The Polish Symbols”).
PROJECT ALBUM’s Poland Style + Design Awards: SHOW, EVENT & PRODUCTION.
