In partnership with Open’er Festival
Words: Jordan Bassett and Kyann-Sian Williams
There’s nothing like a big rock show. We love a sweaty gig in a tiny venue just as much, but there’s something special those days that build towards the event, as you dig out your old band tee, text mates about your setlist dreams and prepare to get silly to your favourite tunes.
Day four at Poland’s Open’er Festival was all about that energy. This was thanks to Linkin Park’s headline set, the excitement for which was palpable hours before the band took to the main stage. Perhaps they weren’t not entirely responsible for the fact that the field felt busier than usual (the colossal line-up also featured world-beating rap, pop and art-rock), but the huge amount of LP T-shirts on display showed what a draw the Cali metal titans are.
It was fitting farewell, then, to a truly magnificent festival. Here’s how we said do widzenia to Open’er 2025… (JB)
Doechii turned the main stage into a swampy wonderland
From the moment she rose above the stage, standing on a mossy platform like a supernatural bayou deity, you knew you were stepping into Doechii’s world. The Tampa-born rapper turned Open’er into a lush, fog-drenched fantasy with tangled green foliage, misty visuals and her voice cracking like a whip through the humid night.
She honoured the golden age of hip-hop with reverence and a sly wink, paying homage to its fundamentals: DJing, raw rapping and fashion that flexes both power and play (oversized hat, corset, baggy pants). At one point, her DJ shouted, “We bringing real hip-hop shit to Poland tonight!” – a promise Doechii kept in full.
Her set played like a feverish, genre-warping mixtape. She flipped hip-hop classics such as Nas’ ‘Oochie Wally’ and ‘The World Is Yours’, incorporated the leaned-out drawl of Underground Kings, slipped into her viral Beyoncé cover (‘America Has a Problem’) and sampled ballroom house before she duck-walked and vogued down the runway to ‘Alter Ego’ – where she gleefully rapped JT’s verse and danced deep into the crowd.
@adrianblnc Doechii pierwszy raz w Polsce ❤️🔥@Doechii #doechii #doechiichalenge #doechiicrazy #doechiiwhatitis #poland #opener #openerfestival #dc #viral #dlaciebie #fyp #fyppp
She thrashed through a rock remix of ‘Anxiety’, guitars snarling as she sprinted the runway, spun and struck poses like a goddess possessed. Between tracks, she beamed and asked, “How you say, ‘Make some noise,’ in your language?” A fan called it back and she roared the words joyously – a small, electric exchange that turned the sea of strangers into her extended hype squad.
This was all about fearless freedom and total don’t-give-a-fuck self-expression. During ‘Persuasive’, she led us in a chorus of bad-bitch affirmations (“I’m that bitch, I’m serving face…”), then posed the million-dollar question: “How does it feel to be tha-that that that bitch?” By the end, we all knew exactly how it felt: unstoppable. (KSW)
Poland gave Linkin Park a warm welcome back
To a casual onlooker, Linkin Park might seem to be defined by their first album, 2000’s rock-rap classic ‘Hybrid Theory’. Yet when the Gdynia-Kosakowo Airfield filled with the band’s fans on Open’er’ final day, an overwhelming number of their T-shirts bore the words ‘Year Zero’, the name of LP’s divisive comeback album with new singer Emily Armstrong. Indeed, the festival’s merch shop was gridlocked for most of the day, with a queue snaking up and down the field. No prizes for guessing why. In their box-fresh shirts, fans seemed determined to show their support for the group’s new era.
Linkin Park haven’t performed in Poland since 2017, when they appeared at Kraków’s Impact Festival just over a month before original vocalist Chester Bennington’s tragic suicide at the age of 41. If certain corners of the internet have been less than convinced by Armstrong stepping into his shoes, punters at Open’er Festival were so enthusiastic that the atmosphere grew heady and intense. This was by far the biggest audience of the weekend, with the crowd stretching way back through the festival site and packed tight around both sides of the stage as digital clocks counted down to the band’s appearance.
When the group finally graced the stage, the audience’s roared response was ecstatic bordering on religious fervour. “The welcome back is very much appreciated,” vocalist and co-founding member Mike Shinoda said. “Put your hands up if this is your first time seeing Linkin Park live.” It seemed like every other pair of hands in the field reached out to the heavens, which explains why the new album’s lead single ‘The Emptiness Machine’ was as rapturously received as such classics as ‘One Step Closer’. As fans opened up a huge circle pit to the band’s brutal sonic assault, Armstrong purred approvingly: “I knew you had it in you, Poland…” (JB)
The best of the rest
After Doechii’s high-octane Polish debut, Camila Cabello offered a syrupy-sweet counterpoint. Surrounded by plush quilted blocks and draped in delicate white off-cut fabric, she looked like an angelic lullaby come to life while she danced her way through her discography – from her new hyperpop-inflected songs to her big, belting bangers. She even practiced her Polish, declaring her love with a gleaming smile: “Kocham cię!”
Between the pleasant pop of Cabello and Conan Gray and the post-punk of Molchat Doma and Wolf Alice stood Samara Cyn. Over at the Flow stage, she drew passersby in with her conscious, heartfelt hip-hop. Clearly inspired by the likes of Common, Mos Def and Erykah Badu, Samara exists in that radiant middle ground where neo-soul meets storytelling rap – every song a meditation, every bar purposeful. Even if the Polish crowd didn’t catch every word, they tuned into her energy, swaying gently to her mellow, soul-soaked tunes.
At the end of the night, the cultish rap disruptor JPEGMafia offered the perfect warm-up for anyone craving that unruly, rock-coded thrill before Linkin Park‘s headline set. Always sonically unpredictable, Peggy’s sound blurs the line between rap and rock: chaotic, skittish, ear-bleeding – but always magnetic. Casual fans headbanged and die-hards jumped nonstop, screaming every sample and glitchy drop back at him – unhinged devotion was in abundance for Peggy. (KSW)
Wolf Alice introduced Poland to their new era on the Tent Stage, as the London art-rockers performed in front of a ritzy stage design adorned with lights that looked like they’d been nicked from the set of The Last Showgirl. Singer Ellie Rowsell rocked the high notes on epic comeback track ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ as if determined to make those bulbs burst one by one, while hazy new song ‘The Sofa’, which includes a shout-out to north London ‘hood Seven Sisters, helped us settle into a final day winddown.
We’ll miss you, Open’er 2025. As Rowsell sang on the gorgeous ‘Delicious Things’: “The vibes are kinda strong here…” (JB)