Pohoda Festival, held in the unsuspecting town of Trencin, Slovakia, has been steadily operating for over two decades now. In this time span it has grown into a renowned and respected fixture on the European festival circuit, and was nominated for 6 categories at the 2017 European Festival Awards, walking away with the Green Operations Award. This has only spurred them on, as they plan to expand their ecological activities for the 2018 festival. This tells you a lot about the care and consideration that goes into curating Pohoda Festival every year.
“When preparing Pohoda, we try to use the same approach as when you invite someone to your home for a visit. You want them to feel good in your place, you want them to have a good programme and place to sit and sleep. You prepare good food and drinks and do everything possible to make them feel good even in the bathroom or the toilet. Then you can listen to good music, dance, watch movies, talk about the joys and challenges of the universe, discuss art — everybody what they want and how they want,” says the festival’s co-founder Michal Kaščák.
This ideology has helped Pohoda Festival grow from its humble beginnings in the local football stadium in 1997 to a 29,500 capacity multi-stage affair taking place at the airport. Over the years they’ve boasted performances from the likes of Björk, PJ Harvey, James Blake, Sigur Rós, The Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead… this could go on for a while.
With the first wave of acts having been announced, this year’s edition seems set to be bigger and better than ever. Already revealed to be playing the 2018 edition, which is taking place on July 5-7th, are St. Vincent, The Chemical Brothers, Jamie Cullum, Danny Brown, Ziggy Marley, Helena Hauff, Little Dragon, Kronos Quartet and many more which can all be seen here. And that’s just the music! Pohoda Festival also encompasses literature, dance, visual art, film and theatre.
The best part is, if you buy right now, you can get a ticket for the whole weekend including camping for the ridiculously low price of €89 – go here to do that.
