Live, in Photos: Open’er Festival 2024 with Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, Air, and More

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Live, in Photos: Open’er Festival 2024 with Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, Air, and More

Plus Ice Spice, 21 Savage, Hozier, Sam Smith, and more from the “Coachella of Poland” in the beach town of Gdyni.

Photos: Joshua Mellin

July 09, 2024

Open’er Festival, best described as Poland’s take on Coachella, went off without a hitch in the beach town of Gdynia this past weekend with Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and Hozier all taking to the main stage at the Kosakowo Airport field. After her 2022 set at the festival was canceled due to storms, Dua Lipa made her return to Open’er, also marking her first show since last week’s triumphant Glastonbury headlining set. While showers once again threatened to curtail the evening, it tapered off to a drizzle just as Dua took to the stage, ending the set with a fireworks-filled rendition of her Radical Optimism hit “Houdini.”

Ice Spice kicked off Friday on the main stage—albeit 25 minutes late for a set that only lasted about 35 minutes. While 21 Savage has been vague in his comments over the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, his set relied heavily on his 2022 full-length collaborative album with Drake, Her Loss (it seemed to slip past the European audience, where Kendrick’s track hasn’t permeated to the same extent it has in the US). Born in England (as we all learned on Super Bowl Sunday 2019), the Atlanta-linked rapper wore a Toronto Blue Jays hat, perhaps marking his continued allegiance to Drake.

On Friday night Doja Cat made a case for herself as the world’s leading pop star with a fiery headlining set that stood out as the highlight of the whole weekend. On the same night, she surpassed Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion as the most streamed female rap artist on Spotify. Her stage presence and the show’s production, presented in three acts, has led to new sales records for crowds across Europe. Initially taking to the stage in what some fans dubbed her “hot teacher era” outfit, she quickly stripped down to reveal a risque ensemble arranged with just jockstraps.

Back on the rock side, French band Air was immaculate in the tent stage, playing a pristine and extended take on their classic album Moon Safari in full. Later, Sam Smith declared their 12:30 a.m. start time as perhaps the latest they’d ever started a show, as they took to the stage clad in leather. And as always, Hozier’s fans showed up in full force for the Irish rocker.

Elsewhere, Open’er’s Let’s Talk program commemorated the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, the major World War II operation led by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation, by inviting Warsaw insurgents Mr. Bogdan Bartnikowski (92 years old) and Mr. Zbigniew Rylski (101) to participate in a panel discussion.

Find more photos spanning the whole weekend below.