Pohoda Festival 2008: Rated!

Slovakia | by Daniel Fahey | 20 July 2008

Overall – 6/10
Slovakia's biggest festival shares the social conscience of Glastonbury and is around the same size of O2 Wireless. Beer and food are limited, but cheap - though vegetarian options are almost obsolete. Beautiful weather over the two days justified the trip from the UK and a good range of local and international acts made for some very interesting listening. With few big names pencilling in Slovakia during their European tours for the rest of the year the festival has a excitable buzz throughout. It hasn't quite got the pulling power of Benicassim yet, but some 25,000 people made the trip this year and the festival shows no signs of slowing down.

Getting There And Back – 4/10
Flights from the UK take around two hours to Bratislava, but from there it's an hour taxi ride or a train direct to the town of Trencin. Shuttle buses go from the town centre to the festival site or a taxi ride will set you back about a fiver.

The Site – 5/10
With the majority of the site set on disused runways, mud is kept to a minimum, but the area in front of the main stage is too narrow. The lack of hills, trees and natural curves means the flat site is a little bland, but there are nice views of the nearby towns and surrounding mountains. The campsite is very close and easily accessible and queues for bars and toilets are non-existent. The site also offers an amateur art area, tents for political and social debates, two bungee jumps and food vans with more meat than your local butcher - likewise everything is weighed and priced accordingly.

Atmosphere – 6/10
Around the site there is very little clowning around, but the Slovakians are passionate about their music and mosh and circle pits could easily kick off to the sound of a half decent fart. Most of the festival-goers are young and laidback until they get anywhere near a dance tent, then they party like the best of them. The British contingent was minimal, though a handful of fans from Manchester managed to get on stage to dance with The Tigerpicks and Bell X1 brought along some Irish fans.

Uppers:

The Streets – 8/10
The only time Mike Skinner stopped for a breather was when he was getting the crowd to kneel down, hug each other, or open a runway for him to get to sprint to the sound desk and crowd-surf back. There may be a lack of new material but The Streets are a band on form.

Hexstatic – 7/10
The usual mind-blowing audio-visual mix from the cut up kings, Hextatic tore the dance tent to shreds with an electro fused show. More mainstream than they’ve played in the past, a drum'n'bass mix of 'Smack My Bitch Up' was the icing on the cake.

Editors – 7/10
Pulled a massive crowd and showed just why. Editors have honed their live set to immaculate levels and treated the crowd to songs from their two albums. The only criticism could be the omission of more epic tracks like 'Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors' and 'Camera' in favour of more upbeat songs.

The Toilets – 8/10
The toilet roll may have been Eastern Bloc grey and as soft as Artex, but each portaloo had a urinal as well as a toilet, which prevented the usual drunken festival spraying over the seat like a drizzly day in Durham. There were never any queues to use the Khazis and the Slovakians were decent enough not to turn each toilet into a dirty protest massacre.

The Local Castle – 8/10
At the risk of sounding Lonely Planet, fans heading for Pohoda must check out the local castle. The steep hill is a thigh-acher but the views of Trencin from the Keep are incredible and visitors can also try their hand at archery and even hold a falcon.

Downers:

Fatboy Slim – 6/10
For super fans, his set was sadly unchanged from O2 Wireless, but the lowest point was he still insisted on starting and ending on 'Praise You', even though the dance troupe performed it minutes before he went onstage.

Alcohol
Thanks to sponsorship the only booze you can get onsite is Zlaty Bazant beer, which, as nice (and strong) as it is, does start to make you feel a little sick and bloated. Instead we recommend our own cocktail: Stolie Semtax – a mixture of Russian vodka and Semtex – Slovakia's explosive version of Red Bull.

Stop Genecide
Normally when you turn up at a festival you're greeted by a tosspot in a silly hat or a beefy security guard patting you down for bottles or drugs. However the kind folk at Pohoda welcome us with a 'Stop Genecide' protest that features a series of harrowing images of dead babies heads and the like. They even give out free stickers with the babies on, just in case the sight hasn't already been burned to the back of your eyelids. It saves on buying gifts for the  girlfriend though.

Random Events

Praise You Dance Off
Watching a troupe of Slovakian’s bring Spike Lee's 'Praise You' video to life is on of the most surreal festival moments in living memory. Check back for the full video.

The Loudest Silent Disco In The World
The silent disco was neither silent or a disco. Instead we queued (twice) to enter the glorified bar hidden underneath an inflatable dome - just to turn around and leave again. The cinema tent seemed to be MIA as well.

Tic Tac Belts
Buy just three packs of the rattling mints and get yourself a brand new belt – fresh!