Electronic Beats Festival Warsaw 2011 in review

Electronic Beats Festival Warsaw 2011 in review Hello Warsaw. It may have been cold, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits as we got ready for the Electronic Beats Festival in Warsaw last night. With an all-star cast of talented artists, who each brought a little something different, this was shaping up to be a spectacular festival with the crowd twitching in anticipation of the night ahead. The amazing Soho Factory was just the right venue to welcome us in style being beautifully illuminated and decorated by our great local team.

And then, we were off. After a brilliant intro by the Wojtek Fedkowicz Noise Trio from Cracow second on stage was Zola Jesus. Jesus! Wow. Icy-cold all dressed in white, Zola Jesus’s blank eyed future soul quite literally stunned the room. Performing ‘Avalanche‘ and ‘Seekir‘ she even jumped off the stage right in the middle of her set to whirlwind alongside the crowd touching hands and hearts alike, before closing her show with the most overwhelming version of ‘Vessel‘.

Next it was Wiley‘s turn, the Eskiboy from London, Oi! He walked on to the stage with no messin’, rolling straight into ‘Numbers in Action‘. His set was a quick fire run through the brighter end of his grimey spectrum with enough skankin interludes and chest crushing bass to make everyone in the room feel, that they were getting an authentic taste of this very British MC and producer. Having brought the infamous MC Giggs as his surprise support, he got everybody jumping, rushing from ‘Rolex‘ to ‘From the Drop‘ and back to ‘Take That‘.

By the time The Drums appeared on the stage, it became more than obvious, why there where so many pretty girls in the audience. Their hearts clearly belonged to the cute American boys! All Brooklyn swagger with cheeks you want to pinch, the wholesome-looking foursome threw material taken from their debut album as well as from the sophomore Portamento, starting off with two of our favourites ‘Best Friend‘ and ‘Me and the Moon‘ with jangling guitars providing the perfect bridge, an audio palate cleanser for the bass to come.

Finally, Groove Armada moved into place, and with a couple of last minute checks we were eased into the final part of the evening. Even though it was a DJ set, GA still knew how to put on a spectacular show with lights, lazers and images jumping out from the stage. Tearing through ‘I Wanna Give you Devotion‘ and a whole range of club bangers, the crowd quite literally went wild for the rest of the night.

What else can we say? Thank you Warsaw, thank you to all of the amazing artists for an unforgettable night, and thank you to all the EB fans.

Published December 03, 2011.