Brno music festival Pop Messe, a progressive festival of contemporary popular music and technology, featuring artists from the pop, electronic, rap, and indie scenes, will take place from 25 to 27 July, with performances from over 50 foreign and domestic bands, musicians and DJs.
Among the biggest names announced are Sleaford Mods, GusGus, Kiasmos, Czech shoegaze veterans The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa, international 90s dance legends Leftfield, the gloomy Belgian melancholia of Warhaus, and Casisdead, recent winner of the Brit Awards in the Rap/Grime category. Other acts to perform include Australian dance producer Partiboi69, Canadian club provocateur Marie Davidson, the leading current British club DJ Blawan, and New York rap duo Armand Hammer. Domestic artists include Bert & Friends, František Skála and Provodovjané.
After being hosted at the Za Luzankami stadium since its beginning, the festival this year is moving to the larger site of the Brno Velodrome and its surroundings at the BVV exhibition grounds. In addition to concerts and parties, the program will also include an international conference, and the Czech Television Kinostage.
“The velodrome might remind the fans of the Za Lužánkami stadium, where we held the festival during the first years. But it will offer more space and better facilities – a total of five music stages – three open-air and two indoor – and two for the accompanying program,” said Tomáš Kelar, the festival’s program director, during the presentation of the program in April.
Other news include the extension to three full program days – compared to two days in previous years – and the possibility to purchase two types of a special ÖFF MÅSSE Brnopass (450 and 690 CZK), which offer free Brno public transport during the festival days as well as discounts or free entry to some of the city’s tourist destinations, such as the Zluty Kopec water reservoirs, Vila Stiassni, and the Riviera swimming pool.
“We are aware of the importance and tourist potential of visitors to large Brno festivals like Pop Messe,” said Jana Janulíková, director of TIC Brno. “We have been offering the BRNOPAS tourist card, which brings several discounts and free admission, for many years. Now, however, we have taken it to a higher level – together with the organisers, we have created a special limited edition tailor-made for festival visitors. With ÖFF MÅSSE BRNOPAS, they will not only get a great musical experience during one weekend, but can enrich this experience with authentic Brno experiences. We also want to support them with our chill-out zone, which we are preparing right at the venue of the festival.”
“The fourth year is going to be packed, without exaggeration, with the strongest program in our short history,” said Kelar. “Not only are we expanding by one festival day, but we are strengthening the program, which is based on the most interesting contemporary names from many genres – from dance electronics, through electro-soul, dub, rap to jazz.”
From the rich line-up, Kelar noted some of the highlights: “Leftfield recorded the absolute classic albums ‘Leftism’ and ‘Rhythm and Stealth’, with hits like ‘Open Up’, ‘Dusted’ and ‘Afrika Shox’, and they also appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Trainspotting and remixed David Bowie. [The Belgian group Warhaus] gradually became a cult group for all those who seek support for their dark states in alternative rock, and [Canadian musician and producer Marie Davidson] mixes spoken word slogans, danceable delight and disturbing elements of dissonance.”
Kelar also highlighted the particular style of John Maus, a U.S. musician and performer, who became one of the musicians of the so-called hypnagogic pop wave, a celebrated experimenter with the guilty pleasure format: “When he starts his wild performance, all the boundaries of good taste are broken.”
A huge range of styles is offered, as reflected by the meeting on the stage of the German “psychedelic ghetto rave” trio Carl Gari and the Egyptian poet, musician and singer Abdullah Miniawy.
Part of the show will also be the five-piece powerpop-rock’n’roll band Bad Nerves from East London; their famous advocates include Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, who declared them “the best band on the planet”.
The full artist line-up is available here. Tickets, including the ÖFF MÅSSE Brnopass, can be bought here.
This year, the organisers made it possible to book an accommodation right next to the exhibition centre, in the Vinařská Dormitory, at a convenient price for a bed and a night of CZK 800, or double bed for CZK 1100. For individual reservation requests it is possible to write to hotel.vinarska@skm.muni.cz, writing “POP MESSE 2024 accommodation” in the subject line.
More information can be found on https://popmesse.cz/en/info-2024-2/.
