The Vaccines retuned to the stage after their earlier set to join forces with Mumford and Sons during their headline set at Poland’s Open’er Festival.
Opening with Snake Eyes, Mumford and Sons captured the audience attention from the off. Performances of I Will Wait and Babel showcased the band’s new rockier edge and US influences.
During the epic two-hour set, due to a late arriving D’Angelo, Mumford & Sons tried their hand at several Polish phrases, calling on the crowd to translate phrases. Lead singer Marcus Mumford, who took to the drumkit to play and sing on several songs, asked the audience where they were from after Broad-Shouldered Beasts and joked after finding some members from Russia and Germany, “Let’s fuck ‘em up!”
There was no sign of his actress wife Carey Mulligan in the wings, where she usually watches on as her beau plays to the adoring throng of fans.
Prior to Mumford’s set, The Vaccines had warmed up the 80,000 capacity crowd on the main stage, with Justin Young playing up his tongue-in-cheek teenage icon persona, falling to his knees during Wetsuit and declaring “a real golden oldie this one, from all the way back in 2013” ahead of Melody Calling.
They were followed by the mainstream ethereal Celtic rock from Of Monsters And Men while, in the Tent Stage, Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood performed his experimental classical compositions, soundtrack pieces and covers of works by Steve Reich and Edmund Finnis alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra.
After Mumford and Sons on the main stage, D’Angelo returned with his band The Vanguard for an hour of Prince-esque funk pop. There was no sign of his infamous torso however, with the long-absent singer changing outfits from a flamboyant coat to a black Mexican cloak and playing including four tracks from last year’s long-awaited third album Black Messiah.
The night closed at 4am following a one and half hour set from punk superstars The Prodigy with a customary with a raucous set of their huge hits including Breathe, Firestarter and Voodoo People. Lead singer Kith ordered the whole crowd to sit on the floor ahead of Smack My Bitch Up, with the obedient lot jumping to their feet during the anthemic chorus.
The festival closes today Kasabian, Cara Delevingne’s current love interest St Vincent, Australian electro outfit Flume, Years and Years, Hozier and Disclosure.
For more information on Open’er Festival visit www.opener.pl/en
