Warsaw Wianki Festival 2015: Anna Jantar Tribute

Here's a few more pictures from the 2015 Warsaw Wianki Festival from a couple of weeks ago. 

Not being Polish, the act that was on before The Charlatans at this year's Wianki was at times a bit confusing for me, but suddenly it started to get interesting as it moved into what looked like a tribute to the late Anna Jantar (below):

I was aware of the tragic story of Anna Jantar (dying in a big plane crash in Warsaw in 1980 - the plane had been returning from JFK Airport in New York), because my wife had pointed out her grave in a Polish graveyard on All Souls or All Saints Day a few years ago.

Below is a song I've heard many times by the late Anna Jantar:

Warsaw: Gdynia Open'er Festival Poster

Would never dream of going to this particular music festival, but I've got to hand it to this poster advertising it, it's incredible.

The Poland Warsaw LDS Mission 25th Anniversary Picnic at Wolska Chapel

Was up in the Wolska district of Warsaw today for the Poland Warsaw LDS Mission 25th anniversary picnic:

Not an LDS (Mormon) myself, but I like this religion a lot, especially its teaching about people being created as heterosexual spirit children by God (and a Goddess Mother) in pre-mortality.  Yes, the LDS get my vote because they staunchly defend the beautiful concept of heterosexuality (e.g. in their eternal marriage doctrine). 

Thankfully, the rain just about held off and everybody was treated to a fantastic lunch.  I really enjoyed my pork, oatmeal and (mainly beetroot) salad.

Below, there's a picture of the main hall at Wolska where, after the picnic, everybody watched a presentation about the 20th/21st century history of the LDS Church in Poland:

And of course, for the budding anthropologist/ethnographer, the picture below is fascinating, as it shows young missionaries playing basketball with a mixture of converts and investigators (pre-baptismal recruits) on the basketball court in front of the Warsaw Wolska chapel:

Of course, LDS conversion process may start with young LDS missionaries (or local LDS members) befriending/networking recruits before gradually or quickly introducing them to their religion.

Toto Live at Warsaw Torwar 24th June 2015

Few shots of Toto from last night's show at WarsawTorwar.  Remember Toto coming onto the music scene in the late 1970's (when I was a schoolboy) with their debut album (especially the hit single 'Hold the Line').

However, somehow or other, it has taken me over 37 years to finally get to see Toto (did see Steve Lukather at the old Warsaw Klub Progresja 2-3 years ago, though).

After the first few opening tracks, which included 'Stranger in Town' and 'I'll Supply the Love', things really started hotting up with 'Hold the Line' and 'Georgy Porgy' (so glad the band did this fantastic Jazz-type tune).
  

But my favourite tune of the night had to be 'Great Expectations' (being a Prog-lover, this was always going to be my favourite tune) from the recent album.

And as we headed towards the end, the band did 'Roseanna', and came back on stage to do 'White Sister' (one of my favourite Toto tunes) and 'Africa' as the encores to end a great two-hour set.

And thus ended my four gigs in a week in Warsaw which wasn't too exhausting as I took it easy on the beer.

Roxette Live at Warsaw Torwar 22nd June 2015

Roxette taking their thoroughly well-earned applause at the end of their concert at Warsaw Torwar.

So glad that I decided to go and see Roxette last night (had never seen them before), and would rank this concert as one of the very best that I've seen over the years.

Really happy that it was a kind of 'Greatest Hits' show, as I knew most of the tracks ('Fading Like a Flower'; 'Listen To Your Heart'; 'It Must've Been Love'; 'Dressed for Success'; 'Joyride'; 'The Look' etc.).

And my favourite tunes of the night?  Well, they'd have to be 'Spending My Time' and 'Crash! Boom! Bang!' (really like the 'outros' to these two cracking tunes). 

Also, being near the back in a crowd of about 4,000-5,000, it was good that the band had a good colourful, constantly changing backdrop on stage:

 
Overall, it was just nice to relax and listen to some great, highly melodic music live.

Yeah, Roxette exemplify in melody, what music should be about.

Rebeka Live at Warsaw Wianki Festival 20th June 2015

A few shots of Polish electronica band, Rebeka, from this year's Warsaw Wianki  Festival here.

Got down there just in time to catch Rebeka, and I'm glad that I did as they were really good, reminding me a bit of the Canadian electronica band, Austra.

So I'm now having a good listen to the Rebeka album 'Hellada', to tunes like 'Stars'; 'Melancholia'; and 'Unconscious' (really good stuff).

And the stage backdrop at Wianki threw up some interesting visual designs that seemed to fit in perfectly with the Rebeka electronica sound:

Will have to catch Rebeka again some time.

The Charlatans Live at Warsaw Wianki Festival 20th June 2015

The Charlatans are a band who, over the years, have generally escaped my radar, but I've now caught them live twice (first time at the Warsaw Impact Festival in 2012), and really enjoyed them both times.

Got this shot of vocalist Tim Burgess from one of the screens at the side of the stage:

The picture below captures how the audience faithfully endured getting drenched during The Charlatans' set, as the heavens started to gradually open just before the band came on stage.  Still, the audience were going nowhere and stayed put, which the band genuinely appreciated:

Of course, most people's favourite tune of the set was going to be 'The Only One I Know', a great tune that's always stayed at the front of my mental jukebox over the years.

 

About the rain, I was going to take a coat, but my wife told me that the weather forecast had predicted no rain, so I got absolutely soaked.  In fact, the last time that I got this badly soaked at a festival was probably watching Blue Oyster Cult at Castle Donington in 1981.