From Wolf Alice to FKA twigs to Gracie Abrams, there's a relentless, fizzing excitement throughout Open'er 2025

On the surface, Poland's biggest music festival is very different to a weekend at Worthy Farm. Rather than a five-day endurance test in a tent, most punters stay in the nearby cities of Gdansk or Gdynia and make use of the lush beaches at Sopot before the music starts in the late afternoon. The festival site is borrowed from the Polish military and the entire field can be covered in 15 minutes – if you don't get distracted by brightly-lit brand activities from Pepsi Max (refreshing), Heineken (yum) or Old Spice (sure?). However, there's also a huge tent offering workshops, talks and crafts as well as encouraging political and charity action. It's all designed to bring people together. As the festival boss explains, "Diversity is our strength".

He's not kidding, either. The 2025 event features a powerful, politically-charged headline performance from Massive Attack alongside the pure dance escapism of Justice. Muse deliver clenched-fist fury and the right amount of stadium-sized cheese while Linkin Park return to Poland for the first time since 2017 for an emotional, celebratory 90 minutes of rock karaoke. The controlled chaos of Open'er means you're encouraged to bounce between the industrial ferocity of Nine Inch Nails, the sleek pop party of Tyla and Future's mosh-pit-baiting rap – and that's just one afternoon.

Wolf Alice follow-up that very special Glastonbury performance with a smirking, gorgeous set that sees new tracks 'Bloom Baby Bloom' and 'My Sofa' already doing things to the rowdy crowd. Camila Cabello's larger-than-life stage show gives her tropical pop party a sleek edge, Magdalena Bay are just as joyfully theatrical over on the Alter Stage and Fcukers smash together indie sleaze, nu-rave and infectious hooks during their deliberately messy 45 minute set that has no right to go as hard as it does at 7pm.

The crowd is up for it all, and, brace yourself, because this is where we tell you that Open'er isn't like other festivals. Maybe that's due to a curated lineup where every act on the bill adds something new to the festival experience, maybe it's the fact that every one of the four main stages sounds incredible without a hint of sound bleed or maybe the Gdynia-Kosakowo Airfield was also built on mystical ley lines – whatever the reason, there's this relentless, fizzing excitement throughout Open'er that's impossible not to get caught up in. It makes for some very special moments.

Little Simz is a festival veteran by now, and her sunset slot on the mainstage starts with typically stern ferocity. 'Flood' and 'I Love You, I Hate You' are urgent, with just a hint of menace, but the hammering flex of 'Venom' is far more playful. The joyful energy continues with the groove-driven 'Mood Swings' and the encouraging 'Free'. "It's my job to try and spread love and light," she explains, taking her role very seriously. Simz has been a reliably brilliant presence at festival sites for years now but the new tracks from 'Drop 7' and 'Lotus' have elevated things, while the Polish crowd gasses her up even further.

It's a similar story for St Vincent. Speaking to Dork last year, she promised the tour for 'All Born Screaming' would take the shape of "a pummelling and an ecstatic rave before a bleeding heart." Open'er does get that, but there's also a whole lot of play in her noisy rock'n'roll purge. She snogs cameras, clambers about the venue and rides on a security guard's shoulders to get a better view of the chaos she's causing. "We have to stick together, I think," she adds before the dreamy epic 'Violent Times'.

FKA twigs' three-act 'Eusexua' theatrical masterpiece isn't the sort of show that usually works at a festival. Sure, the gig is built around club euphoria, but ballet and high-concept art also take centre stage during a vulnerable, revealing and confronting 60 minutes. It's the type of enchanting gig that could easily be ruined by distracted punters, but everyone in the overflowing Tent Stage is mesmerised by Twigs as she confidently leads them through a reworked selection of her greatest alt-pop hits and the swaggering new material.

If you saw Doechii at Glastonbury, you already know she's doing something incredible right now, and Open'er gets a similarly stunning performance. Sure, there are no dancers tonight, just DJ Miss Milan, but the energy never dips during the ferocious 60-minute set. Opening track 'Nosebleeds' sees her performing to a sea of Linkin Park fans who are camped out on the front rows but second track 'Spookie Coohie' soon brings them onside too.

As well as limber hip-hop delivered with unrelenting accuracy, Doechii leads the mainstage in rapid-fire affirmations, gives viral hit 'Anxiety' an industrial reworking and generally has a blast, making the huge crowd lose their mind. The set is supposed to end with the jubilant 'BOOM BAP’, but the cheers are so loud, she can't help but return for one final explosive turn with 'PACER'. There are nods to her own journey and hip-hop as a whole, but it's a defiantly forward-facing performance that's got the world in its sights. It might be 6pm on the final day of the festival, but it's obvious that it won't be long until Doechii is headlining events like this.

Gracie Abrams gets a similar response during her sunset slot on the Wednesday. When she's not delivering gut-wrenchingly relatable indie anthems, she's eagerly waving at fans, exchanging "I love you"s and talking to the crowd like they're old friends. It's a polished set, shaped by massive gigs supporting Taylor Swift, but it's still undeniably warm, with Gracie somehow making the huge stage feel intimate. On more than one occasion, she looks out at Open'er in disbelief. "You're pure magic" Gracie says before a twinkling 'Close To You', the generational singer-songwriter taking the words straight out of our mouth.