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Spirit of Burgas. The festival on the beach that every person in Bulgaria is looking for when the summer arrives. Announcements of headliners, co-headliners, bands from every part of the world, known and unknown, and the memories of the three days during August on the beach with your friends listening to some good music under the stars with a beer in your hand and the sound of the night sea.
This year, though, our Spirit wasn’t three days, it was two and it wasn’t in August, it was in July. To be honest, the Bulgarians are not people who are used to or even like change, especially when it comes to their favourite festival, so the shock was quite big. Anyway, we survived the news anticipating the great nights full with music for everybody – rock, indie, hip-hop, reggae, swing, drum and bass and much more.
I can’t lie, I’ve been to every Spirit of Burgas since it first launched in 2008, but this one wasn’t as satisfying as the previous ones. I know that they moved the dates of the festival so it can match the tour dates of many of the artists that came but the artists themselves weren’t something you’d expect to see at Spirit of Burgas. Editors? The indie rock scene isn’t that unknown in Bulgaria, but not many of the people I asked knew who they were. They were the headliners of the first day. Before them we saw the charming Zaz from France who had even learned some Bulgarian phrases and she had so much energy on the stage that even people that had never listened to her music were dancing and enjoying every part of it. She brought together around 5000 people and they loved her performance. It is still in my head as well, I just can’t forget the amazing little girl jumping around the stage like she’s never going to be on one again. And, after she finished, the crowd in front of the Main Stage little by little started going to the other stages to see something else. And it barely came back when the Editors hit the first guitar chord. It was embarrassing. Not for the band, they are great, but nobody knew them. I asked the girl behind me how long has she has been listening to their music and she just answered: “I’ve never heard of them, there is just nothing interesting at the moment”. I’ve never heard someone saying that the previous years.
And then Chase and Status arrived on the Main Stage. Again. For a second year. Not that I didn’t sing along to every track but there are so many great artists that have never been here and they invite the same over and over again. I mean, the audience needs something different, nobody wants to go to the same festival twice, you are waiting for something new, something that will make you remember the night. But they still got greater amount of people than the british headliners – Editors.
That was the first day. It wasn’t the strongest one. Although there were many entertainments – bungee, beer pong, games, swimming in the sea, but it wasn’t enough, the music wasn’t enough, you can have every game in the world but if the music is not enough.. And to just finish with everything that I didn’t like – if you tried to leave before 2am, you couldn’t. Why, Spirit, why would you make such a restriction?
The fact the I began with the bad part of the festival doesn’t mean that it didn’t have a good side. Really good side. The second day was mind blowing. Amazing. From my first steps on the beach on the 28th of July I knew that the first day was just a preparation for the awesomeness of the second. The Main Stage line-up was... Because of Upsurt, the most loved Bulgarian hip-hop band, the beach was crowded from 6pm. Then Che Sudaka and Enter Shikari came. I still have the flashbacks of their performances – the two craziest concerts I’ve ever been to. But if you have heard of them, you know why, don’t you?
But the pearls of the night were Selah Sue, Wu Tang Clan and Andy C. As I said earlier – mind blowing. To see the young jazzy Belgian girl, then the hip-hop legends and move to the Solar scene to see Andy C – that’s what I call head banging.
A really good thing about this year was the fact that music didn’t stop at 3am – it continued till the morning and nobody wanted it to be over. H.M.S.U. took the power in their hands when Dub FX finished so you can’t just leave, it’s mandatory to stay, it’s a tradition to jump with bass from the stage under the sunrise.
That was my Spirit as I saw it. I had to good and the bad but it end I left fulfilled – one more year of music under the stars and sea near me, there is nothing better than this. And I recommend that everyone experience that at least one, cause the seaside of Bulgaria is amazing by itself, but when it’s combined with Spirit of Burgas is something that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
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