Green Zoo Festival is an annual not-for-profit independent alternative urban music festival held in Kraków, Poland since 2011. The festival typically takes place on weekends between the middle of May and June at at several venues. It has hosted concerts by over 100 musicians from around the world, with the main mission of integrating local musicians and those from abroad, DJs, journalists, photographers, graphic designers, promoters, and other artists, as well as regular concert-goers, at the festival’s various events. As a result, there is no clear distinction between concert performers, the general audience, and the independent media, arts, and music industry crowd.
The organizers of this festival are concert promoters from Front Row Heroes based in Poland. The Green Zoo Festival has direct ties with the POP Montreal Festival and has hosted many musicians initially showcased at this annual Canadian festival. In addition to the music, the festival provides a means of promotion for upcoming local musicians, includes workshops dedicated to independent music, and is associated with the development of volunteer programs.
Green Zoo Festival 2023
The legendary Klub RE venue will host this year’s edition of the Green Zoo Festival over the course of three weekends in May. For the very first time, the festival will also take place in the venue’s outside cozy backyard and will join forces with the independent Laboratorium Stereo music initiative. For more information, see Green Zoo Festival official site.
History
The first edition of the Green Zoo Festival was a one-day event held on June 25, 2011 in Kraków, at the Betel Klub and Klub Piękny Pies venues in Kraków. The idea for the festival was created spontaneously to accommodate a concert by Canadian songwriter Basia Bulat, organized by the music promoters from Front Row Heroes. The day before her performance in Kraków at the Betel Klub venue, Basia Bulat supported Arcade Fire’s first concert in Poland at the Arena COS Torwar music venue in Warsaw.
It turned out that several local Kraków-based bands wanted to open for Basia Bulat’s concert. This gave the festival organizers a chance to initiate a low-profile urban music festival, loosely modeled on showcase festivals in Canada, the USA, and elsewhere, where many bands play simultaneously in several different clubs and venues. The festival name, “Green ZOO,” originates from the title of the hit song “In the Green Zoo” performed by Polish singer Ludmiła Jakubczak in the 1960s. The song has been permanently included in Basia Bulat’s setlist during her concerts.
Venues
The concerts in each edition of the festival are held at various Kraków venues, including local pubs and clubs. The locations of the venues where concerts take place change from year to year. However, the festival concerts typically take place in at least two separate venues each year, as shown in the table below. In 2016, a winter edition of the festival took place at three separate locations between January 30 and February 4, before the summer edition of the Green Zoo Festival. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 edition of the festival was held only as streaming events. In 2021, a fall edition of the festival was held instead of a summer edition.
| Venue | Held concerts in | Address | More info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klub RE | 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (winter), 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 (fall), 2022, 2023 | ul. św. Krzyża 4 | |
| Betel Klub | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (winter), 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 | pl. Szczepański 3 | |
| Klub Piękny Pies | 2011, 2013 | ul. Sławkowska 6a | No longer open at this location |
| Szpitalna 1 | 2016, 2016 (winter) | ul. Szpitalna 1 | |
| Bomba na Placu | 2012, 2014 | pl. Szczepański 2 | No longer open |
| Kotkarola | 2012, 2013 | Rynek Gł. 6 | No longer open |
| SDK Warehouse | 2019 | ul. Dekerta 47 | |
| ZetPeTe | 2018 | ul. Dolnych Młynów 10 | No longer open |
| Rozrywki Trzy | 2012 | ul. Mikołajska 3 | No longer open |
Artists
The following table lists the bands and musicians who performed at each edition of the Green Zoo Festival (the country of origin of each artist is shown in brackets):