Rifffields Festival 2023

Rifffields Festival will take over the fields of the Upper Poland village of Gałązki.

This is the fourth edition of the most homely and laid-back stoner/psychedelic/doom festival in Poland. Rifffields takes place near the village of Gałązki near Koźmin Wielkopolski on the grounds of a railway station that was once abandoned and falling into disrepair, but is now gaining new life. All around are open fields and majestic wind turbines. The event is open-air and the grounds include a campsite, toilets and showers and everything else you need to be happy.

The line-up for this year's Rifffields opens with the South African act Ruff Majik. Active since 2012, they play garage rock with a good dose of southern sludge and hints of stoner; they have a series of EPs and four albums to their credit, the latest of which is this year's Electric Ram. As befits a stoner rock festival, a large majority of the announced artists are interested in similar sonics—including Red Scalp, Wrocław's Noise River, Krakow's Eye of Void and Highsanity and festival hosts Smokes of Krakatau. Non-genre psychedelic journeys will be served up by ARRM, the long-running side project of artists known from experimental metal outfits Furia, Gruzja, Thaw or 52um, and the Katowice four-piece Ciśnienie, weaving new music inspirations into hypnotic post-rock. Genre conventions are also broken by Łódź-based Yantra, combining psych sludge with dream pop subtlety. The line-up closes on a completely different note, with a set from the Poznań-based synthwave producer Timedriver.

Rifffields is not just about music, however. As has been the tradition since the first edition, the post-concert evenings will be enriched by a cinema under the stars with a unique selection of Z movies. In the evening and at night, visitors can warm themselves by the festival bonfire, which burns until the early hours of the morning. A food court will also be available throughout the event, serving food prepared by the local Village Housewives' Circle. Delicious sweet pastries will be on offer, as well as a variety of vegetarian and meat dishes. Water, tea and soft drinks will also be available, and the local Rock Brewery Jarocin will supply festivalgoers with beer. Per Rifffields tradition, the end of the festival will feature a charity merch auction, with all proceeds going to a selected animal care foundation. A portion of the profits from the festival will also be donated to this cause.