Positivus Festival’s I Love You stage has always been a special venue - a place where emerging acts can rise to widespread acclaim and beloved underground performers get to flex their festival muscles. And there is quite simply no party like an I Love You party.
The first I Love You stage artist line-up features a true local rock legend Inokentijs Mārpls, the gentle rockers Laika Suns and the alternative indie-rock performers Momend. Some of the more international acts include Estonian pop-rockers Galvanic Elephants and synthpop band Zebra Island, Belorussian post-punkers Super Besse as well as Sweden’s indie rock quartet The Bongo Club.
If Inokentijs Mārpls did not exist they had to be invented – the Latvian underground stage would not have been half as colourful without them for the last 30 years. A punk rock legend and ex-USSR hardcore pioneers, they will be the epicentre of any event by charging the audiences with exhilarating live energy, adding their pungent and often politically and socially oriented texts and wild guitar sounds.
Their vastness, indulging in the finest music nuances, and disarming truthfulness are the main properties that have enabled Momend to swiftly become fast-rising alternative/indie rock stars both home and abroad. Their unique sound is rooted in folk music and simple pop rock and with their evolution inevitable, Momend’s current melodies are complexly multi-dimensional. With every record, Momend take their listeners in the direction of thought-stirring alternative rock, with every note having meaning.
Intense rock&roll written with an open heart – that's the musical card of the Latvian band Laika Suns. The band unites professional musicians with vast experiences in various musical projects, and the line-up makes it possible to implement even the most daring, ideas. With pronounced rhythms, resonant guitar riffs and dynamic melodies, Laika Suns bring joy to their audiences wherever they go.
The promising Estonian band Galvanic Elephants have been successfully combining elements of profound rock music, eloquent pop and monumental electronic rhythms in their music since 2010. They now keep balancing between experiments and sounds that can carry away a broader audience. Their untamed style and nature, freedom and vastness of ideas during their shows, allows them to share these emotions and values with their audiences.
A colourful and bright vocal, dreamy melodies, multi-dimensional synth intros and a rhythm that syncs with the heartbeats – these are the first impressions when one hears the Estonian synthypop band Zebra Island. Influences from dream pop and shoe-gaze and paraphrases of musical solutions characteristic of the 1980s combined with total freshness create a sound specific to Zebra Island that takes the listeners to another world.
Super Besse, a band from the capital of Belarus, Minsk, who have chosen their name after a French resort, prove that even in the 21st century post-punk rock is able to survive if it is combined with a coldvawe breath almost similar to that of Joy Division. Punk-age melancholy might be gone, but oddly enough, Super Besse will still supply the gothic moods that will lift you to euphoric heights, reminiscing of days when the grass was greener and music sounded more untamed. At their gigs, Super Besse are charmingly persuasive and deeply resonating, with beats of a tireless drum machine inviting you to dance until the last note.
For real rock&roll, it is sufficient to be convinced about what you do, to have some comparatively good instruments, personal charisma, and the ability to wrap your thoughts in music that is based on the most suited rhythm—and one proof of these words is the new Swedish indie rock band The Bongo Club. Their energetic, at times aggressive and merry melodies were released in the spring of 2015 on their debut album, and now The Bongo Club are ready to play until a complete victory.
The ninth Positivus Festival will take place in Salacgrīva, Latvia from July 17th - 19th and will once again be an event of epic proportions for all quality music and wild party enthusiasts. Along with the newest line-up additions Positivus Festival will also host previously announced acts - Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Placebo, Kasabian, St.Vincent, Basement Jaxx, Tom Odell, Jungle, Charli XCX, Lamb, Everything Everything, Fenech-Soler, Jack Garratt, Ewert and the Two Dragons, The Sound Poets, Kate Boy, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Triana Park, Max Jury and Soak. More artists to be announced.
The festival’s main partner is Lattelecom, with support from Nordea and Tuborg. All the Festival news can be heard on radio SWH - the official Positivus Festival radio.
Tickets are available at www.positivusfestival.com, in all Biļešu Serviss box offices and Nordea ATM’s (in Latvia only). A Positivus Festival 3 day ticket without camping costs EUR 65,00 and a 3 day ticket with camping costs EUR 71,00. One-day tickets are now on sale for the price of EUR 35,00. Tickets without commission - www.positivusfestival.com!