Mystic Festival (Gdansk, Poland) 2022 Warm-up Day
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Loading... - Noelle Clarke
- 13 Jul 2022
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After a two-year delay and a change of location, my dream of attending Mystic Festival finally became a reality. The festival was originally supposed to take place in Krakow, Poland, but thanks to the pandemic, the location shifted to the picturesque and the most metal of places, the Gdansk shipyard in the extremely photogenic city of Gdansk, Poland.
The shipyard is actually home to a few nightclubs, pubs and eateries so the locals already knew the layout. For the rest of us, the festival grounds were easy to navigate with short walks from stage to stage. There was plenty of food and beverage tents and most importantly, Porta John/Toi Tois everywhere. Mystic Festival had about 3 festival merch booths and another dedicated to the bands that were playing that day. In addition, there were about a dozen or so vendors selling everything that you could imagine that would be sold at a metal festival. The prices of everything for sale at Mystic was fair I thought. No price gouging at all like some other festivals I’ve attended.
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The first band I saw on the warmup day was Carcass. They seem to land on just about every festival lineup that I attend, so I didn’t stick around for their whole set. I’m an old school Carcass fan so I was quite surprised when they played “Exhume to Consume” right out of the gate. Jeff Walker and Bill Steer haven’t aged a day and they still play with the same vigor they did when I first saw them in 1990.
After Carcass, I headed over to the indoor Shrine Stage and caught Bay Area thrash legends, Heathen. Heathen never garnered the same popularity that Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel did during their heyday, but when you’re still playing larger festivals, does it really matter? Heathen played a blistering set that included songs from all over their discography. One thing I noticed is that founding guitarist, Lee Altus, was not present. After some quick research, I learned that he’s back at home tending to a sick family member. We wish him and his family good fortune and a return to the stage soon.
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Ending the warmup day for me was Tom Warrior’s Legacy and it was comprised of Triumph of Death (Hellhammer)/Celtic Frost (performed by Tryptikon) and Tryptikon themselves. This smorgasbord of Tom G. Warrior bands was exclusive to Mystic Festival itself and to be able to witness it in person, was something extremely special. There was even an exclusive festival shirt made for the showcase of his bands! Read More…
