Smooth Festival Bydgoszcz 2010: Rated!

Bydgoszcz, Mlynska Island - 22 May 2010

Poland | by Gosia Jasinska | 24 May 2010

Overall - 5/10
Smooth Festival aims to be a higher-class of event with a line-up of “smooth” music which can satisfy demanding listeners. The average age of the festival-goers in attendance are certainly older than at other festivals, therefore those “demanding listeners” seem to have different needs and expectations but some of them - like preparing the site or managing the breaks between the performers - were not met. Overall the one-day festival is full of mixed feelings concerning all aspects of the festival.

Getting there and back - 7/10
Travel isn’t an issue here as the festival is located in the centre of Bydgoszcz on Mlynska Island. The town is rather small but still there isn’t many signposted directions to the festival. The main mistake was creating an entrance that’s not situated close to a bus stop and totally on the other side of the charming old town.

The site - 5/10
Mlynska Island, is without question, surrounded by the charming scenery of canals and the old town of Bydgoszcz. The site itself with uneven, sandy ground was not prepared well enough to welcome festival-goers with some of the female contingent wearing classy sandals or high heels.  The food corner was without a doubt an improvement in comparison to last year, though still small and really crowded during the long breaks.

Music - 7/10
The line-up was quite interesting but incomparable with the one from a year before, especially with Cesaria Evora replaced by Emmanuelle Siegner.

?The unique Maria Peszek provides a good show with the audience equally pleased with the performance of Natalia Kukulska who tried very hard to connect with the audience. Brazilian queen of smooth jazz, Ive Mendes’ voice truly enhanced especially while performing in Portuguese though her English songs did not seem to have sophisticated lyrics and while singing in English her voice lost the magic.

Up next, Emmanuelle Seigner did not match the ideal of the festival and her singing skills are questionable. She tried to pull it off by dancing with a girly charm but it was her band that saved the performance from failure.

After a long break the best part of the festival arrived. The TV sponsored and transmitted show of Adam Sztaba, well-known Polish arranger and conductor, with his orchestra as well as a number of really good Polish stars and Ive Mendes too. The project called Muza Miast (Music of the Cities) included covers of famous songs devoted to cities. Among others there were Michael Jackson’s ‘Stranger in Moscow’, Roy Orbison’s ‘California Blue’, the Twin Peaks theme and ‘Empire State of Mind’, all of which were arranged and performed in an awesome way.

And finally, at midnight following a delay, main star Vaya con Dios took place on the main stage. The band totally proved their high level and ability to give a perfect show whilst not trying too much. Solos by the drummer and the pianist showed their exceptional skills with some blues thrown in for good measure.

All in all, the second edition evolved but it did not develop enough to praise the organisers with loads of compliments.

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