Finally there is an open air festival in our hometown. Great 3FF and Prostor Cezam crew organized 3FF festival after a one year pause. Of course, there is a two day event like previous editions and it is again situated under the walls of ancient Čakovec castle making magic surroundings to enjoy the music and just relish in a fact that the festival is back although with some restrictions due to covid shit still being active. Festival started just after seven pm and first band to hit the stage were VOSTOK. I personally never heard about this band until this gig and I think that this was their first live performance. Frontman/guitarist looks familiar and if I recall good, he used to play in a band called Feuacid. Vostok play a mixture of post rock, melodic rock with some old school Yugo rock influences thrown here and there and lyrics in Croatian. They gave us a great set, although not many people were present during their still early set. But, they played like they play in front of hundreds of people and I found this band interesting, especially because they have great lyrics and stage persona.

Night fell and more people started to gather as second band hit the stage, being SFUMATO from Zagreb. This is a trio which is a part of Jeboton collective and they play instrumental rock with lots of noise and psychodelia influences at least that is how I heard it. I must admit that this music is really not my cup of tea, but the musicianship was massive and superb. My friend Lesar told me that the bass player of Sfumato also plays in Pips, Chips & Videoclips.

Then came the band that I personally eagerly waited and the main event of the evening as far as I am concerned and that is KANDŽIJA. I saw Kandžija and his band couple of years ago at Špancirfest and was blown away. Kandžija is a rapper from Slavonija and together with his band makes awesome shows full of fun, great songs and lyrics and this one was not an exception. The set started somehow shy because all of us were kinda far from stage, but somewhere around half of the set we all got in the front rows and everybody was dancing and singing along to all of Kandžija´s hits like Crkva, Đuro, Nema Labavo, Seljak or Magična Butra. Kandžija and his band really enjoyed playing and it warmed my heart to see them all smiling and delivering so much energy. It was very emotional and nice when Kandžija gave a shout out and tribute to our friend Emil who passed away last Autumn. Best of the evening in my opinion.

Last band to play the first evening of the festival and kinda headliner were BRAIN HOLIDAYS from Zagreb. There are a lot of people in this band hehe, I counted eight people on stage if I am not mistaken. I remember this band from like twenty or so years ago from tv show Briljanteen, I think their song was at the top of the chart in that show. Brain Holidays play melodic reggae with trumpets, triple or more vocals and lyrics in Croatian and English. At some moments they reminded me a bit of Mad Caddies, but less punk rock and more reggae. The crowd enjoyed it much and there was dancing, smiling and band played an encore after the end of their regular set. This was a great choice for a headliner of the first day. Day two brings more punk hardcore side of things and stay tuned for that.