The first day of Rockowizna may have concluded with a bang, but there was certainly no stopping the crowds, the artists, and, of course, yours truly, from coming back for me. After a few hours of precious rest, some much-needed sleep and, perhaps most importantly, making sure the power banks were fully charged, by 3 p.m I was back at Lotnisko Rakowice-Czyżyny and ready for another full day of live music. Admittedly, I did return with a few more bruises and considerably more aches and pains than I had arrived with the day before, but that is hardly unfamiliar territory for anyone who has ever thrown themselves into a rock or metal festival. 

Of course, Rockowizna offered more than just what was happening on stage. Scattered around the festival grounds were several food trucks ready to keep hungry concertgoers fuelled for the day, with everything from Greek food to burgers and fries to zapiekanki, a staple of Polish street food. Those looking for something a little more permanent than food could browse two stalls selling jewelry, bags, and accessories. And of course, as you would expect from a festival, there was no shortage of places to grab a beer. Festival sponsor Tyskie had its own presence, while Kozel boasted perhaps one of the more interesting setups: a stand with a small, elevated seating area offering a great view of the stage. Unsurprisingly, what must have been one of the better views (maybe save at the barricade) was quickly claimed whenever space became available. 

Also returning from Day 1 was the tent of piercing and tattoo studio VEAN, offering festival attendees the opportunity to leave Rockowizna with a rather more permanent souvenir. Visitors could choose from a selection of pre-made designs or opt for something custom, and yours truly could not resist getting in on the action, having walked away with a small linework tattoo of my cat. And I have to give credit where it is due: the artist somehow managed to capture her judgemental stare perfectly. But none of you are here to read about my cat, so let’s get back to the most important thing: the music. 

Zenek Grabowski

While Lord of the Lost ended the first night on a bang, this artist definitely made sure to make the opening of Day 2 a memorable one. Zenek Grabowski is an artist who is certainly no stranger to those familiar with the Polish rock scene. Formerly performing under the name Zenek Kupatasa, Grabowski first made his name as the founder and frontman of Kabanos, leading the band for more than two decades before fully embarking on his solo career in 2018. Trying to place his music neatly into one box, however, is easier said than done. Punk, rock, and metal collide with a healthy dose of some experimental sounds, while humor and absurdity frequently sit alongside considerably more reflective themes. His music has a mixture of honesty, individualism, and a lack of taking himself or life too seriously, which also carries over into his live performances. And it most certainly carried over during Day 2 of Rockowizna in Kraków. 

Zenek took to the stage and played some of his and Kabanos’ biggest hits, which included “Szuflada” (Drawer), “Czerwona Musztarda” (Red Mustard), and “Darmowe Przytulasy” (Free Hugs). However, calling it a stage performance might be somewhat misleading, as the artist seemed to spend more time among the crowd than on the stage itself. With a microphone in hand, he made his way around practically the entire main standing area, continuing to perform while fans moshed around and occasionally straight into him. At one point, when it was time for him to go back, he opted for the most appropriate form of transportation and crowd-surfed his way toward the stage. However, this journey came at a price: someone stole his sock. As I was later informed, losing a sock is apparently far from an unusual occurrence at a Zenek Grabowski show. From the very beginning of his set, he had the audience firmly in his grasp, and judging by the number of his merch scattered throughout the crowd, plenty of them were waiting just for this moment. The connection with his audience did not disappear once he left the stage either. Throughout the rest of the day and night, I spotted Zenek several times wandering around the festival grounds, seemingly more than happy to stop for photographs, autographs, and conversations with fans. 

Romantycy Lekkich Obyczjów

Following the chaos of Zenek Grabowski came a very noticeable change of pace, courtesy of Romantycy Lekkich Obyczajów, whose name translates as “Romantics of Loose Morals” in English. Hailing from Olsztyn, the duo of Damian Lange and Adam Miller has created their own distinctive corner of the Polish alternative scene, blending rock, indie, and acoustic influences with an unmistakable focus on storytelling. There is a certain bittersweet quality at the heart of their music. Melancholy and more reflective observations about relationships and everyday life often share space with humor and irony. The result is music that can feel intimate and sentimental without becoming too serious. Their set was a considerably different proposition from the mayhem that had occurred immediately beforehand, but one that demonstrated just how varied Rockowizna’s second day was shaping up to be. 

Despite the noticeable change of pace, Romantycy Lekkich Obyczajów had little trouble keeping the Rockowizna crowd entertained. The mosh pits may have temporarily given way to something a little less chaotic. Still, there was no shortage of movement under that stage, with plenty of festivalgoers remaining on their feet, dancing and singing along throughout the set. The band treated the audience to some of their best-known songs, including “Taki Raj” (Such a Paradise) and “Lodziarka” (Ice Cream Lady), both of which were well received. It was a lighter moment in the day’s proceedings, but one that proved that keeping a festival crowd moving does not always require crushing riffs and mosh pits. 

Dżem

Next to take the Rockowizna stage was a band I was most looking forward to, as their music had remained a constant in my life since I was a small kid. I am, of course, talking about true legends of Polish rock- Dżem. The band was formed in the early 70s in Tychy and has grown into an institution in the Polish music scene, with a career spanning more than five decades. Rooted firmly in blues rock, their sound and songwriting have allowed their music to appeal to several generations of listeners. An enormous part of that legacy remains inseparable from the late Ryszard Riedel, whose distinctive voice and compelling presence helped shape Dżem into the band that would become so beloved across Poland.  Following his death in 1994, the band continued with different vocalists; however, their decades-long story entered a particularly meaningful chapter in 2024 when Ryszard’s son, Sebastian Riedel, took over as lead vocalist. To throw in a little fun fact, the band initially performed under the name Jam when they played covers by other well-known artists. The name Dżem (which is a phonetic Polish spelling of the English word Jam) first appeared in 1974, when a concert organizer mistakenly wrote it that way when referring to the band…and well, it seems to have stuck. 

From the moment Dżem took to the stage, it seemed as though the audience never stopped singing until the closing notes of their last song had faded away. Age here made little difference; voices from across the festival grounds joined together as the band worked their way through some of their biggest hits and undisputed Polish rock classics, including “Whisky”, “Wehikuł Czasu” (Time Machine) and “Czerwony Jak Cegła” (Red as a Brick). There had been a wonderfully carefree atmosphere throughout Rockowizna, with little concern for how the person next to you chose to enjoy the music. Still, this feeling seemed particularly noticeable during Dżem’s set. Whether singing at the top of their lungs, dancing with those around them, or simply swaying along, everyone appeared to be caught up in their own little moment. Still, there was an unmistakable sense of togetherness created by music so deeply ingrained in Polish rock culture. It was not so much a case of the audience simply watching Dżem perform and more one enormous communal singalong spanning generations. 

Royal Republic

For the next act, we took a little trip from Poland to Sweden as Royal Republic took their turn on the Rockowizna stage. Formed in Malmö in 2007, the quartet of Adam Grahn, Hannes Irengård, Jonas Almén and Per Andreasson has built their reputation on an energetic and decidedly playful approach to rock and roll. The band’s sound has foundations in Garage and alt rock, but over the years they have happily thrown elements of punk, hard rock and disco into the mix. In fact, the band themselves have adopted the tongue-in-cheek term “Power Disco” to describe the increasingly flamboyant direction of their music. That refusal to take rock and roll conventions too seriously has become a defining part of Royal Republic’s identity. Big riffs and ridiculously catchy hooks have resulted in music that was seemingly designed to get the audience moving. After the blues-rock nostalgia and enormous communal singalong to Dżem, the Swedish quartet therefore offered Rockowizna yet another considerable shift in both sound and atmosphere. 

If Royal Republic’s music is designed to get people moving, the festival crowd was more than happy to oblige. From early in the set, an infectious enthusiasm ran through the audience. After a day which had already seen plenty of dancing, moshing and singing, one might have expected some signs of fatigue to begin creeping in. Instead, the Swedish quartet seemed to have precisely the opposite effect. The band had plenty of material with which to keep that momentum going, including fan favorites such as “My House”, “Full Steam Spacemachine” and “Tommy-Gun”. The entire set was enthusiastically received, but it was perhaps the sheer sense of fun surrounding the performance that stood out the most. By this point in the second day, the festival had already moved through punk, alternative rock and blues-rock, yet Royal Republic once again managed to shift the atmosphere without losing the crowd along the way. 

Lacuna Coil

Next is a band that most likely needs little introduction – Italian metal icons Lacuna Coil. Emerging from Milan in the 1990s, the group has spent more than three decades developing their distinctive combination of gothic and alternative metal, shaped in no small part by the contrasting vocals of Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro. Over the years, they have grown from their beginnings in the Italian metal scene into one of the country’s most internationally recognizable heavy-music exports. Taking the penultimate slot on Rockowizna’s final day, Lacuna Coil arrived in Kraków following a journey that had apparently not been exactly smooth. As Cristina revealed to the audience during the set, the airline they had traveled with had lost some of their luggage containing pieces of the band’s equipment. Any frustration or last-minute scrambling that may have initially caused behind the scenes, however, was nowhere to be seen once they came onto the stage. Undeterred by their travel troubles, Lacuna Coil delivered an incredible performance and ensured that Rockowizna’s final evening was heading toward its conclusion on an almighty high. 

Lacuna Coil were certainly a band who brought fire to the stage, and not only through their music, as they were one of two acts across the two days to incorporate pyrotechnics into their performance, with bursts of flame bringing another layer of spectacle to an already commanding stage show. And on a personal note, I appreciated it even more, as the temperature had dropped a little by then and I was getting a bit chilly. The intensity was reflected just as strongly on the other side of the barriers, as by this point the most pits had well and truly picked up again, while crowd surfers regularly made their way over the heads of those packed at the front. Any tiredness accumulated over nearly two full days of live music appeared to have been temporarily forgotten as Lacuna Coil tore through a set featuring tracks such as “Hosting the Shadow”, “Scarecrowd” and “I Wish You Were Dead”. Even those who may not have arrived at Rockowizna as dedicated fans of the band were given an opportunity to join in the singing as the band’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” brought one of the most instantly recognizable songs of the set, allowing voices from across the crowd to join in regardless of how familiar they were with Lacuna Coil’s own catalog. Between the flames on stage, the bodies flying overhead and the pits opening below, their performance proved to be one of the most intense spectacles of the festival’s final day, and left the audience suitably fired up for the one remaining act still to come. 

Coma

Looking at the merchandise worn throughout the second day, it seemed that Lacuna Coil were tied for first place with Coma as the most represented band among Rockowizna festivalgoers. Their shirts could be spotted seemingly everywhere, and as the time approached for the final performance of the weekend, it became increasingly clear just how many people had been waiting for this particular moment. Formed in Łódź in 1998 and led by the unmistakable Piotr Rogucki (who is also an actor), Coma have long occupied a special place within Polish rock. Their music blends alternative and hard rock with post-grunge influences. Over the years, that combination, along with Rogucki’s vocals, earned the band countless accolades and, more importantly, a fiercely devoted audience, with several of their albums and songs becoming firmly established within the modern Polish rock canon. That connection with their fans became particularly apparent when Coma announced a hiatus in 2019, seemingly bringing more than two decades of the band’s story to a close. 

Their eventual return to the stage came about under rather unusual circumstances. Ahead of Poland’s 2023 parliamentary election, the band made a promise: if voter turnout exceeded 62%, they would reunite for several concerts the following year. Polish voters more than delivered, with turnout ultimately reaching 74.4%, and Coma kept their side of the bargain. Whether this turnout was largely credited to the band or simply to people wanting change can be debated. The band returned in 2024 for seven shows, and among those performances were appearances at all three stops of that year’s Rockowizna tour, giving fans across the country a long-awaited opportunity to see Coma together once again. 

With the responsibility of bringing not only the second day but the entire edition of Rockowizna 2026 to a close, Coma had one final task ahead of them: twelve songs with which to put an exclamation mark on an already eventful weekend. The set reached across the band’s catalog and included several songs that have become firmly associated with them over the years. Among them were “Pierwsze wyjscie w mroku” (First Emergence from the Darkness), “Spadam” (I’m Falling) and “Los, cebula i krokodyle łzy” (Fate, Onion and Crocodile Tears), giving longtime listeners plenty of familiar material to enjoy. There was also room for something outside the band’s own catalog, with Coma putting their own spin on Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name”, a song hardly out of place at this festival. Eventually, however, even Rockowizna had to come to an end. That responsibility fell to “Cisza i ogień” (Silence and Fire), the twelfth and final song of Coma’s set and, with it, the final song to ring out across Lotnisko Rakowice-Czyżyny that weekend. After two days, twelve artists, and countless hours of live music, the fifth edition of Rockowizna had played its closing notes. 

And what two days they had been. From Polish punk and rock veterans to international metal heavyweights, Rockowizna once again demonstrated that there is plenty of room beneath the festival’s broad rock umbrella. Not every person in attendance was there for every band, but that was part of the fun. Festivals offer the opportunity to celebrate the artists you already love while potentially walking away with a few new names added to the list. All that remains now is to recover and wait to see what Rockowizna 2027 will bring.