Open’er Festival is already starting to take shape for 2027, and the first names on the bill suggest a festival that isn’t interested in sticking to one sound or one generation. Tame Impala, sombr, RAYE, The Neighbourhood, and Patti Smith are among the first artists announced for the festival, which will return to Gdynia, Poland, from June 30 to July 3, 2027.
Five names that, at first glance, don’t seem to have much in common. And that might be the most interesting part of the announcement.
On one side, there’s Patti Smith, a defining figure in New York’s intersection of poetry, art, and rock, whose career now spans more than five decades. On the other, there’s sombr, one of the youngest names on the bill, emerging from a musical landscape where the lines between bedroom pop, alternative music, and internet culture have become increasingly blurred.
Then there are three very different paths in between.
Tame Impala, the project led by Kevin Parker, has turned psychedelia into a sound that can move naturally between rock, pop, and electronic music, building an instantly recognisable sonic and visual world along the way.
RAYE comes from a different tradition, drawing on songwriting, soul, and jazz while reshaping them through contemporary pop. Her music puts her voice and writing at the centre, often dealing directly with deeply personal experiences.
The Neighbourhood belong to another generation and another chapter of alternative pop-rock. Their mix of darker atmospheres, pop production, and rock influences helped them develop an identity that went far beyond any single genre or scene.
And then there’s Patti Smith.
Her presence brings a completely different sense of time to the lineup. Horses, released in 1975, belongs to a defining moment in New York rock history, but Smith’s work has never been limited to music. Poetry, writing, photography and visual art have remained part of the same creative world throughout her career.
Putting these five artists on the same bill means bringing together musicians who developed their voices in very different eras and circumstances. But there are connections too: the importance of songwriting, a strong sense of artistic identity, and a willingness to move between genres rather than stay within a single one.
That may be the most interesting thing about the first part of the Open’er 2027 line-up. There is no single scene, generation, or dominant sound. Instead, the festival is already putting different musical languages into conversation with one another.
Patti Smith and sombr almost represent the two chronological extremes of the announcement. Tame Impala, RAYE, and The Neighbourhood sit somewhere between them, each approaching the relationship between rock, pop, electronic music and songwriting in their own way.
The lineup is still far from complete, but these first names already give us an idea of the direction Open’er could take next summer.
So far, the announced artists are Tame Impala, sombr, RAYE, The Neighbourhood, and Patti Smith Quartet, with Patti Smith set to perform on the Tent Stage on July 1.
Open’er 2027 isn’t choosing one direction just yet. And perhaps that is the first statement it is making.
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