United Islands of Prague and the new Metronome festival will sound the capital city during June 23 to 26, 2016

During the last weekend in June, Prague will get ruled by music and the capital will experience the biggest music weekend ever! Along the 13th year of the island festival United Islands of Prague that will welcome tens of thousands visitors excited to see young and talented musicians, the site of the Prague´s expo Výstaviště Holešovice will host the first year of the Metronome festival where all fans of great world stars are heading to! Both festivals are organized by the same team led by David Gaydečka and Martin Voňka.

Prague´s public transport will be strengthened, new temporary stops will arise and shuttle transport will be in operation. During the weekend, the city center will open to pedestrians while there will be valid traffic limitations that will ensure safety of the festivalgoers and smooth course of both festivals. The music weekend stars already on Thursday with the traditional Club night in 12 music clubs. On Friday, the site of the Prague´s expo Výstaviště Holešovice will come alive with big music party of both festivals. This warm-up party with free entrance festively opens the festival site in which Iggy Pop, Foals, The Kooks or Crystal Fighters will perform during the following days. The entrance to the United Islands of Prague is again free thanks to the support of the City of Prague and other partners. Tickets to the Metronome festival can be purchased for advantageous pre-sale price via TicketPro, Ticketportal and GoOut.

The city center will open to pedestrian visitors

Two festivals during one weekend assure great fun for anyone. Besides music performances, the visitors can look forward to rich accompanying program that crosses borders of the festival sites. „We want to offer the visitors a maximum comfort and that is the reason why public transport will be strengthened from Saturday to Sunday midnight and new stops will arise. We are opening the center to people and we invite all inhabitants of Prague and all music fans from the Czech Republic to come,“ explains David Gaydečka for the organizers. The transport limitations will affect the Legií bridge which will be closed entirely. In collaboration with The Prague Public Transit Co. Inc., there will be a temporary stop “Festivalová” built. On the Janáčkovo waterside, a pedestrian zone will arise with farmer´s market offering food and drinkg during both festival days from 9 am. The streets Petřínská and Vítězná will be closed as well. Speed will be reduced to 30 km/hour on the Kinských square. Loop roads are recommended for all closed places and the festival will closely cooperate with the law-enforcement agencies of the Municipal Police and the Police of the Czech Republic.

Thanks to the collaboration with the Czech Railways, an operative dispatching will be in action and can dispatch additional day and night train, if needed. The Metronome festivalgoers may use parking lots in Letná from where they get to the festival site by shuttle transport. „United Islands and its new baby brother Metronome Festival rank among the most significant events that are supported by Prague and that´s why I am glad that we agreed on the support of the music weekend by strengthening public transport and providing better comfort to the pedestrian visitors. I believe that both inhabitants of Prague and festivalgoers will enjoy the city center and good atmosphere will transcend into mutual thoughtfulness,“ said the mayor deputy for transport Petr Dolínek.

Thursday belongs to Club night; Friday belongs to warm-up party on the Metronome site

The music weekend opens with Club night that takes places on Thursday June 23 in 12 music clubs. MeetFactory will offer a special program where young artists will pay tribute to Vladimír Mišík within the evening entitled Tribute to Vladimír Mišík.

On Friday June 24 from 8:30 pm, the site of the Prague´s expo Výstaviště Holešovice will come alive with big joint music party of both festivals. Three Czech bands will sound the stages of this warm-up party – Thom Artway, No Distance Paradise and November 2nd. “Three concerts on the eve of the festival are an invitation and a sneak peak of what the METRONOME will be like during the weekend and what the festivalgoers can expect. We will also launch our new festival and we would like to invite everyone to come celebrate with us. They will never experience this first year again!” adds Barbora Šubrtová, the Head of Program of the festival. The entrance to the Friday´s warm-up party is free.

Warm-up with free admission.

Saturday will be reigned by Iggy Pop and L’Aupaire

On Saturday afternoon June 25 the Metronome festival opens with a special premiere performance of the Prague film orchestra entitled Bang Zoom! Up to the Moon!. The main stage will also introduce the headliner of the festival, the legendary Iggy Pop, the band The Kooks and the electro-pop singer Ella Eyre. The night after-party will be under direction of the house duo Anushka which will perform in Prague for their very first time. United Islands will revive the Kinský garden, Kampa, the Střelecký island, Žofín, the Janáčkovo waterside and the site of the Staropramen brewery in Smíchov with music. The Saturday´s lineup includes the singer and multi-instrumentalist L’Aupaire, the Austrian electro-pop formation Leyya, the Lebanese music producer Zeid Hamdan, who will perform along the Egyptian singer Maii Waleed. The songwriter Monika Načeva will celebrate her jubilee birthday and launch her new album on the festival.

Foals and Monika Brodka will shine on Sunday

Lineup of the second Metronome festival day features the UK Foals who will get to perform in Prague for their first time, the electro-folk Crystal Fighters and J.A.R. will introduce their special magnificent show with gospel choir. The festivalgoers can expect a unique joint performance of Ivan Král and Jiří Suchý. Other performers include for example Walk Off The Earth, the American singer Matt Simons, the Israeli superstar Ninet, the awarded bluesman Ian Siegal or the Czech band Please the Trees. United Islands of Prague will offer the biggest Polish singer of today Monika Brodka and the Rumanian electro sensation Golan. The visitors can also look forward to the discovery of contemporary electro scene Pandoo or the singer Adrian T. Bell. An extraordinary stage will arise on the surroundings of the train station Prague-Bubny where the festival will be joined by the Memorial of Silence. The surroundings of the forgotten train station Prague-Bubny will get sounded by concerts of Miloš Vacík and Jaroslav Kořán together with the drummer ensemble TamTam Batucada.