United Islands by Česká spořitelna, Prague’s largest open-air music festival, celebrates its 10^th anniversary in 2013. This year, it comes with striking innovations. New premises, new stages, music program after 10 p.m. and much more. The organizers promise that the music programming is the best over the past several years. The visitors can enjoy new discoveries on the European music scene, programming blocks, a couple of exotic musical destinations and, of course, the traditional Club Night that opens the festival on Thursday, 20^th June. The open-air part is held on Friday and Saturday, 21^st and 22^nd June.

The most prominent change lies in the premises of the event. To experience music, you can go to the islands and now you can do a little hill climbing and enjoy the lush locations of Kampa, Petřín and Kinský Garden that will offer comfortable background to the rising number of visitors. Mind you that the event attracted an unbelievable 60,000 visitors in 2012, making United Islands by Česká spořitelna one of the Czech Republic’s largest open-air festivals! “The Střelecký Island is not part of the new premises this year as important refurbishment is taking place there and it will not be completed until this summer. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to adding it to the other beautiful greenery we are taking,” Martin Voňka, the event producer, adds. Like last year, the premises of the festival will provide accessibility for people with disabilities. So pack a blanket and let’s hit the musical picnic!

The number ten is weaving like a thin red line through this year’s edition of the event. The program includes the so-called Festival Top Ten, which are the ten most popular Czech bands as seen by the organizers. The performers are Floex, Psí vojáci, Prago Union, Goodfellas, Sunflower Caravan, Zrní, Midi Lidi, Le Pneumatiq, Bitumen Beat and Peter Pan Complex. “The festival usually focuses on new discoveries: as this is its tenth anniversary, so we decided to choose ten Czech bands we like the most and which have appeared during the past ten editions of the event,” explains David Gaydečka, the program director.  This goes hand in hand with another innovation of this edition, musical program after 10 p.m.

Year 10 goes aural even after 10! When the open-air part of the festival closes at 10 p.m., festival audiences will have an opportunity to carry on in 10 selected Prague’s clubs where domestic and international bands and DJs will be performing. Noise pollution limits after 10 p.m. are a problem for the festival programming, that is why the organizers have been trying to amend the current legislation towards the possibility of granting exceptions. “We still have not succeeded in getting the legislation approved, so we take the opportunity of playing in the clubs – but we will keep trying,” says Martin Voňka.

The organizers won’t be releasing the full line-up until 15^th May, but they have already slipped a few names that do promise an interesting selection of music. One of the top treats is going to be the performance of Princess Chelsea who has conquered the world with her playful single The Cigarette Duet or Dánjal from the Faroe Islands who caught considerable attention at Colours of Ostrava last year. Apart from some fresh names from the European and global club scene, the organizers have also prepared the programming blocks the audiences have seen in the previous years of UI. This year is going to present the crème de la crème of contemporary Israeli music. The so-called Yellow Submarine Club Infusion will be represented by ethno-music J’ali Ensemble and Acollective, already known in the Czech Republic, as well as the electronic project 3421. The presence of some of those performers at the mother of all festivals, Glastonbury, does indicate their quality. Another block will be the celebration of the 80^th posthumous birthday of Olga Havlová. A rare event is also the Chicago Prague Blues Band, a joint project of Prague and Chicago via the cities’ festivals United Islands by Česká spořitelna and Chicago Blues, respectively. Michal Prokop, Luboš Andršt and Jan Hrubý will be performing in a band with the blues guitar legend, John Primer!

Like in the previous editions, the festival launches with the Club Night that is held on Thursday in ten Prague’s favorite clubs e.g. Roxy, Divadlo Archa, Rock Café, Malostranská Beseda and others.

The tenth edition also comes with a rich secondary program: its theme this year is the navy life, sailors, ships etc. under the romantic name of Sea Dreams.