New Year’s Eve 2003

The event when we say farewell to the old and greet the New Year on the Main Market Square for years has gathered swarms of participants.

It is a chance for everyone to raise a toast to the New Year together, feel the atmosphere of an exceptional feast in an exceptional place. The event has become famous to such an extent that it has attracted groups of faithful fans coming to participate from the farthest ends of Poland. The New Year’s Eve party in Krakow was also followed by many similar events throughout Poland. In recent years, the most rollicking celebrations were the ones in 2000 and 2001, which ended the old and started the new millennium. The audience coming to the Main Market Square were be sure to see the stars of Polish pop music performing on stage and to have excellent fun among the jolly crowd. That was also the case in 2003.
New Year’s Eve 2003 differed, however, from the events organised so far. It was a music show with a flourish and an explicit theme: the 1980s. Some of the greatest stars of pop music, who have returned to the top of music, performed on stage. These included: Małgorzata Ostrowska, Oddział Zamknięty and KOMBII; the whole event was maintained in the atmosphere of the 1980s.
The music of that decade is associated worldwide mostly with pop compositions, however, in Poland it was the heyday of rock music, the time to revel in freedom, when record publications boomed. In culture it was a time to be remembered widely for the excess of form, which was treated simply as a symbol of kitsch until recently. The idea to keep the New Year's Eve party in such style was quite brave. It seems, however, to be accurate because many people, first and foremost radio broadcasting stations and record publishers, have been reviving the 20-year old music, which is again fun to listen to and dance.

The return to the atmosphere of the 80s during New Year’s Eve in Krakow doesn’t only suggest the performers of the above-mentioned decade, but also the use of all attributes of fun from that period. A special lighting system will turn the Main Market Square into a disco of 20 years ago. Mobile colourful lights will be mounted around the stage, as well as lasers and mirror balls – symbols of the epoch. The whole event will be completed with fragments of films and video clips shown on huge screens. The music programme will be created on the basis of a radio top 30 hit list. 30 specially chosen compositions, hits of the decade, will be divided into three parts. The event will be accompanied by a fireworks show in addition to the traditional New Year’s wishes.