Angels Smile On Rock For People

Rock For People had a special reason to celebrate its 15th anniversary, as it was the first time the Czech festival has been staged since winning a coveted Andel Award.

The Andels, often called Angels, are the Czech equivalent to the Grammys and are run by the country’s Popular Music Academy.

The 2007 edition, the first since Rock For People moved from Chesky Brod to the larger 30,000-plus capacity site on the old military airfield at Hradec Kralove, picked up the award for best Czech festival.

Stepan Suchochleb of Ameba Production, who organizes the event and collected the gong at the April 2 ceremony at Prague’s O2 Arena, was pleased to report the average daily attendance for this year’s Rock For People more than 20,000, which shows the festival’s steady growth is continuing. The event was broadcast live on Czech TV and radio.

The angels may well have been smiling on the festival for a second time as the rain that fell on the second day soon cleared up and the crowd enjoyed a warm weekend.

The acts lapping up the prestige of appearing at the award-winning event July 3-5 included Kaiser Chiefs, The Offspring, Massive Attack, Enter Shikari, Dreadzone, Demented Are Go and Helmet.