Eastern Europe: Bulgaria’s Hills Of Rock & Poland’s Łódź Summer Festival Celebrate Successful Editions

More than 45,000 people gathered at the Rowing Canal in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, July 20-26, to celebrate a long weekend that began with the Be4 Hills open air, followed by Hills Of Rock festival.

Be4 Hills, as the name suggests, premiered this year as the additional preliminary day to the main Hills of Rock festival, welcoming artists such as the Bulgarian band SEVI, the dutch symphonic-metal band Epica, Savatage and Sabaton.

Marilyn Manson opened the main event on Friday, before the largest crowd ever gathered at the Rowing Canal in Plovdiv, one of the most ancient cities in the world. The main stage lineup on day one also featured Vended, Malevolence. P.O.D and Sex Pistols ft. Frank Carter.

Karen Dio, House Of Protection, Skindred, Black Label Society, Godsmack, Electric Callboy, who, just like Lamb Of God, celebrated their first-ever performance in Bulgaria, all took the stage over the festival weekend.

As Stefan Elenkov, founder and CEO of the festival’s promoting company Fest Team told Pollstar in our 2025 Easter Europe Focus, “Bulgaria and the Balkans aren’t secondary markets anymore. We consistently deliver high-impact events, overcome logistical challenges, and offer passionate, engaged audiences. From festival mainstays to sold-out stadium shows, we’re evidence that this region is ripe with opportunity, and Fest Team is ready to help artists make their mark here.”

No Longer Secondary Markets: Eastern Europe Is Growing, Stable & Steady

Free-To Attend Łódź Summer Festival Draws Huge Crowd

Meanwhile over the same weekend in Poland, the city-sponsored Łódź Summer Festival has grown into the country’s biggest music festival, July 24-26.

With a maximum capacity of 150,000 people on site, Łódź Summer Festival is free to attend and does not require registration. It’s hard to give a daily capacity, as festivalgoers arrive and leave throughout the day, timing their visits around specific artists. As Pollstar was told by a festival rep, cumulative attendance reached 800,000 across the three-day event.

The line-up featured international artists including Timbaland, Sean Paul, Bastille, Natalie Imbruglia, Jet and Rudimental DJ Set, as well as Polish stars like Mata, Bedoes 2115, Pezet, or a surprise appearance by Quebonafide.

Content published across the festival’s owned channels generated a combined digital reach of nearly 250 million, driven particularly by TikTok and Instagram. During the festival weekend, Łódź Summer Festival ranked as the No. 1 entertainment-related search on Google and No. 14 overall in Poland, according to the festival’s organizers.

Several artists performing at Łódź Summer Festival later described it as the biggest show of their career.

“We have created the biggest music festival in Poland. Artists played the largest shows of their careers here, while the audience gave them an energy that cannot be expressed in numbers. Łódź proved that it can stage a world-class celebration of music. Above all, however, it was a weekend for young people—a weekend filled with joy, great fun and memories that will stay with them for years,” Tomasz Piotrowski, the creator of Łódź Summer Festival, commented.

Subscribe to Pollstar HERE