The Vivid Street festival truly lives up to its “multi-genre” nature. During just one day, you can hear concerts by well-known stars and emerging performers, taste the cuisine of ethnic minorities living in Pilsen, let yourself be inspired by installations and works of art by art school students or take in some unconventional site-specific theater. “The festival will be held in downtown Pilsen, so you can enjoy a concert while having a cup of coffee at a sidewalk café or while tasting an ice-cold Pilsner beer, which tastes best in the city where it was brewed,” the festival’s director says Jakub Vedral says with a smile. The 2015 Vivid Street multi-genre festival will be the largest yet in terms of the number of festival days and performers, of which there will be more than 600. Czech and Slovak stars including Lenka Dusilová, Miro Žbirka, Ivan Hlas and Katarzia will appear on seven stages in the city center. Of course, the excellent musical program is only one part of the festival’s attractions. “Vivid Street is a multi-genre festival with an established tradition in Pilsen. This year, when Pilsen is a European Capital of Culture, we want to open the festival up to people from the whole country. We are convinced that our program will also be attractive to visitors from abroad,” says Vedral. Besides foreign visitors, the festival will feature performers from abroad as well, including Fanfara Transilvania (Romania), Dubioza kolektiv (Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Moonlight Breakfast (Romania). As in the past, Vivid Street is divided into three sections. The “Behind the Door... is Theatre” street theater section takes place concurrently with Prague’s Behind the Door festival – i.e., from 13 to 19 July. The main program in August offers 14 days of events from 10 to 23 August – seven stages of music, theater and DJs. As always, one stage will be dedicated to a children’s program, a food festival, Pilsen Fashion Days, and other accompanying events. Vivid Streets will conclude with the traditional Soup Festival on Sunday 6 September, when full kettles of soup will be cooked up on Náměstí Republiky. Festival hours are from 4 to 10pm. Visitors can combine their attendance at the festival with the events held as part of Pilsen European Capital of Culture. Come and visit the tallest church tower in the Czech Republic, the third-largest synagogue in the world, or the place where the best beer is brewed.
