Jarek Szubrycht – Mystic Festival, Poland

Can you tell us a bit about your festival? And your focus and musical profile?

– Mystic Festival is Poland’s largest festival presenting metal music and related genres – 4 days, 5 stages, over 90 bands in the heart of beautiful Gdańsk. You can fly in there from any corner of Europe – it’s one hour long flight from Copenhagen, but you can also drive there, because of the convenient ferry connections with Sweden. It’s always beginning of June (this year: 3-6.06)

Mystic Festival came into being a quarter century ago in Kraków, Poland – Emperor was the headliner, the conditions were spartan, and the local government were hostile. Yet, we made it happen then and we continue to make it happen now. Mystic Festival wandered across Poland, to finally find a safe harbour in Gdańsk.

The biggest stars of metal and beyond have performed on our festival stage, such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Slayer, Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot, Nightwish, Gojira, King Diamond, Danzig and Sleep Token. We host both living legends and the hottest names of the moment.

The festival line-up is largely handpicked by the festival founders, but the Road to Mystic contest co-organised opens the gates to fresh blood from the Polish underground. In the 2024 edition alone, almost 400 artists participated in the contest, with over 11,000 fans casting their votes.

Mystic Festival is also the unique space of the Gdańsk Shipyard. We have five stages, both indoor and outdoor, the VHS Hell cinema (screening films so monstrously bad that they’re good), exhibitions, the Mystic Talks meeting and debate space as well as a realm for enthusiasts of iconic video games.

What is your background and how long have you been working with this festival? 

– I ‘ve been involved in the music scene, primarily metal, from various angles. Since 1989, I published a xeroxed fanzine (I interviewed Invocator, a legend of the Danish scene, when they were still at the demo stage), and in the 1990s, I used to be a vocalist in several bands, released albums, and performed live. Later, I devoted myself to journalism, including writing books (for example, the world’s first biography of Slayer and the official biography of Vader).

Currently, I host a late-night metal show on Polish Radio 3, write for the largest Polish daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, and I am the head of communication for Mystic Festival. I’m also the artistic director of Music Week Poland, a showcase festival based in Warsaw. 

I was involved with Mystic Festival in the early 2000s, then the festival took a break and I took a break from the metal scene, working on more mainstream/alternative festivals, such as OFF Festival. I returned to Mystic Festival in 2019. 

How do you see the Danish metalscene in 2025?

– Love it. I have the impression that for several years now, the Danish scene has been experiencing a real boom at the intersection of extreme metal, primarily death and black metal, with hardcore and punk—here I can mention Eyes, Vulvatorious, Kollapse, Embla, and MØL, for example. But there are also many artists exploring beyond these genres, such as the wonderful LLNN, so for me, Danish new metal is now synonymous with high quality.

Check out Mystic Festival

Meet Jarek at MGM Festival Meet Up 2025 at Headquarters the 15th. november. Doors at 10:45. Festival Meet Up is free but you’ll need to sign up.

Sign up at: MGM Festival Meet Up

More details: Mød bookere fra 7 internationale festivaler til MGM Festival Meet Up

MONO Goes Metal Fest 2025 at MONORAMA the 15th. november. Doors at 16:00. Stay tuned on presentation at event: https://www.facebook.com/events/671255682253812

Tickets for this years festival at: MONO Goes Metal Fest 2025

Get info about MONO Goes Metal Fest 2025.

MGM Festival Meet Up is created in cooperation with and supported by MXD – Music Export Denmark, Tuborgfondet og Koda Kultur.