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Set in the picturesque grounds of the Expocenter of Ukraine, in Kiev, Atlas Weekend is a young festival that’s full of promise. Though it has only been around since 2015, Atlas is already drawing crowds in excess of 80,000 per day across six days. This year’s event was its biggest so far, featuring headliners such as The Chemical Brothers, Placebo, Martin Garrix and Benjamin Clementine, as well as a plethora of locals artists and DJs. The sun was out, the music pumping and the Ukrainian crowd loving every second of it. Gigwise sent festival veteran Marcus Barnes to dive right in to Atlas Weekend, Ukraine’s biggest music festival.

Arriving at Atlas Weekend on day one the first thing that struck me was the elegance of the monuments at the entrance to the festival. Opened in 1958, it’s a stunning location and perhaps the only festival site of its kind in the world, I mean how many other festivals have you been to that have huge Stalinist pavilions at the entrance? With this as the gateway into Atlas Weekend, you can’t help but slip into an enchanted state of mind from the off…

Launched just four years ago Atlas Weekend is Ukraine’s largest festival, and it has grown significantly since it first popped up. In 2015 just 20,000 people attended the event, skip forward to 2018 and they had almost eight times that on the first night alone. Conceived by the team behind Kiev’s infamous Atlas nightclub, in collaboration with several other Ukrainian festival promoters, this year they had over half a million people over the course of six days, which is an insane amount of people.

The festival site is huge, but very easy to navigate. Once you get through the main gate, and the main part of the stunning expo area, you enter the main part of the festival which is all organised around one long central path, that stretches the entire length of the grounds of the expocenter.. The entire path is lined with food stalls, selling a wide range of cuisine, from Oriental to Greek, gourmet burgers and even a little vegan section. All of the stages are located either side of this main thoroughfare, resulting in a simple layout which means it is very difficult to get lost, I mean VERY difficult.

Atlas Weekend’s first day was totally free, which resulted in a huge attendance, 154,000 in fact - a record for the festival and one that I’m sure they will easily smash in years to come. The headliner was national pop hero Oleg Vynnyk, the country’s most popular singer and without a doubt the main attraction. In the lead up to Oleg’s performance, I took the opportunity to indulge in a spot of Her - a French outfit fronted by Victor Solf - who were on the North Stage. Her was once a duo, but the other member, Simon Carpentier, died from cancer in August 2017. Victor has kept Simon’s spirit alive and continues to perform with the same level of vigour and emotion (perhaps even more so now) than he did when Simon was alive. The show was excellent, with their brilliant track ‘Five Minutes’ a particular standout.

A plethora of Ukrainian acts were performing across the rest of the festival site, but the first night was really all about Oleg’s appearance on the Main Stage. The crowd was absolutely massive, stretching back as far as the eye could see. I went for a walk in the crowd for a closer look and it was clear see that it was comprised a wide range of people of different ages, Oleg’s universal appeal bringing together the old and young to enjoy a special ‘rock’ set, as opposed to his usual pop stylings. This was probably the biggest crowd of the entire festival, and hardly surprising given Oleg’s stature.

Over the following five days I experienced a festival that has the potential to be one of the biggest and best in Europe. From the camping area (which becomes a kind of separate festival in itself once night falls), to the polite security staff, the well-behaved crowd and the lovely weather, Atlas Weekend has a lot going for it.

Some of the highlights included:

The Garden Stage: A quaint little area found just off the beaten track, in an orchard. Here the music was relatively chilled, alternative electronica, smooth grooves, disco… it was all on offer to those who wanted to spend time away from the main throng of festivalgoers. Bean bags were dotted around in between the trees, so people could kick back with a drink and some friends, while enjoying a carefully curated selection of talented DJs, all through the night and day.

Dakh Daughters: An incredible seven-piece all female collective full of badasses on every front. Their performances mix theatre and music to great effect, with each member bringing their own flair and character to the show. The audience was gripped throughout with moments of tension, beauty and pure energy resonating with everyone in the crowd. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve witnessed it, but Dakh Daughters are a serious force of nature and left me spellbound.

DakhaBrakha: Another fierce Ukrainian act who imbue their shows with several different types of folk music from the region. Their performance was entrancing, despite one of their members not being able to make it due to recently becoming a mother. Powerful vocals, deeply captivating rhythms and the traditional spirit of their music made this one to remember. Boombox: Ukrainian hip hop and street sounds were the order of the day with these guys, who took charge of the main stage on the penultimate day. Their energy was infectious and the delivery was on point throughout. Just the kind of music you want on a sunny day in a Ukrainian field.

The Chemical Brothers: Ed and Tom were clearly on a high, possibly due to England’s win over Sweden earlier that day, with Ed in particular popping out from behind their set up to gesture excitedly at the crowd during almost every song. The visuals were incredible, especially the huge robots that popped up midway through the set. Of course, The Chemical Brothers have a huge repertoire of hits to work through and they delivered one after another in quick succession, blending older tracks (like ‘Chemical Beats’, which they recorded under their original alias, The Dust Brothers) with more recent smashers. Haven’t danced so hard in a long time.

The food: Festival grub has to be good nowadays, the customers demand it and foodie culture is prevalent in so many countries around the world, especially amongst younger people. Atlas Weekend had a great selection of food stalls - the main street was lined with them, plus there were two main food areas. Personal favourite was the ‘Lets Fries’ stall which served up fries of a medium thickness, with the skin still on and a delicious combination of cheese sauce and grated parmesan. Yum.

Placebo: These guys are main stage veterans, just like the Chems, so their appearance was as slick as you can imagine. Brian Molko held his own, making it look easy up there on the huge stage with screaming fans in the front row as standard. Incredibly they started with one of their best-known songs, ‘Pure Morning’, before powering through an array of music, new and old. It was the perfect way to close the main stage, with the screaming fans hanging around for a long while afterwards just in case Brian and gang resurfaced…

Samskara: I’d seen the odd looking cinema dome earlier in the week but neglected it as I thought, ‘What’s the point in watching a film when you’re at a festival?’. This made perfect sense to me until, on the very last night, I was told it was screening special 360-degree movies with the aid of several projectors. Enticed by the prospect of being immersed in a movie at 1am, after a wonderful day of festival action, I stepped in, kicked back on a bean bag and the film began… What followed was an almost indescribable journey through some incredible visuals which touched me in a way I never could have imagined. Trippy, emotive and absolutely mindblowing, ‘Samskara’ features visual work by the amazing Android Jones and I urge anyone who gets the chance to go and see it. I’m so glad I was coaxed into checking it out.

The conference: For such a young festival Atlas Weekend is very ambitious - not only did they push their limits by running for almost a week, but they also included a conference zone so that anyone who wanted to learn more about the music business could listen to experts talking about their chosen field; from photography and PR, to festival visuals and management. Very helpful for everyone who attended.

Overall, a fantastic festival with lovely people, an insane location and a great booking policy that is very inclusive of local artists. Long may they continue to push the Ukrainian acts, and long may Atlas Weekend continue to grow and prosper.

More about: PlaceboThe Chemical Brothers