This Saturday, June 18, the Sigulda concert season will continue with the concert of “The Sound Poets”, but the most ambitious event is planned before Midsummer, June 22, when the legendary British band “Placebo” will perform on the stage of the picturesque castle ruins.
“Soundpoēti” promises a concert of the century
It would be difficult to call Michael Kivanuka’s concert over-visited, but the concert of the group “The Sound Poets” “At One Fire” in Sigulda could already be much more headed. “I don’t remember when we in the band would have waited so much for a concert as we expect to perform in Sigulda on June 18,” thought Jānis Aišpurs, the leader of the “soundpoints”, adding that the first concert of the new album “At One Fire” it has been “like a refreshing rain after a long heat”, and “it is quite clear that the continuation of the wonderful atmosphere of the Sigulda castle ruins stage will be something very special and unforgettable”. It should be noted that the new Latvian star Būū will have the status of a warm-up, while guests such as Aija Andrejeva and others will also delight the audience during the group’s concert.
Placebo will also play old hits
However, the biggest events on the stage of Sigulda castle ruins are expected at the beginning of next week – on June 22, the British alternative rock star “Placebo” will take the stage here. The band will be touring as part of their eighth studio album, Never Let Me Go (released in March this year), so it’s clear that most of the concert’s repertoire will be from the latest album, which is, among other things, very very successful, but also fans of the band’s previous recordings will be happy. As can be seen in the “setlists” of the Placebo concert, the third track could be “Scene Of The Crime” (from the 2013 album Loud Like Love), but Infra-Red can also be expected to continue the concert ( Meds, 2006), The Bitter End (Sleeping With Ghosts, 2003) and even Special K (Black Market Music, 2000), but “Meds”) and even a cover version of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).” It should also be added that such a successful warm-up composition has rarely been seen – the domestic “Purple Negative” and especially the Estonian “Sibyl Vane” deserve to have time for a concert in Sigulda.
Better to put the card on the train
The inscription “sold out” adorned the ticket sales boxes of “Placebo” already at the beginning of this week (the capacity of the stage complex is about 4,500 people), which means that a thorough flight of music lovers is waiting for Sigulda on the eve of the holiday. It has been heard that fan bus trips are organized to make it easier for listeners to get to the concert, but it would probably be wiser to use train services – although additional parking lots are being built on the stage before big concerts, the traffic organization in Sigulda is terrible the weakest point of the castle ruins stage. This will probably be confirmed by those who have been to concerts on the stage before, for example, when the “Sunset Festival”, Roizina Murphy, Rita Oras, LP or our own “Instrumentu” concerts took place here. But nothing – you can also sit in a traffic jam and see the beautiful landscapes of Sigulda, it still doesn’t have to go to the Vanšu bridge, which is usual for nausea…
Don will finally be at the concerts
However, as Juris Kaukulis from Sigulda would sing, “it’s not the end yet, that’s not all” – on July 1 and 2, Don will perform on the stage of the castle ruins. but before that he had filled the Palladium concert hall for seven (!) evenings (it was in 2015). In recent years, Don has been the biggest loser, as he has had to cancel both the big concert at the Daugava Stadium and the two concerts at the Palladium, but now everything should be fine (three times over his left shoulder – tfu, tfu, tfu!). “It is a bit unbelievable that we will perform to our audience again this year. That’s why we have made sure that these concerts are very special for both us and the audience, ”says Don.
Let’s go further. On the second weekend of July, 8-9. In July, Sigulda will host the festival “Ogle”, which will include Ansis, Arturs Skutelis, “Sudden Lights”, “Double Faced Eels”, “Franco Franco”, “Latgalian Reps” and “Riga Reggae”. On July 10, as part of the “Moderately Nice” tour, the castle ruins stage will be honored by the association “Bermuda Divide”, which will present both the recently released album and well-known hits. The complete opposite is the Sigulda International Opera Music Festival, which takes place at the end of July: from July 29 to 31, visitors to the Livonian Order Sigulda Castle will see both the reunion with artists who have already played in Sigulda and musical surprises – world-class soloists who on the Opera Festival stage will be shown for the first time. At the end of the summer, on August 24, at the stage of Sigulda castle ruins, a British musician James Arthur will finally have a meeting with the audience, whose concerts have to be postponed several times.
It should be noted that on Sundays in July in the garden of Sigulda Castle will be “traditional chamber music concerts accompanied by breakfast”, but for those who have a more intimate atmosphere and listening to music in the castle pavilion in the castle quarter, will take place once a week – Elza Rozentāle, Būū, “The Coco`nuts”, “Laika dog”, “Other boys”.
We are in the mood for Sigulda
This list is incomplete, because in addition to concerts, various performances and exhibitions are held in the Sigulda castle quarter. Of course, the organizers of the city’s cultural life are excited about it. “After a certain period of silence – literally and figuratively – concert life in Sigulda is returning with power this year. There will be both world-famous and local artists who have been waiting to meet the audience for more than two years. The interest in events in Sigulda is so great that starting from the first weekend in June, an artist will perform in Sigulda every week until September, ”says Dace Preisa, Director of the Sigulda Development Agency. “Of course, considering the development of the county, we are very pleased that we can also promote the turnover of related industries in this way: hotels are full, all that remains for caterers is to adjust their opening hours to serve late concert attendees, and so on. In turn, it is a good opportunity for us to introduce tourism news in the region: an exhibition dedicated to Anšlavs Eglītis in Inciems, the sculptor Skulme’s house in Mālpils, the new “Mini Zoo” here in Krimulda, Sigulda New Castle and, of course, breathtaking nature views. For those who do not want to travel far from the capital, Sigulda is becoming an increasingly saturated destination every year. And music is our strength! That is why the motto of our tourist season this year is “Mood for Sigulda”, “says Dace.
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