Godsmack frontman Sully Erna has shared an emotional message after the band’s headline performance at Poland’s iconic Pol’and’Rock Festival, describing the experience as unlike anything he’s witnessed during his decades long career.
The band closed out one of the world’s biggest free music festivals on July 30th, with Erna revealing the crowd swelled to an astonishing 700,000 people.
Posting a video to social media following the show, the singer admitted he was still trying to process what had happened (per Loudwire).
“Although all of Europe has been really lighting up for us, and we’re so happy about that because we’ve been doing a lot of work out here… But last night, we did a show in Poland – at the Pol’and’Rock fest – and we headlined this festival that drew 700,000 people. That’s a real fucking number. You can look it up.”
He added: “Holy fucking shit. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”
Supporting children’s hospitals
For Erna, however, the size of the audience wasn’t the most memorable part of the event.
Speaking with festival organisers, he learned the origins of Pol’and’Rock and why it has become such a beloved institution, the annual festival was created to support children’s hospitals, with free entry for fans while proceeds raised beyond event costs help fund medical care.
“So, this entire festival every year that draws more than half a million people is completely free to the fans, and a hundred percent of the proceeds above that goes to all the children’s hospitals. I don’t know if it gets any more honorable than that for me.”
Erna praised founder Jurek Owsiak and the entire Pol’and’Rock team, calling the event “a top-notch festival” before encouraging other promoters to take inspiration from its community-first approach.
“So, I hope this sets a standard to the other promoters out there and helps teach them how this doesn’t always have to be about money and huge profit. Sometimes, it’s about the communities getting together, doing the right thing and sharing this beautiful gift of music.”
Godsmack‘s headline set featured fan favourites including Awake, Whatever, Straight Out of Line and I Stand Alone, while the festival also welcomed performances from Dropkick Murphys, Orbit Culture, Vended and P.O.D.
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