Not to take away from Bear Stone Festival completing its lineup by adding Church of the Cosmic Skull, Alunah, Deville and Malady Lane, but the transportation update from the fest is a big one as well, especially for somebody like me, who while not morally opposed to camping is in no way a camper. Running the proverbial shuttle-into-town lets the Croatian fest accommodate a greater range of attendees, and again, for someone like me, that makes a big difference.

And to return to the lede, the lineup is frickin’ awesome and the vibe looks right. You want to see Church of the Cosmic Skull and Conan and Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet in a Croatian riverside field? I do. Bringing Deville on board from Sweden adds impact alongside the awesome weirdoism of The Freak Folk of Mangrovia, and with Alunah, Seven That Spells, Mother Cake, Woodstock Barbie, Cojones and Malady Lane, there’s aural and geographic variety to be had. For their second installment, Bear Stone are showing that they learned important lessons the first time out and are looking to build their event over a longer term. I look forward to keeping up over the next few years.

The following came down the PR wire:

Bear Stone Festival 2023 Full Lineup Announcement + Transportation Update

Ticket link: https://www.entrio.hr/event/bear-stone-festival-2023-12404

After months of looking at locked brackets in the poster, we’re proud to finally present you with the full lineup for Bear Stone Festival 2023:

MONSTER MAGNET (USA)
ORANGE GOBLIN (UK)
CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL (UK)
CONAN (UK)
MOTHER’S CAKE (AT)
SEVEN THAT SPELLS (CRO)
COJONES (CRO)
ALUNAH (UK)
WOODSTOCK BARBIE (HU)
DEVILLE (SWE)
MALADY LANE (CRO)
THE FREAK FOLK OF MANGROVIA (CRO)

From Nottingham (UK) we have Church of the Cosmic Skull, part time seven piece Rock/Prog/Psych/Pop band and a part time spiritual organization that puts “Abba in Sabbath”.

Also coming from the UK, from the Sabbath City of Birmingham Alunah brings their very own Doom/Blues/Psych brand of Hard Rock amped up by ethereal vocal expression of their frontwoman Siân Greenaway.

For more than 15 years Swedish powerhouse Deville have been touring on their signature fusion of Rock, Metal and Stoner. This summer the road brings them to the lovely shores of the Mrežnica river.

Last but not least are Croatia’s very own Malady Lane, a Rock band whose creativity stretches through various realms of Post-Grunge, Alternative, Indie Rock and dreamy lyrics. Their music is compared by many with the spirit of the Seattle scene of the 90’s with its groove and ferocity.

TRANSPORTATION UPDATE

In order to make Bear Stone Festival more accessible to our visitors that plan to travel to the festival by using public transport, we have partnered up with our local transportation provider Autopromet Slunj to create our very own bus line.

Bear Stone Festival bus line will drive from Slunj to Bear Stone Festival and back several times a day starting on Thursday, July 06 and finishing up on Sunday, July 09.

We’ll give you more details regarding the bus line timetable as we get closer to the festival.

Ticket link: https://www.entrio.hr/event/bear-stone-festival-2023-12404

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Church of the Cosmic Skull, “Everybody’s Going to Die” live in NYC, April 1, 2023

This is the second lineup announcement for the 2023 Bear Stone Festival in Croatia this July, and it’s a doozy with Monster Magnet and Conan joining the bill for the two-day riverside camp out, along with native purveyors Cojones and The Freak Folk of Mangrovia, the latter of whom recently issued their new nine-minute single “Astral Nomads,” which you can stream below.

As you can see in the poster, there’s room for one more four-band batch to be announced, and I’m curious to see who’s in that top left spot right next to Conan as well as the other three, but with Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet established as the headliners for each day supported by Conan‘s crush, Seven That Spells‘ intricate and spacious prog, the funk fusion of Mother’s Cake and so on down the lineup, there’s a lot to dig here if you’re looking for heavy vibe without fillers. Which I think everybody is to some extent or other.

I’d be at this in a second if I could. Sunny summer days spent breathing unfamiliar air in a place I’ve never been before, watching killer bands in the kind of friendly, inviting environment one sees portrayed in the aftermovie from last year’s fest — also streaming below; granted the reality won’t be in slow-motion, but it’ll give you an idea — and yeah, that’s enough to hang a daydream on for the afternoon.

To wit:

Monster Magnet Leads The Next Batch of Bands Announced for Bear Stone Festival!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the new names of the upcoming edition of the Bear Stone Festival.

For all Spacelords and Superjudges! It is a great honor to announce the performance of the legendary American Rock band Monster Magnet, the second headliner of this year’s festival edition. They are followed by English stoner/doom champions Conan. Favorites of the underground scene and a highly respected band that are going to promote their new full-length album.

We’re bringing stoner rock aces Cojones from a deep, five-year sleep. This will be their first performance after the break and their first appearance at the festival. We round off this shot of names with the psychedelic sounds of the city of Rijeka. A group with a bit of a strange name, The Freak Folk of Mangrovia.

Get your festival tickets here: https://www.entrio.hr/event/bear-stone-festival-2023-12404

Don’t forget about the Bear Stone Festival Warm-Up Party with Colour Haze and Bosco Sacro performing at the legendary Klub Močvara on April 14th.

Tickets: https://www.entrio.hr/event/bear-stone-festival-predstavlja-colour-haze-13230

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The Freak Folk of Mangrovia, “Astral Nomads”

Bear Stone Festival – Year Zero Edition aftermovie

People, dogs, a river, plenty of rock and roll. If you have a minute, take a gander at the slow-motion-prone aftermovie from Bear Stone Festival in Croatia earlier this summer. It’ll make you nostalgic for the event whether you were there or not. A frog even shows up. That’s always fun. And they’ve got the same bear back on the poster art for consistency’s sake. I vote we name him ‘Beartholomew.’

Perhaps bear and frog alike will put in an appearance next July for Bear Stone Festival 2023, the first lineup announcement for which has just been made. Orange Goblin stand among headliners, as they will, and Mother’s Cake, Croatia’s own Seven That Spells and Hungary’s Woodstock Barbie are the initial confirmations, and you can see with handy visual aid of the poster below that there’s plenty more to come for the vibe-heavy two-dayer set for July 7 and 8. I’ve never been much good at things like camping, enjoying sunshine, being around humans, etc., but I’ll be damned if they don’t make it seem enticing here, and what looks like an intimate vibe balanced with the outdoors in a kind nestled-in spot? Yeah. I think there’s something cool happening with this one. Like, let’s watch over the next couple years and see what happens.

The fest sent the following down the PR wire. I love that they call them ‘early bear’ tickets instead of ‘early bird’:

Bear Stone Festival 2023 – First bands and ticket presale info announcement

It’s with great pleasure that we are announcing the first bands that are set to perform at Bear Stone Festival 2023 as well as the presale date for a limited number of Early Bear tickets!

We are very eagerly expecting the next edition of Bear Stone Festival after this year’s “Year Zero Edition” which created quite a buzz and very quickly established the festival as a fresh new concept that has been recognized both by its domestic and international audience. The symbiosis of Rock music with all of its (sub)genres and untouched nature has never been more beautiful.

See you again on July 07&08, 2023 on the banks of the magical Mrežnica river (Donje Primišlje, Slunj).

Our first headliners are a world famous UK institution for over 25 years, the legendary Stoner Rock/Blues Metal band Orange Goblin. They are followed by Croatia’s very own Psychedelic Rock magicians Seven That Spells for whom this will be their first public appearance since the pandemic. Mother’s Cake are a band that tenaciously expands their Alternative Space Rock gospel across the European stages for a number of years proving themselves to be the backbone of the Austrian alternative scene. Coming from Hungary are Woodstock Barbie led by the charismatic vocalist Alexandra Pádár with an arsenal of material that guarantees a wild ride.

ORANGE GOBLIN (UK)
SEVEN THAT SPELLS (CRO)
MOTHER’S CAKE (AT)
WOODSTOCK BARBIE (HU)

We are also announcing the presale date of limited and discounted Early Bear tickets that will be available from Wednesday, 19.10. from 10 a.m. Follow us on social media below for important links that will be posted soon.

Grab your discounted tickets on time!

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Bear Stone Festival – Year Zero Edition aftermovie