An open stage next to the skatepark brings together Bulgarian and foreign alternative musicians with the support of the Municipality of Ruse

Tuesday, 02 June 2026

On June 9 /Tuesday/ at 6 p.m. the space around the skatepark in Ruse will become the stage for the large-scale youth event "Open Stage of Skatepark Ruse". The project is being implemented with the financial support of the Ruse Municipality under the Culture Program and in partnership with the Goethe Institute. The organizers are the Party Entertainment Association and the artist Ina Valentinova.

Admission to the event is free, and the main goal of the initiative is to engage the youth audience in creative and constructive activities through the synergy between music and sports. It will introduce the audience to contemporary foreign performers and create an opportunity for direct interaction between the local artistic environment and the European independent scene.

The concert in Ruse is a stop on the European tour "From the muddy waters of the Elbe to the sandy banks of Hadzhiyskah" of the German projects with Bulgarian participation "NEOPIT PILSKI" and "MPC Lafote". The tour starts in Dresden and Vienna, passes through Belgrade and visits Ruse, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv and Sofia. On the Ruse stage, the guests will be supported by the local punk rock band "ARTIFICIAL COMET".

The unusual trio "NEOPIT PILSKI" /Germany/Bulgaria/ was formed by Stefan Ivanov, and also includes Simon Schmidt /drums/ and Florian Polzin /bass/. The band is a distinctive example of the experimental Hamburg school, characterized by non-standard song structures and a consistent rejection of stylistic framing. Their music from the second album "WE/YOU" follows its own logic, balancing between the influence of groups such as "Fugazi", "Mutter" and "Karate", accompanied by vocals in Bulgarian. The band itself describes its sound as "gently dissonant guitar music" - euphoria between characteristic harshness and nervous beauty.

MPC LAFOTE /Germany/ is the solo project of Jakob Groothof and a natural continuation of the post-punk trio "LAFOTE". The project performs "hard pop" and relies on the three main "P"s - PUNK, POP, TECHNO. The collaboration between "NEOPIT PILSKI" and Jakob Groothof dates back to the second half of the 2000s in Hamburg. In 2024, "MPC Lafote" invited Stefan Ivanov to join as guitarist for several concerts and for the recordings of the singles "Sabot" and "Der Riss". Jakob Groothof is also a key figure in the Hamburg independent scene as the manager of the iconic record store "Hanseplatte" and founder of the label "Misitunes".

The well-known local punk rock band "ARTIFICIAL COMET" was formed in Ruse in 2012 by vocalist and guitarist Radni Stanchev and bassist Kaloyan "Kani" Georgiev. The band is strongly integrated into the skate scene, and in the person of Radni Stanchev, it carries the legacy of the legendary Ruse band "SPOT" and is considered one of the leading drivers of the hardcore and punk scene in Bulgaria.

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