It has become a Mecca for unpretentious art lovers from all over the world, plus a chance to catch up with your friends and spend a day together in the Kolomenskoye Park in southern Moscow.

British electro pop trio Metronomy

The festival’s menu is a freshly-squeezed mix of music “proteins”, creative “carbs” and effervescent vitamins, as well as a generous dose of your “favorite fats” from a variety of guilty food pleasures.

It is worth mentioning just in case, however, that according to the organizers, the Afisha Picnic, is “probably the only music festival in the world where there are no alcoholic beverages sold!”

The festival spreads around only natural waves of kinetic energy, coming from all of those, who simply cannot help sharing it with others, like the life-enhancing British rapper Rodney Smith, better known as “Roots Manuva”, who will make his debut performance in Russia; or members of the LA pop band “Music Go Music”, who say they “cover a murky reality with a curtain of fantasy."

Among the highlights of the line-up for the Afisha Picnic are actually several British bands – synth-pop quartet The Editors and synth-heavy electro pop trio Metronomy, as well as unconventional Russian “rockopop” band Mumiy Troll.

Roots Manuva

But apparently music will not be the be-all and end-all at the festival. Fashion lovers and shopaholics (as well as wakeboard riders and tango dancers) will also have something to look forward to, for instance, a must-see flea market created inside a 1,500-meter square pavilion, where you can find – apart from vintage pieces – brand-new creations from Russian designers.

And of course, as always, food will play an important role at the Picnic. This time around, the popular magazine Afisha will be hosting what it describes as an “ideal food court”, where things can be cooked in the twinkling of an eye, and beef sandwiches come in an authentic Argentinean way.

Enjoy on Saturday, from noon to 10pm!

Valeria Paikova, RT