A significant event for the DIY music scene of Czechia and the punk subculture of Europe,[1] it was associated with movements such as veganism, anarchism, feminism, anti-fascism, and straight edge.
[7] Organized by Jakub Ďuraško of Stoned to Death Records, the Psych Tent stage has spearheaded the inclusion of more experimental rock and electronic music into the lineup.
[11] Theft of cash, credit cards, mobile phones, and cameras has been an issue on the campsite and the organizers pay to remove graffiti from buildings and rented equipment each year.
Around 1996/1997, Michal Kočan, Tomáš Kadlec, and Míra Kafka visited Ieperfest in Belgium for the first time and decided to organize their own hardcore punk festival.
The building included a hall with a capacity of about 500 and the adjacent ground provided a large camping area, which allowed Kočan and Kadlec to start planning Y2K HC Fest in the summer of 1999.
[3] Y2K was held on 4–6 August 2000 with some 1000 attending and over 30 bands performing,[13] including Good Clean Fun, Point of No Return, Cripple Bastards, Heaven Shall Burn, and numerous Czech ones.
[14] Perhaps a week prior, the police seized the premises due to Exist's connection to the drug trafficking present in the techno scene, the club's owner having been arrested.
Although the amount of work involved led the duo to decide that it would be a one-off event, they reconsidered due to positive feedback and the number of contacts they had already made.
At the Vitamin X show, a conflict between stage-diving audience members and organizers who sought to prevent damage to on-stage gear resulted in an early finish.
Performing bands included Maroon and 108 on Friday, Victims, Set Your Goals, and Vitamin X on Saturday, and La Quiete, Oi Polloi, Rise and Fall, These Arms Are Snakes, and Converge on Sunday.
Performing bands included War from a Harlots Mouth, Meneguar, and Raein on Friday, Daïtro and Maroon on Saturday, and Cataract, Amenra, Death by Stereo, and Bane on Sunday.
Performing bands included Carpathian, Comadre, and Ruiner on Friday, Ampere and Amenra on Saturday, and Cruel Hand and Municipal Waste on Sunday.
[12] Announced acts included Ceremony, La Dispute, Black Breath, the Carrier, Blue Note, Victims, Touché Amoré, Ensign, Raein, Rosetta, Polar Bear Club, Dangers, and Joe Lally.
[3] Performing bands included Verse, Pianos Become the Teeth, Trapped Under Ice, Defeater, Self Defense Family, Loma Prieta, Code Orange Kids, Landscapes, Graf Orlock, No Omega, and Light Bearer.
[3] The Psych Tent appeared as a side stage for the first time, organized by Stoned to Death Records, a label which had just been founded by Jakub Ďuraško in Prague.
[3] He stated that he would rather focus on increasing lineup diversity, quality of services, and the presence of politics and non-musical activities than on getting bigger names on the bill, doubting that Madball or Agnostic Front would ever appear.
He envisioned the festival as a space for discussion within hardcore punk, open to anyone who wishes to set up a stall or otherwise present their ideas, which is why Defeater's appearance was not banned.
Other bands included Code Orange Kids, Harm's Way, Circle Takes the Square, and Full of Hell on Friday, Downfall of Gaia, Brutality Will Prevail, Dangers, and Vitamin X on Saturday, and Mouth of the Architect, the Black Heart Rebellion, Birds in Row, Coliseum, and Strike Anywhere on Sunday.
Performing bands included Oathbreaker, Earth Crisis, Graf Orlock, Blacklisted, RVIVR, Rosetta, Totem Skin, Petrol Girls, Minority of One, Archivist, the Black Heart Rebellion, Dawn Ray'd, Swain, No Omega, and Jungbluth,[37][7] while La Quiete were announced but had to cancel.
The 2017 edition was held on 20–23 July and headlined by Heaven in Her Arms, Doom, and City of Caterpillar on Friday, Vitamin X, Burn, and Chokehold on Saturday, and Racetraitor, Birds in Row, and Sect on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Infoshop first held talks including a speech by Greg Bennick[39][40] and a discussion on the SHAC campaign, before staging several hip hop shows by Czech and Slovak acts.
[4] The 2018 edition was held on 26–29 July and headlined by Listener, Swain, and Morrow on Friday, Hexis, Ruiner, and Majority Rule on Saturday, and Suffocate for Fuck Sake, Monarch, and Loma Prieta on Sunday.
The Infoshop Tent held talks on topics such as direct action and gender during the day and acoustic performances at night; Greg Bennick co-led a mental health workshop oriented on depression and suicide support there on Sunday following a main stage speech on Saturday.
Integrity, Nothing, Petrol Girls, Molchat Doma, Kalle, Infant Island;[43] Crywank, Jucifer, Show Me the Body, The Men, and War on Women,[44] among other artists, were announced.