Saturday night at Manchester Academy belonged to Agnieszka Chylińska. For almost two hours she held the room. No support act opened the evening. Fans got one long set from a true heavyweight of Polish music, an artist who has moved through several generations and styles. The date was part of a short UK run that also took in Edinburgh and London. British audiences already know her. On an earlier tour marking 30 years on stage she played Bristol, London and Manchester, and every date sold out.
This review is also an introduction for UK readers who haven’t met her music yet. She deserves a listen. If you need a starting point, try ‘Drzwi’ for the rock years and ‘Królowa Łez’ for the solo era.
A short backstory. Chylińska was still at secondary school when she won third prize at a French song festival in 1994. Soon after, she joined a project led by Grzegorz Skawiński, first known as Skawalker and later renamed O.N.A. The debut album, Modlishka, arrived in 1995. Until 2003 she was the voice of the group, and records such as Bzzzzz and Pieprz became landmarks of Polish rock. Tracks like ‘Drzwi’, ‘Znalazłam’, ‘Kiedy powiem sobie dość’ and ‘Niekochana’ are still the group’s best-known material.
After the split she went solo. Her debut under her own name, Winna, came out in 2004. Her sound drifted towards pop and electronics, yet that rough voice stayed. The 2009 record Modern Rocking reached number one in Poland and went platinum. Since 2008 she has also sat on the jury of Mam Talent!, the Polish version of the Got Talent franchise, which made her a familiar face far beyond rock circles. Her 25th-anniversary performance at the Pol’and’Rock festival, played to thousands of people at Kostrzyn nad Odrą, was released as a live album. This year she turned 50 and marked it with a sold-out birthday concert at Atlas Arena in Łódź.
Nothing of that TV image appeared in Manchester. On stage stood Chylińska and her long-time musicians: Maciej Mąka on guitar, Rafał Stępień on keyboards, Błażej Chochorowski on bass and Oskar Podolski on drums. They are a tight unit, and not only on stage. The whole line-up is credited as co-authors of ‘Drań’, from the 2022 album Never Ending Sorry, which went platinum. Stępień‘s keyboards supply the electronic colour of her solo material, while Mąka‘s guitar carries the heavier numbers.
The evening also worked as a reunion for Poles living in the UK. Polish is among the most widely spoken languages in Britain, and it was easy to believe that here. Many people arrived to see friends as much as to hear music. Some travelled from other cities. It felt less like a routine gig, more like a meeting of people who share a home elsewhere.
The start slipped by about fifteen minutes. Nobody minded once the lights dropped. The mostly Polish public responded instantly to the opener, ‘Borderline’, dark and heavy. ‘Klincz’ followed and pushed the harder rock side forward. Then ‘Winna’ shifted the sound from old O.N.A. towards her modern self. The energy stayed high.
The first big singalong came with ‘Kiedy powiem sobie dość’. It’s an O.N.A. number from Bzzzzz, the album that cemented the group’s status, and it was hard to miss how many people knew each word. It still hits hard. Next was ‘Jest nas więcej’, a brighter piece from the latest album, co-written by Mąka, standing right beside her. Then the intro of ‘Królowa Łez’ triggered one of the loudest reactions of the night, with whole sections of the hall singing the chorus back at her. The track comes from her 2016 album Forever Child. It reveals another face: less fury, more openness.
‘Drań’ brought attitude. ‘Kiedyś do Ciebie wrócę’ slowed the pace and let people sing along. The title also named her 30th-anniversary tour. After that she returned to O.N.A. ‘Drzwi’, the group’s first hit, changed the mood at once. It comes from the 1995 album Modlishka, and she wrote the lyrics herself. Podolski‘s drums and Chochorowski‘s bass added serious weight. The piece still sounds powerful. ‘Koła czasu’ kept that thread going. ‘Nie mogę Cię zapomnieć’, a song tied to her Modern Rocking years, then pulled things back to her solo catalogue and showed how far her style has travelled.
By this point the contact with the room mattered more than the setlist. Chylińska chatted constantly. She joked, answered shouts from the floor and recalled stories from earlier years. At one moment she addressed a child in the crowd directly. No distance separated stage and floor. That ease is among her best qualities as a live performer.
‘Kochaj ją’ and ‘Mam zły dzień’ came next: one dramatic, one lighter and playful. The second dates from her 2018 album Pink Punk. ‘Niekochana’ then brought the darker mood back. Her voice remains the trademark of O.N.A. It can be raw, strong without strain, and swing from aggression to vulnerability within a single piece. ‘Znalazłam’ ended the main part, a trip back to the debut. Along with ‘Drzwi’ and ‘Koła czasu’, it made O.N.A. one of the key Polish rock acts of its generation. ‘Winna’ returned once more.
One surprise remained. Rather than another heavy finale, the musicians launched into ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ by the Backstreet Boys. Everyone on stage danced and fooled around. Podolski left the drums to sing the lead. Backing tracks ran underneath, which seemed to be the idea. The original is a 1997 pop staple, familiar to nearly everyone in the hall. This was no serious cover, just a pretext to dance together. The whole hall joined in. Few artists of her stature would end a rock gig this way. Silly, spontaneous, great fun, and a fitting summary of the evening.
Her real strength in Manchester was the bond with people, more than the voice or the hits. Most of those present were Polish, and for many this meant more than an ordinary Saturday outing. They had lived with these tunes for twenty or thirty years. Now they heard them abroad, among others who share the language and the memories. She never treated them as spectators. She teased, laughed and returned their energy all night, with her musicians backing her up.
For newcomers, the catalogue is easy to enter. Modlishka is the place for the O.N.A. years. Winna and Modern Rocking show the move towards pop, and Forever Child holds ‘Królowa Łez’. Start with any of them.
She grew from a rebellious O.N.A. vocalist into a major solo name, TV personality and one of Poland’s biggest stars. Yet the old attitude was still visible: the voice, the humour, the confidence, the refusal to take herself too seriously.
Fifteen minutes late? Nobody cared. No opener? Nobody needed one. For almost two hours Agnieszka Chylińska and her group carried the whole event. Manchester Academy got the night her fans had hoped for: loud, emotional, nostalgic, funny and full of energy.
And closing with the Backstreet Boys? Why not.
