Festival report: Hultsfred 2007 - The year it all broke down (almost)
I guess most of you people, at least in Sweden, know by now. This years Hultsfredsfestival was a total failure. More than 5000 tickets remained unsold, and you can tell when there are 5000 people missing. But hey, come on! No one can really be surprised? Even the ancient Greek knew the dangers of hubris, two sold out festivals in a row don't necessarily equal a third. If you raise the cost of the ticket and don't provide enough value for the raise, then you are in it over your head. Especially when the Hultsfredsfestival has a very young audience in general, which teenage kid can afford 1800 SEK [ed: approx. $250 USD], just for the ticket? It was doomed from the beginning.
Enough of that. Time to get down to business, the music. Even though I thought this year's line up to be quite lame, there where still some goodies to be found. Tingsek for instance. This tall and handsome man of soul played like no man has ever played before and it was absolutely amazing. Great weather, the outdoors and soft tunes of soul, gospel and reggae with a touch of pop, what more can a man want from the first concert of the festival? Speaking of reggae with a touch of pop, Svenska Akademien recently released their new album "Gör det ändå. Gör det ändå". Once again General Knas + Sture Vikingsson and friends prove that there's no limit to how much groove you can fit into one album. Although playing in the middle of the night the first day of the festival, you could tell that they love being on tour again. To help them light up the night they had brought a bunch of people with Bengal lights and lit up sticks and chains being constantly rotated. It sure made me stay awake a little bit longer.
The Friday set off with a gush of rock'n'roll signed the Swedish rockers Bring Me The Fucking Riot... Man. I enjoyed their first album very much but don't really think they can push things any further. And I was quite right. They played one of the smallest stages and they played no longer than thirty minutes. It was a good thirty minutes though. Sophie Zelmani got a little bit longer than that, much to everyone's delight. All dressed up in a nice white dress and her ever-lasting sidekick Lars Halapi by her side; everything is as it should be. This is the third time I've been to a Sophie Zelmani concert on the Hultsfredsfestival over the years, and I still get amazed by the magical atmosphere this sweet girl creates with her soft whispering and mere presence.
Taxi, Taxi! also aspires of creating something that is pure magical. Twin sisters Miriam and Johanna Eriksson Berhan have something ordinary mortals don't. Their unique co-singing style and complex, yet simple, songwriting makes them one of the best acts I've seen on the entire festival. A must-see if possible. Laleh on the other hand, is a don't-see, at least when it comes to a festival gig. The Pampas stage is too big for an intimate artist like Laleh and the sound was quite terrible. No, next time I hope she'll get to play one of the smaller stages. A band that should definitely play the larges stages is Mando Diao. Their gig on the main stage only manifests what we already knew for sure, that Mando Diao is one of the best live bands in Sweden right now.
Still now really satisfied by what I've seen so far on the festival, I went to see Asha Ali first thing the last day. And I'm glad I did. Having released a critically acclaimed EP, "Warm fronts" in 2005, she just recently released her first full-length self-titled album and now she stands ready to take on the world with her striking singer/songwriter-meets-soul music.
Dennis Lyxzén is a man of many words and projects, I'm sure you've heard about a few of them (Refused, The (International) Noise Conspiracy). The Lost Patrol Band is his take on classic old-school punk rock. Not all that exciting, it's been done before, but still enjoyable. Lisa Miskovsky on the other hand, is hardly exciting at all these days. I never really liked her much laid back (and well produced) country pop songs. It's got no edge what so ever. Sure, I did enjoy a couple of songs laying in the grass in front of the stage, but nothing more. Sadly, I had my hopes up in vain for a duet between Lisa Miskovsky and Dennis Lyxzén in the last song of the set, "Alright". I mean, Dennis was in the neighbourhood after all.
Turbonegro is still one of rock's most overrated bands. I did enjoy them the first time I saw them on the Hultsfredsfestival, but nowadays they seem to play each and every year on each and every festival there is. Not all things sucked on this year's festival though; there was one artist that totally blew me away. Saving the best to last, Norwegian self proclaimed Queen of the World, Ida-Maria, put up a show that will be remembered for years to come. It was so honest and genuine; she was ready to blow anytime. The voice! The power! And the anthem! "Oh my god" is the best fucking song I've heard in ages. Thank you Ida-Maria for making my festival worth the while.
- Christian Stenbacke