Arvikafestival

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The Arvikafestival ( Swedish Arvikafestivalen ) was an international music festival that has taken place in the Swedish city of Arvika since 1992 once a year in mid-July. With its 19-year history and up to 22,000 visitors, it was one of the most important and oldest music festivals in Sweden . The festival was organized by the non-profit association AF Galaxen .

Campsite during the Arvikafestival

history

The Arvikafestival was first organized in 1992 by the music association Blå Huset and the theater association Verktygslådan . The bands that performed in the first year included Sator , Stonecake , Stonefunkers , Psychotic Youth and SPOCK . In order to be able to organize the festival in the future, both associations founded the event association AF Galaxen . In 1993, the organizers managed to book Einstürzende Neubauten . The resulting media coverage helped attract a larger audience. In the years that followed, the festival made a name for itself primarily with its synth pop and electro rock bands. At the same time, the organizers succeeded in attracting well-known bands from other musical styles, which led to the festival's increasing popularity.

For the tenth anniversary in 2001, the festival was expanded to three days. The line-up of this festival included a. The Sisters of Mercy , The Hellacopters and Sista mannen på jorden . In the following years, too, the organizer succeeded in winning well-known bands for the festival. Still, AF Galaxen came on the verge of bankruptcy in 2004, despite the crowd pulling bands like Kraftwerk , Faithless , Skinny Puppy , Echo & The Bunnymen and Broder Daniel . With the help of numerous private and public donations, however, this bankruptcy was averted and the festival could continue to be held.

The festival year 2005 was marked by the economically necessary need to save. The participating bands therefore mainly included Swedish bands such as Moneybrother , Lars Winnerbäck and Håkan Hellström . In doing so, the organizer tried to put the festival back on a healthy footing. Nevertheless, it surprised the audience with some great musicians such as B. New Order , Bright Eyes , VNV Nation and Infected Mushroom . The Arvikafestival 2006 was the most successful in its history to date. It was completely sold out and due to the large number of visitors, more campsites were set up. The biggest attractions this year were Franz Ferdinand and The Knife . In 2007 this success could be increased again. There have also been two permanent campsites for visitors since this year. All tickets were sold before the festival began.

bob hund live at the Arvikafestival 2009

This visitor record was exceeded by another 1,000 with the 2008 festival, with a total of 18,000 visitors. AF Galaxen expanded both campsites and also created its own stage on the smaller of the two. With Depeche Mode , who gave their only concert in Sweden at the Arvikafestival in 2009, this was the biggest success to date with 22,500 visitors. With the signing of Babyshambles , Kent and In Flames , the organizer tried to build on this success in 2010. Nevertheless, there was a drastic decrease in the number of visitors to a total of 15,000. As a result, AF Galaxen suffered a loss of 2 million crowns .

Until December 2010, the organizer managed to reduce its debts through donations from banks and the municipality as well as through private support. Aphex Twin and Front 242 were booked for the 20th anniversary of the festival in 2011 . However, AF Galaxen was not able to sell enough tickets. At the end of June 2011, two weeks before the start of the festival, the organizer announced that it was therefore forced to file for bankruptcy. The organizers of the Roskilde Festival offered all holders of a 3-day ticket the opportunity to exchange it for a ticket for the Danish music festival free of charge. AF Galaxen withdrew from organizing the festival after its bankruptcy; a new organizer could not be found. The festival has not taken place since then.

Festival site

Most of the festival site was located in Folkets park in the eastern part of the city of Arvika. The largest stage, "Vintergatan", was outside of it. The last three campsites had their own stages and DJ tents. Above all, bands without a record deal performed here, whose concerts were organized by outside organizers. "Apollo" was a stage in a large circus tent and "Andromeda" was a large stage near the entrance. Opposite was a large dance floor with the "Orion". Until 2003 this stage was called "Impetus". The "Lyran", a covered stage for smaller performances, offered another dance floor. Up until 2003, “Pluto” was a small tent stage for performance artists. The artists of the Riksteatern appeared on their own mobile stage, which was located on the "Jamobilen".

Awards

Line ups

Some of the most famous bands that participated in the festival:

Trivia

After his appearance with Babyshambles in the summer of 2010, Pete Doherty was proven to have been using cocaine during a traffic stop, as had happened to him in 2006 after his appearance at the Hultsfred Festival . He received a fine of 30,000 crowns for this. Doherty had previously tried to escape drug control by coming back on stage after his performance and asking the audience for a car. Then he tried to "sit out" the drug control on stage.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information brochure (PDF; 2.1 MB) of the municipality of Arvika , page 6. Accessed on March 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ Article on www.synth.nu ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 6, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synth.nu
  3. ↑ Line-up 2010 on www.festivalinfo.se . Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  4. ↑ Article in Dagens Nyheter at www.dn.se/kultur from July 27, 2010. Accessed March 6, 2012.
  5. ↑ Article on www.musikindustrin.se ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 6, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikindustrin.se
  6. ^ Article in Svenska Dagbladet of June 27, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  7. ↑ Press release from AF Galaxen on www.elektroskull.com . Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  8. ↑ message on www.roskilde-festival.dk on the relief effort for the visitors of Arvikafestivals. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  9. ↑ Article on www.aftonbladet.se of February 4, 2011. Accessed March 6, 2012.
  10. ↑ Article on www.aftonbladet.se of July 19, 2010. Accessed March 6, 2012.
  11. ↑ Picture by Erik Mårtensson & David Scherman (ROCKFOTO) on www.aftonbladet.se . Retrieved March 6, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Arvikafestivalen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 59 ° 39 ′ 3.5 ″  N , 12 ° 37 ′ 29.8 ″  E