Way Over The Top

Gothenburg’s new Way Out West Festival went way over the top of what its organizers expected and sold out its increased capacity.

Luger staff had pitched at putting a maximum of 10,000 per day on the Slottsparken site, but all the tickets had gone and demand was still high with two weeks to go before the festival.

It wasn’t difficult expanding the capacity at "Castle Park," chosen because Luger saw a gap in the Swedish market for an urban festival, so 6,000 extra tickets were printed and they all went as well.

"I think things sort of fell right for us," said Luger’s Robin Sumpton, admitting that it was the best explanation he could find for the festival far out-stripping its first year target. "Some of major acts were a little late to confirm and so, as we got nearer to the festival, we kept announcing more and then more and more tickets were being sold."

He said it’s too early to say if Luger will go for a bigger event next year, but said he and his colleagues would certainly be wary of stepping up before they had a better idea of which acts may be available in 2008.

The acts exceeding everyone’s expectations August 10-11 included Kanye West, The Hives, Primal Scream, Mika, Manu Chao, The Pogues, Ark, Eagles Of Death Metal, Moneybrother, and Peter Bjorn and John.