Arvika Clash Unavoidable

Hamburg-based promoter Folkert Koopmans says time wasn’t on his side regarding his first attempt at reviving Sweden’s Hultsfred Festival, and clashing with another of the country’s longstanding outdoors is regrettable but unavoidable.

“Of course I would rather have not clashed with anything, but we only received the go-ahead in January and it was the only weekend that I could get a bill,” he told Pollstar after Hultsfred was announced for the same July 14-16 weekend as Arvika Festival.

Arvika, which started in 1992 on an old amusement park close to the border with Norway, hasn’t done so well in recent years and its days of booking such headliners as Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Interpol, Slayer, Death Cab For Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, New Order, Kraftwerk and Björk appear to be behind it.

Hultsfred was another major Swedish festival that was on a downward spiral, which ultimately led to bankruptcy, but Koopmans has bought the title from the official receiver and now has the local Hultsfred council in favour of trying to continue with the event.

This year’s lineup includes Suede, Primal Scream, Beady Eye, White Lies and Erasure, plus some of the most popular breakthrough Swedish acts.