Bravalla Gets Over Transport Hitch

German-based promoter FKP Scorpio has smashed Sweden’s festival attendance record by pulling nearly 52,000 to the Bravalla site at Noorkoping, although many of them had problems getting there. The first staging of the event was hit by a public transport strike that caused twice as many people as expected to drive to the city on the Baltic coast, leading to two-hour traffic jams on the roads around the festival.

What made it worse was that Scorpio chief Folkert Koopmans had cut a deal with regional transport authority ÖstgötaTrafiken for festivalgoers to travel free of charge.

Photo: FKP Scorpio

The industrial relations problems were over by the end of the first day and, once onsite, fans were treated to a lineup that included Rammstein, Green Day, Volbeat, Armin Van Buuren, The Gaslight Anthem, Bullet For My Valentine, and White Lies.

Bravalla’s arrival in the Swedish festival market has had an immediate impact, arguably contributing to the demise of Peace & Love Festival, which went bust at the end of May.

It had previously been the country’s biggest festival on several occasions, setting a new record in 2009 by pulling 45,000 per day.

This year’s Peace & Love, which would have been on the same weekend as Bravalla, had a lineup that included Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and First Aid Kit.

Last year’s crowd was close to 40,000 but the event still dropped a reported 16 million Swedish krona ($2.41 million). The festival made deals with creditors to avoid going bust but couldn’t keep up with the payment schedule when this year’s sales slowed.

The other acts on the Bravalla bill June 27-29 included Avicii, Johnossi, Airbourne, Parkway Drive, and Bo Kasper’s Orkester.