Saturday afternoon, resting in the car.
My driver looks a bit tired too.
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Hultsfredsfestivalen 2004 – being there
A vacation at Hultsfredsfestivalen, beautifully located next to Lake Hulingen, gives you more than the average camping trip. You can choose between three different camping accommodations, the Field, the Forest and the Swamp. You also have the opportunity to watch more than 100 different live acts on five different stages.
When I read that ad back in 1995 I was immediately interested in visiting Hultsfredsfestivalen and I really wanted to spend some time in the Swamp (read that name again, sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?).
That could’ve been the true story of how I was bitten by the festivalbug, in reality I heard stories about how great it was being at Hultsfredsfestivalen from my friends but all I could think about was all the great bands I would be able to see, Cat Rapes Dog played that year and to be honest the Field didn’t exist back then. Nowadays I don’t really care about which bands they confirm; regardless I’ll pack my bags and go because I know it is great fun to be there. I enjoy the opportunity to watch bands I’ve never heard of perform, to check if the latest band-of-the-moment put on a show as good as all the newspapers claim and last but not least, meet a lot of fun people in the Swamp.
I’ve used the same spot for camping each and every year, something a lot of people seems to do in the Swamp. When I arrived I recognized the people camping in the closest vicinity of my tent, on one side it was the same people as last year and on another I recognized a guy who has been staying at that spot for the last 3 or 4 years, on a third side was Snorbjörn who first put his tent there back in 1990. I guess you could say the Swamp is mostly inhabited by people bitten by the festivalbug. The Field, which saw the light of day back in 1998, feels like the exact opposite. That is where all the youngsters camp, I’ve never liked it and I never will, it isn’t the same atmosphere out there.
Well, time to tell you about the 19th edition. It was an OK festival I guess, not like last year but still one of the better ones if I exclude the weather. I don’t mind a little rain, and I wouldn’t curse if it rained for an hour, but enough is enough and this year it rained for too many hours. And even if you seek shelter, rain drags down the party factor. Luckily it only rained during Saturday, on Thursday the weather was wonderful and I managed to get a (not so) nice looking t-shirt tan.
My time was, and always is during a festival, divided between mainly two things, watching bands perform and spending time in the Swamp. Usually the watching bands part consists of walking around between the stages to see if something catches my fancy. If so, I stay for a while and if not I can always walk to the next stage. This way I managed to see The Legends, PJ Harvey, Lisa Miskovsky, Ash, The Solution and Promoe among others. The Swamp thing consists mostly of drinking a couple of beers, talking to the people living there and of course listening to the mandatory tape recorder. Where would I be able to spend my days like that if not on a festival?
During the Sunday morning coming down, when the time came to pack all things and go home, we had a discussion concerning whether the best feeling was packing everything in the car leaving for the festival or to pack everything in the car to go home. We decided the most fun part was going to the festival, but that the most satisfying feeling was to get home, get clean, and to use a real toilet. And of course, to look forward towards the next festival.
In 2005 Hultsfredsfestivalen celebrates its 20th birthday and already The Hives have been confirmed, and of course I'll be there.
/Fredrik Hörström
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