Posted by jackie | Under Way Out West
Wednesday Aug 18, 2010
In Sweden, Göteborg is infamous for its tendency to enjoy puns. Many famous people from here sit in national TV and play with words in a way that nobody really appreciates outside Göteborg. Naturally then, Way Out West is an orgy in bad puns: Stay Out West (that’s what you do after the last band exits the stage and you go on clubbing), Way Out Fest (that’s what you do before the first band, when you’re in a park or a beer tent) No Way Out West (that’s what you do if you don’t go at all). At one point, a guy even made an attempt at a limerick about Mae West.
To the average Swede, Göteborg is known for puns and for one more thing. That thing took the stage at eight tonight, after the crowd had been building up in front of the stage for a full hour before Håkan Hellström made his comeback. And then nobody was disappointed. This was a very special gig, celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Håkan’s legendary debut album Känn Ingen Sorg För Mig Göteborg by playing the record in its entirety. Many of the songs had rarely been played live and, given the album’s huge impact on Swedish music, almost every song was known by heart by almost everyone listening. More than once, the crowd took over the song and made Håkan stunned and flattered because he didn’t have to sing himsfelf. In the last song’s crescendo, the place exploded in confetti, making a proper finale for this year’s biggest music happening in northern Europe.
Today was a hot and humid day and your correspondents tried to get something chilly to drink. There was wine and there was beer. So we changed our minds and went food-hunting, perfectly contempt with our plastic bottles of water. The snack selection did however get us dizzy. We ran into a blonde Swedish girl named Ingrid (such a cliché!) who was trying to talk us into eating wild boar kebab but the act felt a bit too much of a viking feast and we settled for the Hungarian delicacy langos, which essentially is fried bread with sour cream and different salty/fat toppings. Yummy! In the process we turned down everything from Swedish meatballs to Fish and Chips.
During the day, there was one thing besides the omnipresent discussions about weather that occupied the minds of Way Out West-crowd: Håkan Hellström. At eight, he will enter the stage. We can’t wait for the local poet’s return!
Posted by jackie | Under Way Out West
Monday Aug 16, 2010
Peaking with tomorrow’s highly anticipated performance by local hero Håkan Hellström, there are a lot of Swedish, and especially “Göteborgska”, artists at this year’s Way Out West. Friday night in Slottsskogen was however an international experience. After the amazing Soundtrack of Our Lives, accompanied by Göteborgs Symfoniker (LINK http://www.gso.se/) (but not with the Gallagher brothers, as the rumour had it), delivered a sparkling cross-over between pop tunes and classical music, there was not a Swede on the scene for the rest of the night.
But who has time for pseudo-nationalistic ideas when the line-up includes some of the world’s best musicians? Iggy Pop, for instance, showed that he is one of the world’s greatest entertainers still alive – even if the latter is against all odds. The Stooges were as tight as they were in 1970 and in a very non-Swedish act, Iggy at one point brought up a huge group of fans from the crowd, fighting resistance from the guards. They danced and co-sang with him during “Shake Appeal”. The act made the rest of the crowd, the ones still off-stage, go even wilder and the singer himself seemed to enjoy the power and didn’t exactly slow down after that.
Among the many other super acts to compete for our attention this evening, LCD Soundsystem made a lasting impression. The club/pop/electronic constellation from New York has been extremely influential during the last five years or so. Tonight’s show was a manifestation of why and the giant chandelier hanging from the scene roof made the listening experience interesting (Will it fall? Who will be killed?). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by jackie | Under Way Out West
Friday Aug 13, 2010
Famous even before its opening, Världskulturmuséet is a very special building. It was designed by world renowned architect Gert Wingård and opened officially in 2004. This year it has once again been included as one of Way Out West’s “club scenes”, meaning that after the last concert at the Slottsskogen area, we will all fight for entrance to the museum in order to stay awake all night and enjoy live acts and DJs. Before that, though, we had to try out the place on Thursday night’s “sneak preview” – one day before the actual festival started.
The night included three live acts, in addition to the resident DJ, and after running around six different bars we arrived at Världskulturmuséet just in time to see jj enter the stage. The crowd waiting for hours in line had to discover the hard way a bitter fact about Göteborg – once it starts raining, it never really stops…
Inside, it was hot, humid and crowded. Once JJ got on stage, the place went bananas and never came back. On big screens, everything from vacation pictures to Youtube clips of Zlatan was streamed and the crowd went nuts. Jj, being a local act, did all they were supposed to and delivered a dancy yet subtle performance. When they finished, the place was quickly emptied and the crowd shattered. Your correspondents left for Park Lane, one of the other club venues, and the night went on for a long, long time. And so did the epic rainfall, symbolizing Gothenburg. There’s not a dry pop soul in the city tonight. Some cried from jj, some couldn’t afford the tax ride home and had to walk.
Posted by jackie | Under Way Out West
Thursday Aug 12, 2010
There’s no big ceremony with balloons and fireworks, but the 2010 edition of Way Out West is now officially alive and kicking. The three day festival in Göteborg starts off with a club night that brings together all of the city’s bigger clubs as well as 25 different live acts, but the actual festival area does not open until tomorrow. Friday and Saturday are the major dates, when the city’s biggest park Slottsskogen will teem with hipsters, teens and tourists looking for a world class music event but of course also for a true west coast experience.
This long weekend in August is when Sweden’s second city shows itself from its best side, especially since its synchronization with Kulturkalaset , a citywide fiesta aimed at the crowd not so very interested in beer, loud music and muddy sneakers. The two events combined mean that Göteborg is turned into something very different for a while. The clubs and cafés stay open longer, the city squares are filled with improvising musicians and behind every apartment door there’s a party going on. Many hours before the festival schedule officially starts, the city is literally filled with music, as shown by this clip we just shot from Kungsgatan, one of the shopping streets normally not occupied by pop musicians:
The Explore West Sweden blog will be your confident guide during the next couple of days, providing concert reviews as well as interviews and vivid accounts of Way Out West’s beer and shellfish selections. Tonight we will sample the club night, taking place at 10 different venues around the city. Stay tuned!
Posted by jackie | Under Way Out West
Wednesday Jul 14, 2010
And the countdown begins for the Way Out West music festival! We are about a month away from the epic show set to kick off in Slottsskogen city park in central Gothenburg. For three days, the city becomes a centralized home for top national and international artists. With performances by M.I.A., Iggy & The Stooges, The Chemical Brothers, Lykke Li, LCD Soundsystem, Paul Weller, Pavement, La Roux, Girls, The xx, The National, Jens Lekman, Miike Snow, Imperial State Electric, Jónsi, The Drums, Mumford & Sons, Real Estate, Surfer Blood, The Radio Dept., Konono No1, Rango and Cymbals Eat Guitars, its no wonder that this is one of the best urban music festivals in Europe, now in it’s fourth year! Tickets for the event are on sale now.
See you there!
The Details
When: Friday 13th and Saturday 14th August, with club performances from the evening of Thursday 12th until Saturday 14th Where: Slottsskogen city park in central Gothenburg.
Tickets: 1,390 Swedish crowns (£115) for a full two day festival pass including club performances. Ticket sales at Eventim: Telephone +46 771651000.
Winter is brutal. Which is why we focus on the positive, like the warmth of Summer, the unbelievable sunshine and the fast approaching Way Out West Festival this year! Yes, we realize August seems very far away; however, Way out West just announced some of their headliners and the show is bound to be epic. The headliners include Local Natives, an L.A. based band that has been making some serious waves. We absolutely love their single “Airplanes” a sweet love song about pining after love lost.
Also on the bill is the always high energy Brit pop star, La Roux, we recommend her song “Bulletproof” which feels like a ‘ just broke up with my significant other and I am fine’ anthem. The big players include LCD Soundsystem and indie veterans Pavement. Though the band we really, really, really CANNOT wait to see has to be The XX, the Lo-Fi pop four set took New York City by storm, playing to full houses of hipsters nationwide.We say early bird gets the worm, or the tickets, er? Either way, we’ll see you there.
The Details
When: Friday 13th and Saturday 14th August, with club performances from the evening of Thursday 12th until Saturday 14th Where: Slottsskogen city park in central Gothenburg.
Tickets: 1,390 Swedish crowns (£115) for a full two day festival pass including club performances. Ticket sales at Eventim: Telephone +46 771651000.
The third and last day of the beloved Way Out West Festival has come to an end. The sun took a vacation and left us with downpours and muddy shoes, but that however was no cause for concern. At least not if you ask the rock veteran Olle Ljungström. Luckily for both artist and fans, he performed under a tented stage, and we were able to enjoy the concert in shelter from the rain. Olle is quite a legend in Sweden, famous for subtly balancing misery and joy and his performance today took us back to the time when it was still okay to live on the punk side of life.
Nas also put on a great concert despite the rainy weather – with thousands of arms waving to his rapped beats and feeding his already substantial ego the attention and energy he thrives on.
Nas and the thousand-arm wave
Another cocky performer who put on a fantastic show, was our incredibly popular lady from London: Lily Allen. She was one of the strongest attractions at this year’s festival, drawing huge crowds and a devoted audience. For having only had a relatively short career, it is impressive how faithful her fans are – Slottskogen was dancing, sweating, singing and swearing right along. Fuck You is probably the best way to start a party.
The evening continued, of course, at the club scenes. The choices were many and varied. Harmonic folk/acoustic at the Annedal church, hard rock at Sticky Fingers or dark, decadent country at Pustervik. Way Out West certainly has something for every musical taste and provided a great showing of local and international superstars to satisfy even the most discerning audience!
Pushing boundaries was the theme of the day at Way Out West, starting with the age boundaries. Beirut began the day by reminding us that lacking years doesn’t necessarily mean lacking talent. Zach Condon (Beirut’s non-stage name) is a inspiringly talented 23-year old from New Mexico, whose music sounds like a retro cabaret movie, or a piece of heaven, however you want to put it!
Moving on to push not only the age boundary but the that of gender roles as well, the next Robyn took the stage. One of the most internationally popular musicians from Sweden. She started her career when she was only sixteen years old, asking every radio channel, 2o times a day: Do You Really Want Me. Fourteen years later the answer is quite simple: Yes we want you, Robyn. We want you, and we owe you – the Swedish music scene would be an empty place without Robyn’s dulcet vocal stylings. Her break onto the scene was a kick in the pants to a music industry that was dominated by men and men and yup, you guessed it, more men.
Another gender role boundary-pusing musican is Anthony Hegarty (Anthony and the Johnssons) who also performed this evening. His mystical voice was only further intensified by the musicians of the Gothenburg symphony orchestra who accompanied him- a collaboration that not only was a great success but also a symbol of the festival as a whole: international meets with local in beautiful harmony.
The evening ended with Fever Ray, Sweden’s electronic guru – the epitome of modernism in musical form!
Festival 101. Get yourself a beer holder and be spill free!
Famous even before its opening, Världskulturmuséet is a very special building. It was designed by world renowned architect Gert Wingård and opened officially in 2004. This year it has once again been included as one of Way Out West’s “club scenes”, meaning that after the last concert at the Slottsskogen area, we will all fight for entrance to the museum in order to stay awake all night and enjoy live acts and DJs. Before that, though, we had to try out the place on Thursday night’s “sneak preview” – one day before the actual festival started.
