Gothenburg, a city in Sweden that boasts only around 550,000 inhabitants (or 950,000 if you count the surrounding areas), yet each year they play host to Way Out West Festival, one of the most incredible music festivals in the world.
Running from the 7th – 9th August this year’s line-up included the likes of How To Dress Well, Queens Of The Stone Age, Janelle Monáe, OutKast, Motörhead, The National, Neutral Milk Hotel, Joey Bada$$, just to name a few as well as a plethora of incredible Scandinavian talent.
Along with music, Way Out West is an absolute hipster’s delight, hosting a mini-film festival, hairdressers, vinyl markets, food catered by the award-winning restaurant Wasa Allé; and for the first year, a music industry conference. Tone Deaf writer Kaye Blum was in Sweden, so we sent her along to report on this incredible festival.
Day One
It was a tough job picking which act was the festival’s headline when so many awesome bands, across a broad range of genres, featured at Way Out West (WOW) 2014 – a three-day music festival held on the west coast of Sweden in its second largest city, Gothenburg.
WOW 2014 had nearly 60 acts including OutKast, Röyksopp & Robyn, The National, Janelle Monáe, Motörhead, Blood Orange, Neko Case, Poliça, Neneh Cherry, Darkside, and Little Dragon – just to name a few.
But the aural assemblage didn’t stop when the main stages cleared at nightfall (which is after 10pm during Sweden’s short but incredibly sweet summertime). Included in the WOW festival pass was access to Stay Out West (SOW), a series of smaller gigs held at various nightclubs and venues across the city from around 11pm until the wee hours of the morning.
The line-up for SOW jammed in over 80 emerging and established artists, from the much-hyped UK electronica collective Jungle, to the surf-garage rock of LA’s The Growlers; with plenty of dance, indie, hip-hop, folk, pop, and punk acts to choose from.
(Photographer: Annika Berglund, Source: Facebook)
Choosing was the hard part. Not so much for WOW, which was held at Gothenburg’s Slottskogen, a beautiful park just a 15-minute tram ride south of the city centre. The site had a great layout with three main stages all positioned within easy walking distance of each other.
The massive Azalea and Flamingo stages were open-air set-ups flanked with video screens, facing each other, but with alternating time-slots for performances. The Linné stage was under a huge marquee, no screens. But there was minimal overlapping in the schedule so it was possible to catch at least half a set of most acts, whichever stage they were on.
Choosing what to see at SOW presented more of a geographical challenge, as gigs were simultaneously held at various venues across town. And being at smaller venues limited capacity, meaning queues could be long. So some serious decisions had to be made. But it was well worth doing some pre-planning to figure out who was playing where – and which tram to take.
The selection for Day One at WOW started with Neneh Cherry under the shaded marquee at the Linné stage. The Swedish-born singer of the infamous ‘Buffalo Stance’ has collaborated with with FourTet’s Keiren Hebden on a new album and her set focused on its drum’n’bass/-electronica vibed material. Her distinctive, powerful voice was dynamic as ever, but a little drowned out by the way-too-heavy bass.
While waiting for Darkside to set up on the Linné stage, the familiar sounds of another band who’ve been around a long time – The National – wafted over from the Azalea stage. These guys are festival pros and pumped out all their hits to an appreciative audience.
(Photographer: Isabel Runneberger, Source: Facebook)
Darkside drew a solid crowd, curious to experience the minimalistic experimental sounds of Nicholas Jaar. A heavily smoke-filled stage and backlighting made it tricky to see the action, but the driving rhythms, deep vocals, electric guitar and hypnotic SFX captivated the audience.
Over at Flamingo, the fans were already gathering to see the legendary lads from Palm Desert, Queens of The Stone Age. ‘No One Knows’ came second on the set-list to rapturous response. Their blistering performance had punters raving.
Night One of SOW’s highlight was Oslo band Highasakite at dedicated live music venue Pustervik. The acoustics at this former theatre were perfect for their dreamy melodic pop. The ‘lille’ (little) stage upstairs at Pustervik provided an intimate setting for Boston-based Marissa Nadler’s ethereal set.
Day Two
The perfect sunny weather graced WOW again for Day Two, with a huge number of acts favourited on our festival app including Blood Orange, Neko Case, Conor Oberst, Janelle Monáe, and Little Dragon.
Monáe was wheeled out onto the Flamingo stage in a straight-jacket before launching into an electrifying set with her band, decked out in their trademark black and white outfits. She’s a seriously impressive talent to see live, with irresistibly funky dance moves and grooves. Her cover of James Brown’s “I Feel Good” was stellar.
A big draw-card at WOW is the huge pool of Scandinavian talent on the bill. So it was a surprise that local band Little Dragon were on the smaller Linné stage. Their popularity both in home-town Gothenburg and internationally saw crowds spilling outside the jam-packed marquee, struggling for a glimpse without the aid of video screens. It was worth squeezing in for – their live show was a stunner, with a cool contemporary dance troupe livening the stage for the last few tracks.
Robyn & Röyksopp (Photographer: Ollie Kirchmeier, Source: Facebook)
Night Two of SOW elicited seriously tough decisions on which venues to head for. UK record label Hessle Audio were hosting a night at Nefertiti; 1987 and I Break Horses were playing over the river at Gothenburg Film Studios; Broken Twin were at the Opera House; The Growlers out at Liseberg; and still more to agonise over.
First choice was the Rondo to catch a vibrant set from New Zealand synth-popsters Yumi Zouma; but we had to miss How To Dress Well to catch Jungle who were a 20 minute walk away at Trädgår’n nightclub. We needn’t have rushed as they were half an hour late and the club was tightly packed with a young crowd keen to dance. Even Janelle Monáe and her entourage were there to check them out.
But checking them out wasn’t a given: when Jungle finally started their set it was hard to see who was actually on the stage – heavy smoke haze and backlighting obscured some of the action. The duo themselves were up front on keyboards and mics, along with a female vocalist. Was that a live drummer up the back in the fog? Maybe.
Their delay pushed back another act due to play on the smaller stage – Little Dragon lead singer Yukimi’s older sister, Sumie. But she was worth the wait. Her captivating voice and acoustic guitar was supported by muted trumpet and sparse slide guitar – a small but appreciative audience were spellbound.
Day Three
Day Three at WOW focused more on Scandinavian acts, with Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp and Swedish Grammy-winner Robyn headlining. The afternoon’s rain didn’t dampen enthusiasm – it was bright coloured plastic ponchos all round.
Paths between stages and main audience areas were covered in aerated plastic matting, protecting the grass and preventing potential mud-baths. This was one of many environmental approaches undertaken by the festival organisers. All festival food was vegetarian, the beer was organic, and energy-efficient policies were in place to help reduce the festival’s carbon footprint.
(Photographer: Theres-Kockum, Source: Facebook)
This ecological approach also meant festival programmes and site maps weren’t printed – the festival app and website were the only tools to finding out what was on when and where. All good from an environmental perspective. But newbies to Gothenburg would certainly appreciate a clear map on the website showing the WOW location and SOW venues so they can get the lay of the land and plan the best place to stay.
The final night of SOW again presented tough choices; but 4am bedtimes were taking their toll so the easiest option was to choose just one venue. Pustervik was the favourite with Berlin-based alt-folk trio Mighty Oaks first on stage. Their silvery three-way harmonies and catchy indie tunes conjured memories of Aussie band Boy And Bear. Nice.
The night was capped off beautifully with Swedish folk-pop newcomer Alice Boman upstairs at Pustervik. A back-up singer provided gorgeous harmonies, while the rest of the band comprising muted trumpet, keyboard and drums gave rounding to Alice’s Kate Bush-esque vocals and dreamy piano melodies.
It was a perfect way to wind down from three huge days and nights of Scandinavian music magic at a festival that’s well worth travelling the distance to attend.
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