FEATURE STORIES

Summer's here - the party's here

Summertime Music & Life has become one of northern Scandinavia's largest festivals and breaks new visitor records every year. For 30 years, project manager Gunnar Karlsson has placed world-class artists in front of party-loving Skellefteå residents to create festival experiences and memories for life. S/Å follows backstage in the preparations for this summer's major cultural event at Norrvalla in Skellefteå.

Norrvalla is boiling as 8,500 people roar along to the masked Gällivar duo Hooja's thunderous hit Banana melon kiwi & lemon. It's midnight and the darkness has finally begun to settle over Friday's edition of Summertime Music & Life 2024, but the energy level has never been higher. When Hooja broke through in 2022, a wave of epadunk washed over Sweden, with leading figures such as Fröken Snusk, Rasmus Gozzi and Bolaget. The music genre can be described as the unholy love child of Basshunter and Eddie Meduza, and is characterized by leaden bass, sexually explicit lyrics and sing-along choruses.

But while many of the epadunk artists are primarily popular with a very young target audience, Hooja, who is from Norrland, has had a broad impact on an older audience as well.

- "We were the first festival in Sweden to book Hooja, it was spring 2022 and they were not very big at all. Before the summer they just exploded. That's what you dream of as an artist booker, to find that artist who is just about to break through, says Gunnar Karlsson, project manager for Summertime Music & Life.

When Hooja returns to the Summertime stage in summer 2024, it will be a monster booking - and the price tag has grown in line with its popularity. It's often described as one of the great challenges for festival organizers: having the flair, luck and timing to land bookings that attract large audiences without breaking the budget or driving up ticket prices.

- It's a difficult balancing act, and always very hard to lose a booking you've been working on for months. Like when Victor Leksell was offered two nights at Gröna Lund that clashed with our festival. We lost Hov1, and Veronica Maggio has become far too expensive. When you are close to landing a good booking and fall on the finish line, it is really hard. But that's part of the job," says Gunnar.

In the spring of 1995, Skellefteå band The Wannadies are on the verge of their international breakthrough. The indie band will soon be signed by British label Indolent Records and take over the UK, but for now, drummer Gunnar Karlsson is looking for something to do between recording and touring. Skellefteå is celebrating 150 years, and the municipality wants to celebrate with a real city festival.

- "I contacted the Urkraft association, which had taken on the project. It was crazy really, we were a bunch of young people who were given more or less free hands to create a festival, Gunnar remembers.

Crazy or not, the festival is a success and a permanent feature for Norrland's live music thirsty audience. Over the years, artists such as Robyn, Ramones, Kent, Håkan Hellström, The Cardigans, Lars Winnerbäck, Veronica Maggio, Iggy Pop and many more have performed on stage.

In 1998, the festival was named Sweden's best city festival by Aftonbladet, and in 2001 it attracted up to 100,000 visitors. Skellefteå. Gunnar Karlsson, in other words, has a 30-year history of successful music festivals to lean on when planning the 2025 edition of Summertime Music & Arts.

- "We have increased the audience figures every year, but you can never sit still in the boat. You always have to develop and surprise, but not change too much. We have received offers from very big artists, but we can't take that risk. It's about finding the right level and overall experience at the right price. It should be a festival that everyone can afford to experience.

To build an overall experience, the festival invests a lot in day events. In 2022, day activities, in collaboration with Skellefteå's associations, attracted 8,000 visitors. In 2023, cultural activities were added with theater, the artist association, graffiti and much more, and in 2024 a visitor record was broken with a total of 85,000 visitors spread over the day and evening sessions.

- It is an extremely tight organization. My colleagues at the Artist Office, Peter Wiklund and Anders Thylin, both work about 20 percent with Summertime and 80 percent with other things. For me, the distribution is reversed. During the festival itself, we are an organizational team of 10-12 people, but if you count everyone involved, there are probably up to 1,000 people working. Then we have fantastic people around us who step in and help where needed.

At the time of writing, Summertime Music & Life has just released the headliner Axwell for the 2025 festival. The EDM giant has performed on some of the world's biggest stages, both as a solo artist and with supergroup Swedish House Mafia. In addition, Skellefteå favorite Miss Li, Norwegian Ballinciaga, album current Y4ska, Grammy winner Maria Jane Smith and acclaimed Hanna Ferm are included in this year's lineup.

- "Of course, there are many things we can't influence: weather, unrest in the world, the economic situation - but we've had some fantastic years and we learn more every time. Summertime is a unique experience with music, culture, sports and food, and it feels extremely good for the summer festival.

Text and photo: Jonas Pekkari