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The decision to move the long running Hultsfred festival 2013 edition to Sigtuna near Stockholm instead of the charming little town of Hultsfred, was met by rather negative attitude by the fans with many expressing their disappointment. In early 2013 the news came out and shocked dedicated Hultsfred lovers, some of whom felt orphaned. A reason for the relocation wasn’t given and despite arguments the decision was final. Another, alternative festival, This is Hultsfred, was formed to please the nostalgics and the Hultsfred Stoxa festival was then here to stay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJD-HEAHHg8

Some of the main acts at the Hultsfred 2013 included Arctic Monkeys, Portishead, Pheonix and Fatboy Slim, but despite heavy names surprisingly few people had attended the festival. The first act we checked out was A$AP Rocky on the first day of the festival. Arriving to the concert a bit too early, we strolled around the area stumbling upon another concert with the Swedish Reggea/Hip Hop group Labyrint which proved to be a memorizable gig. Something that cannot be said about A$AP Rocky who arrived 30 minutes late which meant he only could perform for less than an hour.

The second day had Arctic Monkeys and Portishead in store and so we were quite excited. The Arctic Monkeys concert was truely amazing and was easily the best concert at the festival so far. Just a few minutes after they finished, Portishead was on stage and ready to perform. The night was cold and dark as Portishead started playing their cold and dark music. It could not have been a better setting for their music because the concert was hypnotizing with surrealistic visual show. Portishead had proved they still had it and we were utterly pleased.

Highlights of the third day included Fatboy Slim among others. Right before Fatboy Slim, Adrian Lux, Swedish house DJ, gave a great concert with lots of very danceable and crowd pleasing music which raised the anticipations for what was coming. Fatboy Slim on the other hand was playing quite differently from the music he is known for and you could tell that a lot of fans were disappointed.

Overall we were pleased with our time at the festival but frankly it was nothing compared to the festival 2012. The camping area, the stages, the food and basically everything else about the festival was better at the earlier location. We especially missed the old camping area which was full of trees and a lot more crowded last year. We are skeptical that the festival will be able to attract people next year, but you never know, next year it might be better.

Best part about Hultsfredsfestival: Portishead, Arctic Monkeys, the thai food and the free Lay’s chips we got the last day.

Worst part about Hultsfredsfestivalen: Fatboy slim, the lack of people and the lack of water taps in camping area.

Written by Shaya Mokarremi & Thomas Rodenberg