Reviews

“Dear party animals, we won’t dance together in 2020”. That’s how thousands of festivals and venues across the world announced the cancellation of the festival season and all live shows to come, and the whole industry was forced into hiatus. Or putting it simply: The pandemic obliterated the 2020 festival season and almost shattered the live music scene. Now, five …

A typical cold Hamburg March evening, Sam Fender played the best concert I’ve ever been to at a sold-out DOCKS. It‘s already the highlight of my 2020, and since there will be no more concerts in the next months, it will probably stay that way. To say that I’m a bit of a fangirl when it comes to Sam Fender …

Feuerengel tour across Europe and made a stopover in Hamburg for yet another show. Just after 7 PM a chilly mid-February night it was finally time to head down to Docks at Reeperbahn, completely packed with a 1 500-audience, and with no support act opening up the evening we got an early start. Watching curiously at a massive dark curtain covering …

Shoegaze was developed by a number of UK bands in the late-80s and early-90s and is known for layers of distorted and processed guitar and keyboard sounds used to create atmosphere and mood as background for gently sung vocals. Artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Swervedriver were considered part of the original subgenre. Although those are old and …

The second day of the festival started fairly early but the late night rumble from yesterday was washed out equally easy with a shower, a great breakfast at Fjärde Långgatan and lots of energy from having the sun shining over Gothenburg. Since the shows didn’t start until late we had planned for a few conference sessions and for a meet …

In the vein of Austin’s SXSW, Brighton’s The Great Escape, and our own Reeperbahn Festival in the famous St Pauli area, Sweden’s only (!) showcase festival Viva Sounds has become an established platform for up and coming acts, but also to act as a host for conference sessions addressing “contemporary and current issues within today’s music landscape”. But is not …