Sweden Rock Festival is an annual rock/metal extravaganza that takes place just outside the town of Sölvesborg in the southern region of Blekinge, Sweden. The festival delivers the perfect mix of classic rock, hard rock, metal and other related genres. Moreover, the festival organisers pay particular attention to creating an exceptional overall festival experience, and every year they aim to improve the level of comfort for all the punters, not just those in VIP. As the organisers themselves say; “Joy and community lay the foundation for ‘the spirit of Sweden Rock…simply that people get on well together here, help each other out and socialize with both known and unknown people…enjoy the music, indulge the atmosphere and hang out with the brothers and sisters that we simply call the best audience in the world.”

How could Johann and I not take ROCKFLESH overseas and see what it’s like for ourselves! We’ll be providing not only a review of each day of the festival and photos from the pit, but also interviews with bands and a vlog of the entire experience. Oh yes, you read that right! So, you know it’s going to be silly, amusing and downright daft…as well as informative of course!

But for now, let’s take a look at the history of the festival. First showing its face in 1992, under the name of Sommarfestivalen i Olofström, the mission statement was to offer music which at the time was fairly unusual on the Swedish festival scene - namely classic rock, hard rock, folk music and blues. 1993 saw the festival move to the neighbouring Karlshamn (changing its name to Karlshamn Rock Festival), and during the years that followed it slowly changed into a pure rock festival. Such was the success of the festival that in 1998 it had to move to the current location of a massive field in the village of Norje, just outside the city of Sölvesborg. In 1999, the name Sweden Rock Festival was born, and the hard-rock focus became the flag that the event would bear. The festival has continued to grow, since the change in management in 2001, but the maximum number of visitors has remained set at 35,000 in order to make sure that renowned Sweden Rock Festival service and quality is retained. 

This year's line-up is one that will have rock fans around the world salivating with anticipation and eager to jet off to the Scandinavian event. The festival will feature performances by legendary bands such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Deep Purple and (most excitedly for Johann) Europe. In addition, a slew of exciting newer bands with ever growing reputations will be there including Ghost, Gojira, Avatar, Employed to Serve and Spiritbox. But let’s not limit our excitement to just those because, to be fair, the organisers have lined up an awesome selection of bands throughout the festival, ensuring every punter has something to look forward to.

Sweden Rock Festival offers not only the best music in the world but also a fantastic festival area with excellent service and hospitality. With five stages, each artist gets a decent set length, and the organisers also work hard to ensure that punters have access to loads of different kinds of food (with queues genuinely kept to a minimum I’ve been promised). The festival area is also continuously cleaned throughout the event, to ensure that guests can enjoy sitting on the grass slopes. Finally, the all-important factor of toilets - and I’ve been led to believe that instead of overfilled porta-loos, the have clean, vacuum-flushing toilets provided. Heaven.

Sweden Rock Festival has a reputation for being one of the best-organised festivals in the world, and I can’t wait to experience it in person. I’m looking forward to a calm (but hard rocking), good-natured experience with a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Johann and I will be off on our adventure for the full festival from June 7th to 10th 2023, and you can expect plenty of content and full coverage on our site as soon as we can get it out to you. Vi ses snart!