Growing up a Canadian metalhead, the music festival experience was scattered to say the least. Sure, there were pockets of different genres that celebrated their worlds, but nothing came close to the European festival experience that germinated in the late ‘80s and then exploded in the ‘90s and 2000s. And you name the country in Europe in particular, it is a major focus for fans, bands and promoters! And Sweden is no exception as the success of Sweden Rock displayed, but there is a new kid in town that aims to take the festival experience to a new level. It’s called Time To Rock, held at the Knislinge People’s Park in Knislinge, Sweden (about 110 km from Malmö and 153 km from Copenhagen, Denmark).
BraveWords’ “Metal” Tim Henderson recently spoke with Johannes Lindström, the Senior Advisor for the Time To Rock Festival, who gave us a full tour of the event, where it all began and what does the future hold. What time is it? It’s Time To Rock!
BraveWords: Talk to me about the roots of Sweden Rock and what was your mission? It became one of the most respected and most-visited festivals in the world.
Johannes Lindström: “To make a very long story short, the embryo to the festival was raised by a guy named Ingolf Persson, who started the festival, in a different name, already back in 1992. He felt that there were not many classic hard rock bands playing in Sweden. The festival was never a big success when it came to economy, but got a cult status as a fantastic festival to visit and Ingolf was the visionary. For me and many others it became a yearly high point. Then in the fall of 2000, Ingolf reached out to my, at the time, boss Michael Ivarsson at Record Heaven and asked if Michael wanted to take over the festival as it lost money the year before and the financier left the sinking ship . So after a lot of thinking, Michael decided to give it a shot, and he brought me into the whole thing. Michael was the brain behind making the festival’s economy stable. That was the first thing to do. And the most important thing! After a slow start, with a pretty modest and “cheap” line-up in 2001, and hard work, the festival started to grow slowly but surely and then it took off. 2004 was a big year. We got a comeback for the band Europe and a Judas Priest reunited with Rob Halford. And that made Sweden Rock go from a pretty good festival to a major festival. Sweden Rock was on the map all around the world. From the start we also brought in the guys from the fanzine Bright Eyes and they renamed that to Sweden Rock Magazine. Also a very important thing for us. Now we had our own magazine as well and with those guys we also got even more experience. A great brain trust and the thing was that we were all burning for the music. We were not just business men. We were also big fans of the music. And that is what made Sweden Rock what it is today. Then in 2011, Michael sold Sweden Rock to, I think, nine of us and we kept the festival growing and growing to one of most well renowned rock festivals in the world. Then in 2017 we sold the festival to Live Nation, then came COVID and after that, pretty much everyone from the 2001 re-start left, moving abroad etc and I was pretty much the last of the 2001-guys that left Sweden Rock in 2022. It was a decision made for different reasons. Family was number one, but also the fact that after 22 years, it is a good reason to move on, no matter what. And the festival was not the same anymore. Going in another direction that I wanted to go. Nothing wrong with that at all. Things evolve, but I just felt that it was time for me to do something else. My first idea was to sit on the porch drinking Gin & Tonic and play World of Warcraft for the rest of my life, but after a while something else came in between…”
BraveWords: Now it’s “Time To Rock” literally! Origins of the name and the transition… ?
Johannes Lindström: “Over the years, me and Michael stayed in touch and I helped him out with a few things now and then. After I quit Sweden Rock I was quarantined for a while. During that time Michael told me about this little festival not far from here that he helped with some bands etc. He told me to contact them. If I was still interested in doing something in the music business. So once again, to make a long story short. January 1st 2024, I stepped in as Senior Advisor at Time To Rock. The festival used to be called Helgeåfestivalen, named after the creek Helge that runs through the festival area. They had Time To Rock as a kind of slogan before and to make the festival name more…understandable, they changed it to Time To Rock Festival. It was more in your face and more…rock! One thing I want to mention is the people that were Time To Rock long before us, in particular Andreas Martinsson, the festival general who started the festival back in 2006 and Patrik Salomonsson who has been the spider in the web for many years. Those guys and other people in the inner circuit have really welcomed me and my experience in the business. They are a fantastic bunch and we came to a set smorgasbord and a fantastic organization and I have only changed a few ingredients. Sometimes it’s easy to tell people what to do, as you have seen the mistakes being made many times before. But I am trying not to be a wise-guy. And sometimes I succeed.”
BraveWords: What genres / eras do you focus on?
Johannes Lindström: “As Michael already started to help the festival with bookings, they had started a course change when I came in. Looking back at that festival, it was all over the place genre-wise. What we are doing now is taking up the concept we once created and now are pretty much lost everywhere. Classic hard rock and heavy metal, spiced with some blues etc. And we still burn for bands that never played Sweden before. You know. Bands that the real rock audience listened to, but never had a chance to see live. We book acts we listened to back in the days, but of course, in a mix with new bands. We try to create a concept for rockers from all ages, but the main focus is on the bands from the ’70s and ’80s. We are not trying to invent the wheel again and we are not just seeing the festival as a company, but as a living creature, born to give rockers a good time. There is nothing better than standing at the festival site looking at all the people having a great time looking at a great band. That is worth more than money!”
BraveWords: Aside from concerts, talk to me about other amenities and activities etc…
Johannes Lindström: “The festival is located in the little town Knislinge in southern Sweden. Just 90 minutes by train or car from Copenhagen/Malmö and 20 minutes from Kristianstad, which is the biggest city close to the festival. The camping site is right by the festival area and most people come with mobile homes or caravans and of course a lot of campers as well. There are hotels in the nearby cities and buses to take people back and forth. Our goals (or our rules) is to keep the festival cozy. We hate long queues and when a festival is too crowded. We keep the festival in a size that makes people come back. The feeling that everything should be close and not so crowded that you can hardly see the artists on stage. Cozy is the guiding word in everything we do.”
BraveWords: For those of you who us collectors, tell me about your vending partners.
Johannes Lindström: “We have vendors who sell vinyl and cd. Our audience are 99% music lovers. So people who are only there to party are not too many. That also creates a fantastic atmosphere. We also have tattoo artists for those of you who collect tattoos. Well, we do have a lot of vendors selling everything from deer kebab to sex toys. There is a lot to do and look at besides the music. And fishing in the creek should be really good from what I have heard.”
BraveWords: How easy and accessible is the festival for those travelling outside of Sweden?
Johannes Lindström: “It is very easy. You just fly into Copenhagen in Denmark. Then you jump on a train at the airport that takes you over the bridge to Sweden and straight to the city Kristianstad. From there you just take the bus to the festival. Takes 25 minutes. Easy! There are also hotels in Kristianstad and other nearby cities like Hässleholm, Broby, Osby etc.”
BraveWords: My first taste of a European Festival was Wacken in the early ‘90s. It totally blew my mind and my life was changed forever. As organizers, do you realize how you change lives forever?
Johannes Lindström: “During the years I have realized, many times, that we create history for people. If we are changing their lives? Well, I know many who met at the festival and then got married. Some even got divorced. So that changes people’s lives. Joking aside, yes I think a festival can change peoples life. An experience is a strong force. I hope we have, and will bring, joy, experiences and fun to people as long as we are doing what we are doing.”
BraveWords: Is Time To Rock friendly to families and all ages and sizes?
Johannes Lindström: “Absolutely. The atmosphere at Time To Rock is fantastic and we have people from all over the world and of all ages. I mean, if you were 18 years old when you heard the first Thin Lizzy album, well, then you are way past 70 now. And during that time you have forced your kids and grandkids to listen to rock music. Rock will never die.”
BraveWords: Aside from music and the people, two of the most important things at a festival is food and beer! Talk about that experience.
Johannes Lindström: “One thing that we are working with is to have a good mix of different food vendors. You should maybe stay for four days, so having a nice selection of food is important. We are also trying to keep the cost down on food and drinks, as we think that prices on festivals and everywhere today are ridiculously high. We want people to think ‘oh that’s not expensive.’ That goes like a red thread through everything we sell. Food, drinks, merch etc. We also have very cheap camping and we have free parking for cars and motorcycles. We don’t want people to go broke partying at Time To Rock. The vendors that are coming to us can of course have their own prices, but we keep a dialogue with them about pricing and we are doing pretty good.”
BraveWords: What does the future hold for Time To Rock?
Johannes Lindström: “As I said at first, I saw the rest of my life with Gin & Tonic and World of Warcraft, but now Time To Rock is the future for me. It’s fun again. It’s fun planning, fun booking all those bands and if I look like five years ahead I see Time To Rock saying SOLD OUT. Around 7000 people per day is a good number. And hopefully we will reach that in 2026, but maybe already this year, as the interest for the festival skyrocketed the last couple of years. So I think the future looks good and I hope to see many Canadians at Time To Rock.”
For more information visit their website, Time To Rock.
(Photos – Stefan Johansson)
The post What Time Is It Sweden? It’s Time To Rock! appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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BraveWords: Talk to me about the roots of Sweden Rock and what was your mission? It became one of the most respected and most-visited festivals in the world.
Johannes Lindström: “To make a very long story short, the embryo to the festival was raised by a guy named Ingolf Persson, who started the festival, in a different name, already back in 1992. He felt that there were not many classic hard rock bands playing in Sweden. The festival was never a big success when it came to economy, but got a cult status as a fantastic festival to visit and Ingolf was the visionary. For me and many others it became a yearly high point. Then in the fall of 2000, Ingolf reached out to my, at the time, boss Michael Ivarsson at Record Heaven and asked if Michael wanted to take over the festival as it lost money the year before and the financier left the sinking ship . So after a lot of thinking, Michael decided to give it a shot, and he brought me into the whole thing. Michael was the brain behind making the festival’s economy stable. That was the first thing to do. And the most important thing! After a slow start, with a pretty modest and “cheap” line-up in 2001, and hard work, the festival started to grow slowly but surely and then it took off. 2004 was a big year. We got a comeback for the band Europe and a Judas Priest reunited with Rob Halford. And that made Sweden Rock go from a pretty good festival to a major festival. Sweden Rock was on the map all around the world. From the start we also brought in the guys from the fanzine Bright Eyes and they renamed that to Sweden Rock Magazine. Also a very important thing for us. Now we had our own magazine as well and with those guys we also got even more experience. A great brain trust and the thing was that we were all burning for the music. We were not just business men. We were also big fans of the music. And that is what made Sweden Rock what it is today. Then in 2011, Michael sold Sweden Rock to, I think, nine of us and we kept the festival growing and growing to one of most well renowned rock festivals in the world. Then in 2017 we sold the festival to Live Nation, then came COVID and after that, pretty much everyone from the 2001 re-start left, moving abroad etc and I was pretty much the last of the 2001-guys that left Sweden Rock in 2022. It was a decision made for different reasons. Family was number one, but also the fact that after 22 years, it is a good reason to move on, no matter what. And the festival was not the same anymore. Going in another direction that I wanted to go. Nothing wrong with that at all. Things evolve, but I just felt that it was time for me to do something else. My first idea was to sit on the porch drinking Gin & Tonic and play World of Warcraft for the rest of my life, but after a while something else came in between…”
BraveWords: Now it’s “Time To Rock” literally! Origins of the name and the transition… ?
Johannes Lindström: “Over the years, me and Michael stayed in touch and I helped him out with a few things now and then. After I quit Sweden Rock I was quarantined for a while. During that time Michael told me about this little festival not far from here that he helped with some bands etc. He told me to contact them. If I was still interested in doing something in the music business. So once again, to make a long story short. January 1st 2024, I stepped in as Senior Advisor at Time To Rock. The festival used to be called Helgeåfestivalen, named after the creek Helge that runs through the festival area. They had Time To Rock as a kind of slogan before and to make the festival name more…understandable, they changed it to Time To Rock Festival. It was more in your face and more…rock! One thing I want to mention is the people that were Time To Rock long before us, in particular Andreas Martinsson, the festival general who started the festival back in 2006 and Patrik Salomonsson who has been the spider in the web for many years. Those guys and other people in the inner circuit have really welcomed me and my experience in the business. They are a fantastic bunch and we came to a set smorgasbord and a fantastic organization and I have only changed a few ingredients. Sometimes it’s easy to tell people what to do, as you have seen the mistakes being made many times before. But I am trying not to be a wise-guy. And sometimes I succeed.”
BraveWords: What genres / eras do you focus on?
Johannes Lindström: “As Michael already started to help the festival with bookings, they had started a course change when I came in. Looking back at that festival, it was all over the place genre-wise. What we are doing now is taking up the concept we once created and now are pretty much lost everywhere. Classic hard rock and heavy metal, spiced with some blues etc. And we still burn for bands that never played Sweden before. You know. Bands that the real rock audience listened to, but never had a chance to see live. We book acts we listened to back in the days, but of course, in a mix with new bands. We try to create a concept for rockers from all ages, but the main focus is on the bands from the ’70s and ’80s. We are not trying to invent the wheel again and we are not just seeing the festival as a company, but as a living creature, born to give rockers a good time. There is nothing better than standing at the festival site looking at all the people having a great time looking at a great band. That is worth more than money!”
BraveWords: Aside from concerts, talk to me about other amenities and activities etc…
Johannes Lindström: “The festival is located in the little town Knislinge in southern Sweden. Just 90 minutes by train or car from Copenhagen/Malmö and 20 minutes from Kristianstad, which is the biggest city close to the festival. The camping site is right by the festival area and most people come with mobile homes or caravans and of course a lot of campers as well. There are hotels in the nearby cities and buses to take people back and forth. Our goals (or our rules) is to keep the festival cozy. We hate long queues and when a festival is too crowded. We keep the festival in a size that makes people come back. The feeling that everything should be close and not so crowded that you can hardly see the artists on stage. Cozy is the guiding word in everything we do.”
BraveWords: For those of you who us collectors, tell me about your vending partners.
Johannes Lindström: “We have vendors who sell vinyl and cd. Our audience are 99% music lovers. So people who are only there to party are not too many. That also creates a fantastic atmosphere. We also have tattoo artists for those of you who collect tattoos. Well, we do have a lot of vendors selling everything from deer kebab to sex toys. There is a lot to do and look at besides the music. And fishing in the creek should be really good from what I have heard.”
BraveWords: How easy and accessible is the festival for those travelling outside of Sweden?
Johannes Lindström: “It is very easy. You just fly into Copenhagen in Denmark. Then you jump on a train at the airport that takes you over the bridge to Sweden and straight to the city Kristianstad. From there you just take the bus to the festival. Takes 25 minutes. Easy! There are also hotels in Kristianstad and other nearby cities like Hässleholm, Broby, Osby etc.”
BraveWords: My first taste of a European Festival was Wacken in the early ‘90s. It totally blew my mind and my life was changed forever. As organizers, do you realize how you change lives forever?
Johannes Lindström: “During the years I have realized, many times, that we create history for people. If we are changing their lives? Well, I know many who met at the festival and then got married. Some even got divorced. So that changes people’s lives. Joking aside, yes I think a festival can change peoples life. An experience is a strong force. I hope we have, and will bring, joy, experiences and fun to people as long as we are doing what we are doing.”
BraveWords: Is Time To Rock friendly to families and all ages and sizes?
Johannes Lindström: “Absolutely. The atmosphere at Time To Rock is fantastic and we have people from all over the world and of all ages. I mean, if you were 18 years old when you heard the first Thin Lizzy album, well, then you are way past 70 now. And during that time you have forced your kids and grandkids to listen to rock music. Rock will never die.”
BraveWords: Aside from music and the people, two of the most important things at a festival is food and beer! Talk about that experience.
Johannes Lindström: “One thing that we are working with is to have a good mix of different food vendors. You should maybe stay for four days, so having a nice selection of food is important. We are also trying to keep the cost down on food and drinks, as we think that prices on festivals and everywhere today are ridiculously high. We want people to think ‘oh that’s not expensive.’ That goes like a red thread through everything we sell. Food, drinks, merch etc. We also have very cheap camping and we have free parking for cars and motorcycles. We don’t want people to go broke partying at Time To Rock. The vendors that are coming to us can of course have their own prices, but we keep a dialogue with them about pricing and we are doing pretty good.”
BraveWords: What does the future hold for Time To Rock?
Johannes Lindström: “As I said at first, I saw the rest of my life with Gin & Tonic and World of Warcraft, but now Time To Rock is the future for me. It’s fun again. It’s fun planning, fun booking all those bands and if I look like five years ahead I see Time To Rock saying SOLD OUT. Around 7000 people per day is a good number. And hopefully we will reach that in 2026, but maybe already this year, as the interest for the festival skyrocketed the last couple of years. So I think the future looks good and I hope to see many Canadians at Time To Rock.”
For more information visit their website, Time To Rock.
(Photos – Stefan Johansson)
The post What Time Is It Sweden? It’s Time To Rock! appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...