Rain, rain, rain... Hultsfred July 14

One day of festival and it rained the whole time. One could argue that it's the typical festival weather but no, not at Hultsfred. If it rained during my previous visits to this festival it was only for a shorter period, not a whole day and night like this time. Well, enough about the dreadful weather.

The weather did however affect which bands I saw and how I watched them perform. Like The Drums which I listened to from a far under a roof having a beer. Quite nice place in itself, where later DJs played good music, but I would have preferred standing much closer to the stage, had it not rained. And I didn't see much of Cut Copy, I only heard some songs.

The White stage, earlier called Teaterladan, and the Red stage both had roofs, the first one being a semi-open building and the latter being a tent, and that was very welcome this day. These stages also had some nice music being played at them. The first band I saw was Braids from Canada, at the White stage, nice music with surprises. The White stage/Teaterladan is also a favourite since I have had many good live experiences there earlier years; it was a good start.

Foster the People

Peter, Bjorn & John where scheduled to play the Red stage but due to sickness their gig was cancelled. A disappointment, but at the same stage I later saw a band that truly blew me away with their performance and music, and that band was Foster the People from the US. If you have the opportunity to go and see them live, do it!

At night I spent some hours at the Green stage watching Primal Scream play Screamadelica and later, of course, Suede. Primal Scream were good and made me dance and sign in the rain. And by the time Suede entered the stage I must say I was dripping, even though I had suitable clothes on. So I kind of appreciated the tweet by SuedeHQ on Friday:

Big pat on the back to everyone who braved the rain for last night's Suede set at Hultsfred, Primals were great too.

Suede and the rain...

The band had a lot of energy, and so did I. It truly was a unique experience standing in the pouring rain and being totally satisfied with the situation, after all it was Suede on stage. During Everything Will Flow it almost felt like the rain became heavier, but I might have imagined that. This gig made me lose my voice though, and I still can’t make a sound today! To be honest I wasn’t entirely well before the gig and the rain and the fact that I sang along to (well, tried to) every song by Suede, didn’t make things better. But I had a great time, Suede were great, and that’s what matter!

When Suede had played Beautiful Ones and left the stage I hurried through the mud in the darkness to the White stage to see the last band for the day. This is Head had only a couple of songs left when I got there so I can’t really say much about their gig, but I do like some of their songs.

I also saw some minor bands that I really didn't like, and some that were ok but not really my kind of music, but I won't use any more space here to mention them.

In the days to come I will listen to Tennis and Les Savy Fav that Gimme Indie broadcasted/recorded on Thursday. Due to the schedule I wasn’t able to see them live at the festival. And, of course there are all the bands that were broadcasted on Friday and Saturday to listen to as well; I do like Gimme Indie!