QN5 Music

Hultsfred Festival 2007 Recap

Posted 4 years, 10 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 4 hours, 46 minutes ago by Tonedeff

My throat’s itching.

Whether or not it was the rainy weather, the meet & greet with the fans, or the 16+ hr. each-way-commute will probably never be determined, but what can be said without question was that – Tonedeff & PackFM represented lovely at this year’s Hultsfred Festival in Sweden this past weekend.

I’m here doing a mental inventory of all the funny little tidbits from the trip I could possibly share but my jet-lag is kicking in pretty heavy right now. Of course, tonight is Poison Pen’s release party for his latest CD, Mark of the East (be sure to cop that). I produced 2 cuts on there (“Stoopid” and “Brooklyn Board Of Tourism”). I promised him I’d do a set, so I gotta put on my rally cap and show love. I know Pen would do the same, cause he always has. Since, I got a couple hours to kill before I have to face yet another jaded NYC crowd, I figure I’ll give you the skinny.

OVERSOLD TICKETS

So, the flight’s at 3 pm. Tickets to Sweden are expensive as fuck, so we booked em months ago for this gig…and thanks to CheapTickets.com we almost didnt make both flights because we were told they oversold the tickets….Oversold the ti—- What in the FUCK?!!

Seriously, what the fuck kinda racket with the government does the airline industry have that enables them to do crooked shit like that? I mean… I pay nearly $1900 for 2 plane tickets and we show up be told that we’re on “Standby” because they didn’t figure everyone would show up for the flight?! SWALLOW MY COCK, YOU CROOKED AIRLINE THIEF FUCKS! I’m sorry, I get a tad carried away…I just hate traveling with a passion, so every little instance like that just adds to my frustration with it.

So…1 Hour connecting flight from Laguardia to Philly… 1 layover ..8 hour flight to Stockholm, Sweden… 4 hour drive from Stockholm to Hultsfred. Factoring in all the flight delays, driving and layovers, I’d say it took 15 to 16 hours each way. Thank god we love performing.

I MAKE IT SNOW, I MAKE IT SNOW!

Seriously, why make the tag so big if it’s not supposed to come off?

Apparently, Pack has a fetish for camouflage patterns, much in the same way that my mother has an affinity for leopard print (I’m seriously not kidding). So, when he eyed one of those neck-pillows they sell in airports with a camo print, he was sold on sight. Once on the plane, he realized that the shit was uncomfortable as fuck. I noticed that the tag was still on it…so being the petty criminal he is, he decided to ignore all federal warnings about tag removal and yank the shit off.

Instant Snow. Nicely done, Pack. 7 Hours later, the floor looks we had a coke smuggling mishap. Not the best look when you’re the darkest dudes on the plane. I’m still picking them shits out of my gear.

Watch the miracle of snow on a plane

FESTIVAL DAY:2

We arrived in Hultsfred around 3 pm Swedish time (they’re ahead 7 hours). Pack & I were cooked, so we passed out for about 2 hours before heading into the festival to see some of the acts that were performing. Bad Taste Events definitely held it down on the promo tip for us, and we saw these nifty posters all over the place.

We arrived just in-time for Wolfmother, who quickly became one of our favorites after we checked them at Lollapalooza. I was wondering where all the flying bodies were (ala Lolla), but apparently there was a strict “No Crowd Surfing” rule in effect at the festival.

Pack was very sad about this. Nonetheless they still bodied their shit and remain one of our festival go-tos.

We hung out at the backstage/artist lounge area for a bit, and the fun part of being black/latino in Sweden is that you stick out and at a festival like this, everyone thinks you’re famous. I can’t even begin to count how many times someone mistook Pack for 50 Cent (Sadly, I’m not kidding). This one chick in particular took a kind liking to Pack and decided that he was the worthiest recipient of drunken conversation in the backstage area. Gotta love Greenland.

Drunk Women From Greenland Love PackFM

We managed to catch Ozzie Osbourne playing to a gigantic crowd. Ozzie is hysterical live – he curses non-stop (ala the MTV show) and he’s all like old and stuff…but still bugs the fuck out. At one point, he had his guitarist do an old school metal guitar-solo in the middle of the show. Now, I can appreciate some technical playing, etc…but son, this shit seemed to go on for about 10 minutes straight without a break.

Pack & I, along with Jonas from the the band Quit Your Dayjob and his girl decided that this had to be some sort of stalling technique that would allow Ozzie to take a shit during his set. Maybe ole’ Oz didn’t get enough fiber that day cause this solo dragged out like Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show (drumroll). The dude would literally stop… look offstage, shrug and keep going. All I could think was ‘Ex-Lax, Ozzie..Ex-Lax next time!’

I caught Amy Winehouse for the first time. Added to the fact that she was backed by The Dap Kings (minus Sharon Jones – they’re one of the best soul bands around) and the world’s most entertaining backup singer, I’d say she SOUNDS pretty good. Still, Amy being Amy, she was hammered to the teeth, slurring words and then subsequently forgetting them mid-song from time to time. She actually had a roadie who’s sole purpose in life was to bring her more drinks as she ran through cups on stage. Now, I’m all for theatrics… but damn. That rehab shit is no joke. hahah

Do y’all understand anything she’s sayin here? Me neither.

We managed to catch 50 Cent live for the first time. Apparently, Tony Yayo wasn’t allowed out of the country because of his criminal record, so it was his first time out of the USA. Dude was fuckin AMPED. He was on some superstar shit… highly entertaining. Normally, when you see 50 live (at least from the show videos I’ve seen), it’s basically “Where’s Waldo Starring 50 Cent” with 107 muffuckas from his entourage screaming adlibs to the point where you can’t see or hear the kid… but it was just him, Yayo & Whoo Kid on stage and they definitely held it down. Granted, it wasn’t the most amazing performance I’ve ever seen, but dude just has an endless supply of hits.

One after the next, the crowd lit up and lit up and lit up. Also, there’s some sort of weird connection you have seeing two cats on stage from the same part of the world as you…in a completely foreign part of the country…you just automatically show love. So, we did. Now if only we could hold some kind of intervention and get him to stop re-singing the same hook over and over. PS. Whoo Kid actually blew out them festival speakers…I didn’t think it was possible…but it happened.

My find of the night was a brazillian band called Bonde Do Role. I wasn’t familiar with them at all, but their stage show was completely kinetic and wild (Y’all know how much I love that shit). It’s a fat DJ, a rapper kid and a little mini brazillian version of Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Just totally over the top electro-bass-rock-techno-carnivale music with shout choruses and sing songy breaks. I was a damn dancing fool. By the end of their set, they had a threeway dry-hump, smashed bananas on their heads and were stripped down to their underwear. If that ain’t a show…I don’t know what the fuck is.

Hulstfred, Sweden apparently only gets about 4 hours of darkness around this time of the year, so here it was @ 3 AM and the sun is out like it’s 3 pm. Bizarre. We walked around for a bit and found some bland pasta and proceeded to call it a night. Tomorrow was show day.

FESTIVAL DAY:3 – THE SHOW WAS BANANAS

We peeled ourselves out of the coma-cots in the guest room and managed to make sound check @ 3:30 pm. We were scheduled to rock @ 5 pm and I didn’t think we’d have that thorough of a crowd that early, but damn was I wrong. When we hit the stage, the shit was packed to the gills, with people lined up watching on the outside. That was all the electricity we needed to shift into fifth gear and take it over the top.

Pack & I went back to back with joints, ranging from “Great God” to “Pervert” to “Ruthless”. This crowd was OPEN. I know I’ve said this a million times, but QN5 stage shows are built for large crowds, and it clearly shows when we get in the proper settings (ie. Festivals, etc). Once we got into “Stomp” and “Issawn” – that shit was a wrap. Security was flippin out cause we kept dipping into the crowd. I believe Pack even had a ‘Hass-like’ moment, rhyming on someone’s shoulders at some point. Hahah. Stage dives ensued and I was very happy with the situation. Definitely the most fun I’ve had in a while.

Since y’all prolly weren’t there, here are some highlights from the show.

On a side note, some chick gave Pack a banana while I was performing “Pervert”. We laughed cause that’s some freak shit, and Pack left it on the DJ stand. At the end of the set, I flung it into the crowd. (Metaphor anyone?).

As we’re selling merch outside, this dude comes up to me and says “You hit me in the eye with the banana!”. At first I thought, “Ayo” and then I said… “Oh shit man, my bad! Yo, can I get a picture?” How could I leave y’all out of that experience?! I felt bad for him, so I gave him a free CD, etc. This just continues the long standing tradition of people getting hurt at QN5 shows and cherishing it. Blue Schoolers are the best fans on the planet.

REMAINS OF THE DAY

The second the autographs, photos and merch transactions ceased, the rain started to fall as if on cue. It didn’t really stop for the rest of the day…which made for a hella muddy experience. Of course, this didn’t help my formerly-brand-new-shell-tops any. They’re now officially “used”.

I did a couple interviews with the press, etc. I hung out at the backstage bar and talked shop with a cat named Karl from the Swedish band, Logh. Their new record “North” is fuckin brilliant, be sure to pick it up. Maybe a collaboration is in the works? Who knows.

Apparently, Joell Ortiz couldn’t make it out to the festival as planned, which sucks cause I was looking forward to meeting dude. Domingo’s been doing a lot of work with him as of late and has nothing but good things to say about him. Maybe next time.

We trekked around the festival some more and caught some random acts here and there. We had to leave Hultsfred at 3 am and go straight to the Airport (4 hours away) to catch our flight in the morning, so essentially we spent the rest of the afternoon winding down and being festival goers till it was time to jet. It started to rain like hell again towards the end of the night, so we were basically soaked…that’s prolly why I’m sick now.

IN CLOSING

Hultsfred was definitely the first highlight of my summer. I have this SIDESHOW event comin up with Louis Logic which should be hella interesting and groundbreaking for both of us, so that’ll prolly be next on the list…and of course the QN5 Megashow later this summer. Sweden, stand up! Y’all were amazing…and we’ll definitely be back!

Hollerate!
Tone.

PS. [Download 12:30 HQ MPG Here (115 MB)]

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