Arvika Festival ( sv, Arvikafestivalen) was an annual

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

held in

Arvika Arvika is a locality and the seat of Arvika Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 14,244 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The town of Arvika is situated at Kyrkviken, a bay of Glafsfjorden, Sweden's only inland fjord, a remnant of the time ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It took place during three days in the middle of July, from Thursday to Saturday, with camping available from the beginning of the week. The non-profit association "Galaxen" (Swedish for "The Galaxy") arranged the festival. Since the nineties, the festival had built up a tradition of booking many big synth bands. This was initially an unintended side effect: for the first festival in 1992 the arrangers had booked

Cat Rapes Dog Cat Rapes Dog is a Sweden, Swedish electropunk, electronic body music, EBM and heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed in 1984 by Joel Rydström and Magnus Fransson. Initially the band self-released a number of albums on cassette, (then a ...

Pouppée Fabrikk Pouppée Fabrikk is a Swedish EBM band, started in 1988 by Henrik Björkk and Leif Holm, who both hail from Karlskoga. History The band name has no meaning. It was constructed from a combination of the French word "Poupée" (''doll'') and Nor ...

and

S.P.O.C.K. S.P.O.C.K (aka Star Pilot On Channel K) is a Swedish synthpop band which formed around 1988. Background The band's original lineup was songwriter Eddie Bengtsson (formerly a founding member of Page), Finn Albertsson, and vocalist Alexander Hofm ...

and about 50% of the audience that showed up was actually mostly interested in these bands since no other festival booked many synth acts. However, along with the synth bands, internationally and nationally famous rock and pop acts visit the festival every year, attracting people not only interested in synth music. In 2006, somewhere between 15000 and 16000 people visited the festival, breaking a new record in ticket sales, and confirming the festival's spot as one of the big ones in Sweden. In 2009 the total number of tickets sold were 22500 including all three-day and one-day passes. Some of the most famous bands that have visited the festival include (in reverse chronological order): *

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

(2009) *

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

Death Cab For Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

(2008) *

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

Infected Mushroom Infected Mushroom is an Israeli musical duo formed in Haifa in 1996 by producers Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani. They produce and perform psytrance, electronica, dream trance and psychedelic music. They are one of the best-selling groups in Isra ...

(2007) *

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

(2006) * New Order (2005) *

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

(2004) *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

, HIM (2003) *

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

(2002) *

The Sisters Of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

(2001) *

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

(1999) *

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

(1995) *

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

Karl Bartos Karl Bartos (born 31 May 1952) is a German musician and composer known for his contributions to the electronic band Kraftwerk. Career Karlheinz Bartos was born on 31 May 1952 in Marktschellenberg, Germany, named after his grandfathers Karl and ...

as Elektric Music (1994) *

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

Die Krupps Die Krupps () ("The Krupps") is a German industrial metal/ EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf. The band has had a diverse range of musical influences over time, including the percussive industrial '' ...

(1993) In 2010 the lineup contained bands such as Babyshambles and Regina Spektor.

References

{{coord, 59, 38, 58.85, N, 12, 37, 12.07, E, display=title Recurring events established in 1992 Electronic music festivals in Sweden 2010 disestablishments in Sweden Summer events in Sweden