Peace & Love was the largest music festival in Sweden, known for its humanitarian message, pervasive throughout the event. It started in Borlänge and ran from 1999 until the company filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
The Peace & Love Crew announced that they would continue to do the much loved festival and in 2014 the festival was back on under the name "Peace & Love World Forum". Since then it has expanded and gone back to its old name "Peace & Love". The festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and shortly the festival declared bankruptcy.
History The Peace & Love Festival was first held in 1999, as a reaction to the ongoing violence. The first festival was held at a club in central Borlänge, with about 900 attendees. Since then the festival was held at different locations in central Borlänge. The Peace & Love Festival was one of Scandinavia's fastest-growing festivals. In 2006 there were 15,000 visitors per day, with over 37,000 people attending in total. The 10th Peace & Love Festival was in 2008 and had a record of 25000 visitors, which made it the second biggest festival in Sweden.
2008 The tickets sold out as early as 23 May, and the festival got a lot of attention in nationwide media. 2008 was celebrated as the tenth festival. Artist that played, amongst others, were Sex Pistols [UK], Manu Chao [FR/ES], Kent, Teddybears, The Wombats [UK], Crystal Castles [CAN]. As a late surprise Roky Ericson and The Nomads was announced.
2009 The festival was held between 22 June and 27 June. This year Peace & Love became Sweden's biggest festival with 41 685 tickets sold. Some of the bands and artists were: Mötley Crüe (US), The Kooks (UK), Volbeat (DK), Milow (BE), Keane (UK), Thåström and Håkan Hellström.
2010 In 2010, the event took place between 28 June and 3 July - the same weekend as other major Scandinavian festivals Roskilde Festival and Hove Festival. The festival sold 42 000 tickets. This year, amongst others, Jay-Z, Lily Allen, Patti Smith, The Kooks and Kent played.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Dates: 5–6 August Dates: 4–5 August Dates: 3–4 August Dates: 5–6 July Dates: 4–5 July Dates: 8–10 July Number of days: 2 Number of days: 2 Number of days: 2 Number of days: 2 Number of days: 2 Number of days: 3 Visitors: 900 Visitors: 2 500 Visitors: 3 000 Visitors: 3 500 Visitors: 8 500 Visitors: 10 000 Artists: Ark Ken The Nomads Artists: Thåström Lars Winnerbäck Skurkarna Artists: Sator Backyard Babies Rikard Wolff Artists: The Latin Kings Sophie Zelmani Infinite Mass Artists: The Ark The Sounds Jakob Hellman Artists: Motörhead [UK] Hanoi Rocks [FI] Broder Daniel 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Dates: 8–9 July Dates: 4–8 July Dates: 26–30 June Dates: 23–28 June Dates: 22–27 June Dates: 28 June – 3 July Number of days: 2 Number of days: 5 Number of days: 5 Number of days: 6 Number of days: 6 Number of days: 6 Visitors: 10 000 Visitors: 15 000 Visitors: 20 000 Visitors: 25 000 Visitors: 41 685 Visitors: 42 000 Artists: Ulf Lundell Thomas Di Leva Håkan Hellström Artists: Patti Smith [US] New York Dolls [US] The Cardigans Artists: Iggy & The Stooges [US] Alice Cooper [US] The Ark Artists: Sex Pistols [UK] Manu Chao [FR/ES] Kent Artists: Mötley Crüe [US] Håkan Hellström Faith No More [US] Artists: Jay-Z [US] Lily Allen [UK] Patti Smith [US]
Theme Each year, Peace & Love focuses on a subject that they theme the festival on.
Past years' themes 2004 - Freedom of Speech 2005 - Environment 2006 - Democracy 2007 - Revolution 2008 - Wake Up! 2009 - Passion 2010 - Freedom 2011 - Courage, hope and love 2012 - A new World 2013 - Time For Peace - Cancelled 2014 - Diversity 2015 - Rise Of The Citizen
Artists Over the years, artists such as Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Vitalic, Jay-Z, Tech N9ne, Lily Allen, Them Crooked Vultures, Alice Cooper, Slayer, W.A.S.P., Surkin, NOFX, Ed Harcourt, Vive la Fête, Hanoi Rocks, Motörhead, Cut Copy, and Khonnor, Familjen, Rootvälta, Den Svenska Björnstammen, Miike Snow, Name The Pet, The Cardigans, Thåström, Håkan Hellström, The Sounds, Mando Diao, Lars Winnerbäck, Ulf Lundell, The Hives, Looptroop, The Hellacopters and Silverbullit, among many others. The band which has played the most often at the Peace & Love festival is Sugarplum Fairy, a rock band from Borlänge whose two singers, Carl and Victor, are younger brothers of Gustaf Norén from the better-known band Mando Diao, also a rock band from Borlänge. Sugarplum Fairy has played every year since 2001.
Some of the bands that have played:
1999 – Ken, The Ark, The Motorhomes 2000 – Joakim Thåström, Lars Winnerbäck, Mando Diao, Michael Monroe, The (International) Noise Conspiracy 2001 – Backyard Babies, Rikard Wolff, Sator, Rootvälta 2002 – The Latin Kings, Sophie Zelmani, Infinite Mass, The Sounds, Sugarplum Fairy 2003 – Jakob Hellman, The Ark, The Sounds, Pain, Moneybrother, Steve Wynn, Rootvälta 2004 – Motörhead, Hanoi Rocks, Broder Daniel, Marit Bergman, Lisa Miskovsky, Eldkvarn, Timbuktu 2005 – Cut Copy, Ulf Lundell, Thomas Di Leva, The Hellacopters, Håkan Hellström, Nationalteatern, Khonnor 2006 – Patti Smith, New York Dolls, The Cardigans, Ed Harcourt, Dia Psalma, Thåström, Håkan Hellström 2007 – Iggy & The Stooges, Alice Cooper, Damien Rice, Jason Mraz, Backyard Babies, The Ark, Sahara Hotnights, Meshuggah, Dia Psalma, Mando Diao, Snook, Crashdïet, The Horrors, Lars Winnerbäck (secret act). 2008 - Sex Pistols, Manu Chao, Thåström, Kent, Håkan Hellström, The Hives, In Flames, W.A.S.P, Jason Mraz, Suzanne Vega, The Hellacopters, Millencolin, Adam Tensta, Pugh Rogefeldt, De Lyckliga Kompisarna, Roky Erickson (secret act). 2009 - Turbonegro, Keane, Slagsmålsklubben, Lars Winnerbäck, Volbeat, Faith No More, Satyricon, Thåström, The Stranglers, Håkan Hellström, Pete Doherty, Mötley Crüe, Mando Diao, Carl Barât, Babyshambles, Chris Cornell, Monster Magnet, Razorlight, Psilodump. 2010 - Jay-Z, Them Crooked Vultures, Patti Smith, Lily Allen, The Kooks, Alice in Chains, John Fogerty, Mew, Vitalic, Familjen, Tech N9ne, Miike Snow, Surkin, Sick of it All, Hardcore Superstar, Brother Ali, Amanda Jenssen, Taylor Mali, Kent, The Hives 2011 - Bob Dylan, Bob Geldof, Jesse Jackson, Kings of Leon, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Ziggy Marley, M.I.A, The Strokes, Deadmau5 2012 - Rihanna, Skrillex, Regina Spektor, Mumford & Sons, Edguy, Dropkick Murphys, John Hiatt, Roxette, Kent, Billy Idol, The Shins, Christina Perri, Simple Plan 2013 - (Cancelled) Depeche Mode, Queens Of The Stone Age, Håkan Hellström, Iggy & The Stooges, Johnossi, First Aid Kit, Macklemore, Graveyard 2014 - Miss Li, Johnossi, Melissa Horn, Stefan Sundström, INVSN, Ebbot Lundberg 2015 - Veronica Maggio, D-A-D, Jill Johnson, Ola Salo, Doug Seeger, Petter, Timbuktu, 99Plajo, Judah & The Lion
Peace & Love City bandy club In 2016, the festival started a cooperation with the leading local bandy club, which led the bandy club to change its names from Borlänge Bandy to Peace & Love City.Bandypuls: "Borlänge Bandy byter namn – heter nu Peace & Love City", 1 September 2016 , läst 6 August 2017
References
External links Peace & Love homepage