2011
2011 was the year that would be remembered as the start to the magnificent and euphoric event that we today know as the Summerburst Festival. With crowd pulling acts like Swedish rising star Avicii, Stockholm born Eric Prydz and French legend David Guetta the downtown festival served up a list of top artists. Together they entered Stockholm Stadion and delivered a show that really set the foundation for coming years on the Swedish festival scene.
Going back to August 2010 the company SPG Live had the brilliant idea to start a festival with DJ’s performing, both international and Swedish. They had to be the best that could be booked. The festival industry at this point didn’t recognize that there was a need for a festival of this kind and scope in Sweden, but the organizer did. Leading up to the festival a theme song was released that was meant to represent Summerburst that year. Swedish producers and DJ’s Darwin & Backwall got picked to do it and the song was called simply ”Summerburst”. In the first year of the festival 13,000 people visited Summerburst, on June 4, at Stockholm Olympic Stadium (’Stockholms Stadion’). And with artists such as Avicii, Eric Prydz, David Guetta, Dada Life, Sebjak, Adrian Lux and John Dahlbäck, the success was a fact.
In 2011 Sweden was as if in a vacuum. The worlds biggest DJ’s and producers that were performing all over the world, on the biggest stages and living like rock stars, were Swedes. Avicii was that year to release the hit ’Levels’, that became singalong to the EDM audience all over the world even before it had been released. The Swedish group Swedish House Mafia was touring the world and internationally house music was about to peak — as was the lifestyle of the DJ’s. But our Swedish stars had no place where they could show off their full works in their home country. In Sweden the audience slowly had started to discover the appeal of electronic music. House, also known as EDM (Electronic Dance Music), was well known in some circles, but for many years it had been a music style that was not played for the big crowds out at the clubs. It was mainly played at smaller parties and events, to a more ’underground’ audience. Now things were happening and EDM was suddenly playing hot in the nightclubs. When Summerburst started it gave more people the opportunity to dance at at festival, and also an opportunity for the creators of the music to reach a new, larger audience. The music that for many years had been played in different basement clubs now had a place on a really big stage. This was new for everybody, both old and new fans, and resulted in what we today know as Summerburst. The audience could choose their own zone of comfort at the festival, in the VIP area or on the dance floor, in the bar or at the very front of the crowd. The festival had something for everyone!