the sleeper has awoken

In my opinion, for the first time, I would say that Norway is giving Denmark a real competition when it comes to a music festival. Hove festival, which takes place on an island outside of Arendal, is practically an infant. It's first year was last year. But the guy booking for Hove is not at all an infant, he has been the one booking for Quart for years. And now he has made a festival for the people with a slightly more alternative taste than the people frequenting Quart. It is also for the people who appreciate beautiful scenery and nature and who would enjoy to take a dip in the ocean when it gets too hot (That is also an oppurtunity at Quart, but not at Roskilde!).

I agree that Roskilde has a few benefits over Hove, as for instance the price of beer and food. But hey, Hove more than weighs up for this with the fact that its on an island! HELLO, you have to go there by a ferry. How much more idyllic could it get..? And, you could be camping on your boat! by the boatcamping. I cant imagine something nicer than sleeping in a boat in stead of a wet tent (I have only been to sleepover festivals twice, Roskilde in 2004 and 2007. Believe me: it was wet).

I am sure that when people start opening their eyes up to Hove it will become a fullgrown competitor to Roskilde. It is fairly easy to get to Norway, quite inexpensive aswell.. ryanair and norwegian are a few of the low cost carriers that could probably take you from where you are and back really cheap. If you are in CPH you could for instance fly to my home town in 45 minutes, really cheap. (TORP is the airport). And from there on you get on a bus or a train to Arendal.

HERE is the lineup for this years Hove festival.

I cant wait to see the following: Animal Collective, Band of Horses, Black Kids, Black Lips, Crystle Castles, Deerhunter, Familjen, Hellacopters, Hercules and Love Affair, In Flames, KIM HIORTØY, Les Savy Fav, M.I.A, MGMT, MSTRKRFT, Skatebård, Slagsmålsklubben, St.Vincent, Surkin, The Cool Kids, The National Bank, The Teenagers, The Raconteurs, Vampire Weekend, White Rabbits, Yeasayer

I mean is this the festival from heaven or what? Have a look at the lineup yourself. I am sure you will find your own favourites among the bands booked.

Now whats left is to make sure I am off of work, and buy the tickets before they are sold out.

If you also wanna go, please let me know and we could hang out.





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I know its quite a subjective thing to say. because music tastes differ widely, but in my opinion, the booking for Hove, or the lineup, is better than the one made for Roskilde this year.

And, one thing that I find wonderfully brilliant and might contribute to becoming a competitive advantage for Hove is its focus on the environment, and its aim to become the leading festival on environmental conservation. It is the first carbon neutral festival in Scandinavia. In the spirit of this I guess its wrong of me to encourage you to come by planes. There are also lots of boats going to Norway. Kystlink (being by far the cheapest. is it really only 75 kr for a car with 5 people from Hirtshals to Langesund? Langesund is just a few hours drive from Arendal), DFDS (Copenhagen-Oslo), Color Line (Hirtshals - Kristiansand)

I realized I turned into a walking/talking commercial for Hove here, but this is something I strongly believe in.