The Peace and Love Festival: Part 2

BÖRLANGE - Hope everyone wants to hear about bathroom behavior...

I decided to use some of the time while we waited for my camera to charge to visit the bathroom. Our accommodations by the new camping spot were less than favorable and I thought it would be nice to visit a real bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, I returned to the cafe. Turns out I wasn't the only one with the bathroom idea, either. I waited and waited and waited along with a crowd of other festivalers. Oh well.

In other interesting bathroom news, the term "McDonald's" took on a whole new meaning. See, right next to the mall was a McDonald's (sadly, they are almost as prevalent here as in America). The McDonald's was open late. And most importantly... had a bathroom.

We had some lovely trees to go visit if we felt the call of "No. 1". There was very little privacy there and we probably had an audience from the inhabitants of the nearby apartments, but no one really cared.

"No. 2"? Well, that was something else entirely...

I'll give credit to Albert for coining the term "going to McDonald's". He went into great detail one of those afternoons about how that term will never mean the same thing to him again. How sometimes he felt like he really needed to go to "McDonald's"... How sometimes he felt it would just be nice to sit in "McDonald's"... And how at other times he felt it was a very healthy decision to make sure he visited "McDonald's"...

Hmm... I think I'm done with this now...

Anyway, that afternoon we sat around and waited for the performances to start. We had the distinct pleasure of hearing lots of new music from our new friends...

See, the night before, Jenny had talked to some people that were parked very near us. Turns out one of them was a musician. He had recorded a couple of songs and had a demo put together. The other guy? His biggest freakin' fan...

That night we heard a song about someone taking the musician's guitar. A nice enough song with a good sound to it. I enjoyed it.

The second time I heard it I also enjoyed it.

The third and fourth times in an hour, the song started to grate on my nerves a bit.

After hearing the song 34 times over the next twelve hours, I found that I had suddenly developed a new "Most Hated" song. Good news, Guns 'N' Roses version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"... You're off the hook!

I chill ran through my spine whenever I saw this "fan" stroll over to the radio of their car, bobbing his head in his silly hat and awful blue shirt I watched him wear continuously over the next three days. Whenever that stroll was happening, it could only mean one thing: He was going to turn the song on again.

The song played continuously over the next few days, with this "fan" making sure to go to every camp and tell everyone about his musician friend. I felt bad for the musician. He seemed a bit embarrassed by his friend's behavior.

By the last night, I was ready to cut the battery cables of their car or steal the radio. I couldn't take it much more...

Each time I would hear the song lyrics, "I don't wanna talk about it..." I would shout, "Then don't talk about it anymore!"

I was trying to behave. Really. I was.

Other than that, the festival was wonderful.

Hanging out by the caravan that afternoon, everyone was in high spirits.

Jenny's cousin started the Gnome Mafia.



Jenny spent some time drawing on everyone.



And Tobias, Albert, and Jesper found an amusing ad in the paper. Apparently, Sweden is a bit more reserved about printing ads for sex toys than we are America. But some newspaper printed one anyway. Here you can see the guys studying it closely...



The first show we went to see was Thåström, a favorite among everyone else there but totally new to me.

While we waited, I snapped some picture. I'm trying to figure out what my fascination is with taking pictures looking down at feet. I know, I know... first thing you'll say is "foot fetish", but you're wrong. I can't explain what it is though. Maybe the angles?



Anyway, Thåström was good. I didn't understand a word of what he said, but I know I liked the music.



After that show and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed over to see the Sex Pistols. Everyone in the groups had the same thing on their mind:

None of us were all that interested in seeing the Sex Pistols, but we all wanted to be able to say we did...



Let me preface the next part by saying this: I can't play an instrument. Or sing. Or write a song. I know this. That is why I am not in a band. That is also why I have no right probably to say what I am about to say next...

...but...

The Sex Pistols are a bit out of date and irrelevant now.

Sorry.

Seeing Johnny Rotten up on stage, flopping around, and knowing full well that he is stinking rich at this point in life makes it a bit hard to listen to him sing about the corruption of the world.

Let's be honest with ourselves.

They had one good record.

More than 30 years ago.

And were the punk version of a "boy band" after having been put together by a manager and had their image and style designed for them.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the mark they made on popular culture. They played an important role in the early beginnings of some of my favorite music.
But there's only so long I can listen to them bitch about a record company in "E.M.I." after 30 years because it is one of the few songs in their list of hits.

And the song "No Future" kind of sticks out like a sore thumb at a festival called "Peace and Love".

That's all. I'm done now.

People in the crowd seemed to enjoy the show they put on. We stayed for about 10 minutes or so.

Some of us went back to the caravan for a bit and then headed back into the festival to meet up by one of the main gates.



I really like this picture but, again, with the feet! I dunno...

We saw Kent next, a band I was also entirely unfamiliar with. Apparently kind of an emo-esque band that people seem to like but don't want to admit they do. The put on a good show and it reminded me a bit of the Muse performance at Lollapalooza last year.

I liked the pictures I took mostly because they turned out looking like a UFO was landing...



The next day was a bit rainy and I think it sapped a bit of energy in the group. We all sat around most of the day. No one really had the energy to go into the festival and we only ended up seeing one show that day. I had wanted to see DeVotchka... but just didn't bother.

We were all stinking quite a bit by that point. Three days without showers. Wearing most of the same clothes. Sleeping in the same slightly warmer than comfortable caravan.

Just the way a festival should be.

The next morning, Jenny and I woke much earlier than everyone else, although considerably later than we should have. We were due back in Älmhult so we could attend her grandfather's 80th birthday party.

Quickly grabbing our things and trying not to wake everyone else up, it looked like we were going to be late...