Way out West 2023 (Gothenburg, Sweden)

[SwedgeAntilles]

Hey folks, anyone else heading to WoW this year? This will be my first year (had tickets for 2020 but the pandemic put pay to that and was busy by the time it was finally reschuled). 

Blur announcement was the clincher but undercard already looking decent.

 

[WFD]

Going again after going last year.  We were going to try Oya in Oslo instead, but opted for WOW when Blur were announced (only for Oya to subsequently announce them this week), though to be honest we didn't need much encouragement to go back to WOW, we enjoyed it a lot last year.

[Ovechkin]

I'll be doing my seventh way out west this summer. Always a good time with nice depth in the lineup.

The after shows (stay out west) felt heavily down scaled last year as they removed Bananpiren (3 stages and 2 dj booths).. dunno if money was tight due to post covid but it felt like the program was just 50% of what it was before, but to a higher price. We went to clubs and other concerts (not organized by WoW) instead after Slottskogen closed.

[changingman]

Went to this last year (first time) and absolutely loved it. Really good crowd, great venue (and Gothenburg is one of my favourite cities anyway). Ty Segall's set at Stay out West was my highlight, love that venue (Pustervik?) 

We've actually booked accommodation for this year but have held off on tickets (for now) - only really Blur and Devo I'm into and we're over in Sweden for Springsteen in June so this might be overkill. If a few more are announced in the next couple of weeks we might sign up though. 

[SwedgeAntilles]

Any recommendations on where to stay in Göteborg @WFD, @Ovechkin, @changingman? Ideally somewhere easy enough to either walk/get public transport to get to and from the main site? 

[WFD]

3 hours ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Any recommendations on where to stay in Göteborg @WFD, @Ovechkin, @changingman? Ideally somewhere easy enough to either walk/get public transport to get to and from the main site? 

We stayed at Comfort Hotel City last year, near the train station.  There was a direct tram service but we never used it, on day one we had to wait until 3pm to check into the hotel and then got an uber to get there in time for Black Country New Road, the other days we walked.  We walked back each night too, and a couple of the Stay Out West venues were approx halfway between Way Out West and the hotel so I went to a couple of those shows too.  We're booked in Liseberg this year which is slightly further from the festival site but again there are Stay Out venues in that area so we might get lucky with those.

[changingman]

Scandic Rubinen for us last year - around 20-25 min walk to festival site or bus/tram. 

Area around the festival site is a bit of desert for accommodation but it's a small city and you shouldn't have too many problems. 

Anything North of the river is a bit of a trek but between the festival and the central station, you should be fine. 

[Ovechkin]

First year we stayed at First G hotel near the central station, very good location and easy access with trams.

Second year we stayed at Linneplatsens vandrarhem and hotell, had a huge balcony in our room with views to Slottskogen, the con was after the main festival close you might get lazy and dont bother go to Stay out west, especially if the weather is shit :)

The other years we stayed at a friends flat in Johannesberg

Quote

Anything North of the river is a bit of a trek but between the festival and the central station, you should be fine. 

Is a good guideline

[SwedgeAntilles]

Thanks folks, appreciate it 

[SwedgeAntilles]

King Gizz added to the bill today. Delighted as I'm going to miss them in Stockholm next month 

[FrogLobster]

1 hour ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

King Gizz added to the bill today. Delighted as I'm going to miss them in Stockholm next month 

Do you know which day?

[WFD]

13 minutes ago, FrogLobster said:

Do you know which day?

The festival doesn't show day splits until much closer to the time, but the band may reveal it (or it might be obvious from other dates they are doing).

I quite like Way Out West's laidback approach to announcing things out of the blue, it's like getting little bonuses all the time instead of a hype build up to an announcement which can then disappoint.

[ParanoidTourist]

A reformed Soundtrack of Our Lives announced for WOW. Perhaps not too known outside Sweden but a great live band none the less! 

[SwedgeAntilles]

11 hours ago, ParanoidTourist said:

A reformed Soundtrack of Our Lives announced for WOW. Perhaps not too known outside Sweden but a great live band none the less! 

I bought Behind the Music back in 2001 and played it relentlessly. Sure they supported Oasis a few times around then too. Can't claim to have listened to them much since then but looking forward to seeing them live. 

[SwedgeAntilles]

Some good additions yesterday, Snail Mail and Yo La Tengo specifically 

[WFD]

They appear to be now separating out the Stay Out West acts (thinner font on the poster), Jockstrap being one.

[Olivedal 1904]

The full schedule is out and no real clashes for me. 

My plan will be:

Thursday: King Gizzard -> Ayra Starr -> The Last Dinner Party -> Caroline Polachek

Friday: Yo la Tengo -> Arlo Parks -> Amyl & the Sniffers -> Les Big Byrd -> Special Interest -> High Vis

Saturday: Jose Gonzalez -> Muna -> Empress Of -> Snail Mail -> Johnny Marr -> Viagra Boys -> Boygenius -> first part of Håkan Hellström -> Off -> The Murder Capital -> Terra

 

[WFD]

Current plan:

Thu - King Gizzard, Devo, Last Dinner Party, Tove Lo, Caroline Polachek, Caroline Rose, Jockstrap

Fri - Yo La Tengo, Arlo Parks, Amyl, TSOOL, Aurora, Blur

Sat - MUNA, Empress Of, Snail Mail*, Johnny Marr, Viagra Boys, Sam Fender, boygenius, Billy Nomates

*In practice will only see half of her set given the slight overlap with the before and after and the walk between stages after Empress Of. 

Thursday will take a bit of stamina because Jockstrap are on late, could have done with that being a midnight show. 

[Olivedal 1904]

9 hours ago, WFD said:

Current plan:

Thu - King Gizzard, Devo, Last Dinner Party, Tove Lo, Caroline Polachek, Caroline Rose, Jockstrap

Fri - Yo La Tengo, Arlo Parks, Amyl, TSOOL, Aurora, Blur

Sat - MUNA, Empress Of, Snail Mail*, Johnny Marr, Viagra Boys, Sam Fender, boygenius, Billy Nomates

*In practice will only see half of her set given the slight overlap with the before and after and the walk between stages after Empress Of. 

Thursday will take a bit of stamina because Jockstrap are on late, could have done with that being a midnight show. 

I forgot about TSOOL, I will see them as well. And first part of Blur. 

Did you attend before? For me the Stay out West shows are often the best part of the festival. But I will have to skip them on the Thursday due to work duty Friday morning. 

[ParanoidTourist]

I'm only going Friday so for me it's: Amyl, TSOOL and BLUR. 

[WFD]

11 hours ago, Olivedal 1904 said:

I forgot about TSOOL, I will see them as well. And first part of Blur. 

Did you attend before? For me the Stay out West shows are often the best part of the festival. But I will have to skip them on the Thursday due to work duty Friday morning. 

Yes we were there last year and I did a couple of the Stay Out shows, really enjoyed them. Haven't got the stamina to stay out till 3am each night after a long day at a festival but they are a welcome extra option. 

[Olivedal 1904]

Unfortunately the rain is pouring down in Gothenburg. 40 mm rain predicted tomorrow and 20 mm on Wednesday. 

Forecast for Friday and Saturday is looking better. 

[glasto1980]

On way over from UK. Anyone doing today? How's it been and how's the ground looking after all the rain?

[Olivedal 1904]

It is not that bad, there are some passages that are a bit muddy but they have also put some wood shavings in some areas to deal with that. I would not recommend white sneakers though. 

First day I pretty much only saw King Gizzard who were amazing. 

[WFD]

We got back last night, and all pretty much went to plan except for the late withdrawals of Johnny Marr and Billy Nomates, and we ended up not staying out for any SOW shows.  We did make it to one of the movie screenings (The Society of the Spectacle) before going in on Friday, which meant we missed Yo La Tengo.

They made some changes this year, getting rid of most of the segregation between the drinking and non drinking areas (they did still have the separate area which included Puben, Dungen and the wine/spirits bars), which made things easier.  The Linne tent was in the same place but a different tent than last year and much better, now an arch-shaped structure with an open end at the back so a lot better for watching and listening from the seating areas around it (though entry and exit at the sides could have been better organised).

I was down the front for MUNA and saw Phoebe Bridgers watching from the side of the stage, and it looked like she was getting wired up to come on at some point so alerted my daughter to come down for it.

We left after boygenius on Saturday, so got caught in a bit of rain during their set and on the way out, but it seemed to be getting worse as we were leaving and looked like Hakan Hellstrom's crowd got soaked.  There were clearly a lot of people coming in just for him, and a lot seemed to leave it to the last minute because of the weather.

I know corporate sponsorship at festivals isn't popular but have to say that the viewing gallery sponsored by a certain mobile phone brand was a godsend on a long day, particularly when sitting on the grass wasn't really an option!

Great weekend all round, couple of days to recharge before we head off again, to where the beer is cheaper!