Peace & Love (festival)


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 festivals were back on under the name "Peace & Love World Forum". Since then it has expanded and has gone back to its old name "Peace & Love".

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 , Manu Chao , Kent, Teddybears, The Wombats , Crystal Castles . 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, The Kooks, Volbeat, Milow, Keane, Thåström and Håkan Hellström.

2010

In 2010, the event took place between June 28 and July 3 - 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.
199920002001200220032004
Dates: 5–6 AugustDates: 4–5 AugustDates: 3–4 AugustDates: 5–6 JulyDates: 4–5 JulyDates: 8–10 July
Number of days: 2Number of days: 2Number of days: 2Number of days: 2Number of days: 2Number of days: 3
Visitors: 900Visitors: 2 500Visitors: 3 000Visitors: 3 500Visitors: 8 500Visitors: 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

Hanoi Rocks

Broder Daniel
200520062007200820092010
Dates: 8–9 JulyDates: 4–8 JulyDates: 26–30 JuneDates: 23–28 JuneDates: 22–27 JuneDates: 28 June - 3 July
Number of days: 2Number of days: 5Number of days: 5Number of days: 6Number of days: 6Number of days: 6
Visitors: 10 000Visitors: 15 000Visitors: 20 000Visitors: 25 000Visitors: 41 685Visitors: 42 000
Artists:
Ulf Lundell

Thomas Di Leva

Håkan Hellström
Artists:
Patti Smith

New York Dolls

The Cardigans
Artists:
Iggy & The Stooges

Alice Cooper

The Ark
Artists:
Sex Pistols

Manu Chao

Kent
Artists:
Mötley Crüe

Håkan Hellström

Faith No More
Artists:
Jay-Z

Lily Allen

Patti Smith

Theme

Each year, Peace & Love focuses on a subject that they theme the festival on.
;Past years' themes
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:
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.