No Gefle Metal Festival in 2024, future uncertain

Another festival will not take place for the time being, namely the Gefle Metal Festival in Gävle, Sweden. This is what the organisers of the open air festival, Edward Janson and Chris Rotenius, are now announcing in a statement, seven weeks after its 2023 edition. Interestingly, neither the pandemic nor rising energy costs nor the overall inflation are given as reasons, but the general difficulty to “make ends meet every year”:

“It has now been seven weeks since we met at Gefle Metal Festival. Since then, we have done lots of thinking and analysed extensively. Unfortunately, we have come to the decision that there will be no Gefle Metal Festival in 2024. Gefle Metal Festival has never been about making any significant profits. It has been a festival driven by passion – because we truly love this. At the same time, the finances have to add up, and the truth is that – even though we are proud of each and every year of the Gefle Metal Festival – it has been challenging to make ends meet every year. As you know, 2023 was a very special year. For a long time, neither you nor we knew if there would even be a festival. Then FKP Scorpio stepped in and ensured that this year’s festival could still take place so that you could enjoy the festival you had already purchased tickets for. For that, we are grateful. But as we look ahead, we see that we need to focus on other things. We have many great shows in the pipeline, and we want to be able to dedicate all of our energy to them. Therefore, we are putting Gefle Metal Festival on hold. There will be no festival in 2024. What the future holds after 2024, only time will tell. We want to thank each and everyone of you. Your commitment and appreciation are what have driven us forward over these years. Although this is very sad news, we hope you understand the situation and our reasoning. //Edward & Chris – founders of the Gefle Metal Festival” – Edward Janson & Chris Rotenius

Edward Janson and Chris Rotenius were also the brains behind TADC, one of Scandinavia’s largest organisers of rock concerts, which went bankrupt in November 2022. The bankruptcy of TADC was reasoned with “lingering effects from the pandemic and sharply increased costs in combination with reduced ticket sales”. It was unclear if the Gefle Metal Festival, originally arranged by TADC, would go ahead as planned in 2023 before FKP Scorpio took over the festival in February 2023. Despite the takeover by FKP Scorpio, Edward Janson and Chris Rotenius remained in charge of the open air event and also started to book concerts for FKP Scorpio.