Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
In roughly a week, on 11 October 2025, The Ultimate Rockfest 2025 is set to take place at the Brinova Arena in the Swedish city of Karlskrona. Discontent among festival visitors began to spread the day before yesterday, when the 2026 edition – featuring Crucified Barbara and The Gems, amongst other bands – was announced, even though attendees were still waiting for this year’s festival schedule to be published. Now, the organisers of The Ultimate Rockfest 2025 have announced that both Nestor, the co-headliner, and Dark Funeral “themselves have chosen to cancel their participation via their booking agent”, citing the organisers’ inability to “meet the agreed payment terms with certain bands on time” as “ticket sales this year have not reached the level required”:
“We would like to emphasise that we have great respect for their decision and understanding of the situation that has arisen. The dialogue with the bands and their representatives has been good, and we deeply regret that we were unable to fulfill our commitments. The festival is going ahead as planned with Eclipse as the headliner and seven other strong acts. We are convinced that this year’s edition will nevertheless deliver an experience filled with energy, community and fantastic music.”
– The Ultimate Rockfest
Interestingly, Nestor themselves issued a statement shortly afterwards, clarifying that they did not drop out but were simply removed “without any explanation”:
“Hello to all Nestorians affected by this. We were really looking forward to playing at the festival in Karlskrona on October 11. With travel booked and songs rehearsed, we were more than ready. Unfortunately, the organiser recently chose to release a new schedule and, without any explanation, removed us (and Dark Funeral) from the line-up. This was done without any prior notice or warning to either us or our booking agent. Nestor have been in this industry for a long time, and we fully understand that ticket sales don’t always go as planned – but there is always a way to try to resolve the situation in the best possible way for the band, the audience, and the organiser. In this case, the organiser has shown no interest in taking responsibility or communicating with us or our booking agent. (Up until this week, the organiser refused to respond to any of our inquiries about the performance, and then simply informed us that we were no longer part of the festival.) The fact that the organiser, while removing us and Dark Funeral from the line-up, also went ahead with ticket sales for The Ultimate Rockfest 2026 shows a remarkable lack of respect for both the bands and the fans who purchased tickets for this year’s festival. We are deeply sorry that things have turned out this way – but the festival’s actions are entirely beyond our control, and we can only point to the organiser’s very strange behaviour. We also urge you to direct any questions or requests for ticket refunds straight to the organiser. We keep going … In the Name of Rock and Roll! //Nestor ”
– Nestor
Dark Funeral, who were also supposed to be part of the 2025 billing, have not yet commented. In 2024, The Ultimate Rockfest had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales. After repeatedly emphasising that “Karlskrona is a difficult city”, the organisers announced that they would “leave Karlskrona indefinitely”, with plans to hold the 2025 edition in Helsingborg, about 220 km away from Karlskrona. These plans were later abandoned, with the organisers stating that, “out of respect for Helsingborg Arena”, they did not want to “go into detail” about the reasons for the cancelled move, nor did they want to “go into details about why we chose Brinova again”. The 2025 edition features headliners Eclipse, as well as Sister and Trench Dogs, amongst other bands in the line-up. The Ultimate Rockfest also points out that ticket holders are “not entitled to refunds for minor changes”:
“Our booking terms state that the organiser reserves the right to make changes to the programme or line-up. […] This is also standard practice at other festivals if a band cancels their appearance.”
– The Ultimate Rockfest
