There is still confusion surrounding the Västerås Rockfest 2024 which was supposed to take place indoors at the Västerås Arena in less than two weeks, on 24 August 2024. Although the Finnish power metallers Stratovarius already announced on 31 July 2024 that their gig at Västerås Rockfest 2024 and another appearance in Sweden are cancelled, Västerås Rockfest 2024 still had Stratovarius listed as the headliner for almost two more weeks. At the same time, it seemed that it was no longer possible to buy tickets for Västerås Rockfest 2024. Questions from festival visitors about whether the festival would take place and the like remained unanswered by the festival organiser, who was also behind Northern Rockfest Open Air 2024 (which was cancelled at short notice in July 2024). Now, amongst other things, the Facebook profile and the Facebook event of Västerås Rockfest 2024 have been deleted.
Completely independent of the organisers of Västerås Rockfest 2024, the Swedish event agency “High 5ive” has now announced that it will be organising its own event at the venue “O’Learys Västerås”, where three of the bands from Västerås Rockfest 2024 will perform:
“When there is no longer a party, we take matters into our own hands and throw a hell of a party instead! 24/8 Self Deception, Eyes Wide Open and KNOGJÄRN will be on O’Learys Västerås’ big stage! […] But the party does not end when the bands leave the stage. When they are done, we will continue the party one floor down in the Beer Garden with a DJ who will play music at least as heavy as the bands. See you there!”
– High 5ive
The event will take place on the same day that Västerås Rockfest 2024 was supposed to take place. “O’Learys Västerås” is located on Stora Torget 2 in the city centre of Västerås. Tickets and further information can be found here.