Sweden’s Friends Arena marks the first decade of music
Friends Arena’s Andreas Sand has spoken to IQ about the venue’s transformative impact on Stockholm’s music scene as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Sweden’s national stadium has attracted global megastars such as Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Eminem, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga to the country since its launch a decade ago.
“It makes you nostalgic to think back on these 10 years,” says Sand, CEO Stockholm Live, ASM Global Sweden. “On the one hand it feels like ages since some of these events, milestones and amazing moments in the venue and on the other hand it feels like yesterday. It’s almost like when you celebrate your children’s birthdays: you’re nostalgic and you reflect on the past, and you also think about the years to come.
“Stockholm still has no other arena with this type of capacity. We now also have Tele2 Arena, which is an arena with a lower capacity, but the big stadium tours would not have played in Stockholm if it were not for an arena like Friends Arena.”
“This is a strong music market and the appetite for live entertainment here is huge”
Earlier this week, ASM Global announced that the city’s Kägelbanan will reopen during the operation of Stockholm Live after a three-year closure, further strengthening the Swedish capital’s live music network.
“Stockholm is one of the music capitals of the world. It has arenas that start at 200 capacity and go up close to 60,000 capacity, Sand says. “We’re starting to see more local acts playing bigger and bigger venues, and that’s probably been helped by the pandemic. It used to be just the best international content that could sell out the big venues, but we’re starting to see that change and that would be a great addition to our possible headliners.
“This is a strong music market and the appetite for live entertainment here is huge. We are much more than a summer festival stop; we have really good premises in different sizes – with Friends Arena as the jewel in the crown.”
Homegrown heroes including Agnes Carlsson, The Hives, Icona Pop, Loreen, First Aid Kit and Roxette performed during the stadium’s opening ceremony in October 2012, with Swedish House Mafia playing three sold-out gigs the following month. However, arguably the most memorable show was the Avicii Tribute Concert on 5 December 2019, which featured the likes of David Guetta, Kygo and Rita Ora and drew a venue record attendance of 58,163.
“Astadion has a retractable roof, which means we can use it 365 days a year”
“It was a special night and to this day it’s probably my favorite moment in the venue and maybe going to a concert overall,” reflects Sand. “The atmosphere was spectacular. You felt this love: there was definitely joy and happiness – people were dancing and celebrating Avicii – but of course there were a lot of tears too, so the emotions were at an all-time high.”
Friends Arena, home to football club AIK and the Swedish men’s national team, has concerts confirmed for 2023 by Ozzy Osbourne (May 5), Depeche Mode (May 23) and Celine Dion (September 30), while hosting the final of the annual Melodifestivalen song contest, which determines Sweden’s Eurovision representative.
“Astadion has a retractable roof, which means we can use it 365 days a year,” explains Sand. – It is the only way to have such a stadium in a country like Sweden where we are so far up north that it is tough up here with the weather gods. If you want to build a modern, world-class venue like the Friends Arena, you have to be able to use it 12 months a year and you can’t be so dependent on the weather.
“We can get events in and out with quick turnarounds. It’s a soccer stadium and we’re proud of that. But it’s a soccer arena that can be used for so much more. On average, 27% of our attendance comes by car. Some U.S. stadiums reaches the high 90%, so it’s quite unique that people walk here or take a bike and so on.”
“I would love to see festivals in the arena, using the main bowl, but also other areas that we have adjacent to the arena”
The venue has a sponsorship agreement with the banking group Swedbank, which donated the naming rights to Friends, a non-profit anti-bullying organisation.
– It is something we are proud of, adds Sand. “We take seriously our responsibility to do what we can to make this community a better place. We see that awareness of these types of issues has increased over these 10 years and it’s an aspect of the venue that is a part of our history and heritage and it gives us a deeper sense of purpose.”
And shifting focus to the coming decade, Sand believes the arena is well-placed to maintain its status, despite the many challenges facing the arena sector.
“There is always some crisis that we have to fight and energy is a tough one,” he notes. “We are quite well off with this arena, as is Sweden overall, energy-wise. We are not dependent on gas, for example, and in the long term this energy crisis will also pass.
“Looking forward, we have this amazing hybrid of sports and music in our venue. We want to continue to attract the big tours and complement it with some other types of shows and entertainment, such as Monster Jam, which we will bring back to arena 23. I would love to see festivals in the arena, using the main bowl, but also other areas like we have in connection with the premises. I think it would be a great place to host a festival type of content. So we look forward to the next 10 years.”
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