Although the 2020 and 2021 editions of Sweden Rock Festival were canceled due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the event plans to return on June 8-11, 2022. They announced the new lineup, starring headliners Guns N’ Roses, Volbeat and In Flames.
The festival will occur at its usual location in Sölvesborg, Sweden, where it has been taking place since it was founded in 1992. Tickets go on sale here this Thursday, May 6 at 10:00 CEST.
Some of the artists joining the headliners include Nightwish, Mercyful Fate, Social Distortion, Opeth, 10cc, Devin Townsend, Alestorm, Sodom, Kvelertak and Trouble, among others. Most of the lineup is the same as the 2021 lineup, but some acts had to drop out including Megadeth, Dropkick Murphys and Gojira. The rest of the 2022 lineup can be found here. While they’ve announced 76 acts so far, there are several more that are yet to be confirmed, and the festival plans to have 89 bands in total.
In Flames just announced rescheduled dates opening for Megadeth and Lamb of God’s co-headlining tour, but they were headlining over Megadeth on the canceled 2021 edition of Sweden Rock Festival. They’re widely popular metal band themselves, known for the style of melodic death metal exemplified by their early albums The Jester Race (1996), Whoracle (1997) and Colony (1999). They’ve consistently released new music as their sound has evolved since then, from the recently-reissued Clayman (2000), which just celebrated its 20th anniversary, to their latest album I, The Mask (2019).
Although Slash stated in 2019 that Guns N’ Roses were working on their first new album since 2008’s Chinese Democracy, there hasn’t been much news about the classic rock band since their fall 2019 tour ended and their 2020 Latin American tour was canceled due to COVID-19. However, individual Guns N’ Roses members have had news lately. Former drummer Steven Adler accidentally stabbed himself badly but has since recovered. In lighter news, Slash joined Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney on covers of Alice in Chains’ “Rooster” and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”
Volbeat shared their latest album Rewind, Replay, Rebound in 2019 and has since been hoping to return to live shows. They were scheduled to play some festivals that have since been postponed or canceled including Austria’s Nova Rock Music Festival and Germany’s Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park festivals. They’re a Danish heavy metal/hard rock band that has been around since 2001, and released popular albums such as Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood (2008) and Beyond Hell / Above Heaven (2010). Their recent albums have continued to spawn major hits like “For Evigt,” “The Devil’s Bleeding Crown” and “Last Day Under the Sun.”
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