In this article swedish music festivals are in focus, and the research field of festival studies.

För drygt 30 år sedan samlades några uttråkade ungdomar i Hultsfred, Småland och bildade rockföreningen Rockparty. Föreningen byggde upp en omfattande konsertverksamhet och en stark musikscen på den lilla orten. 1986 startade Hultsfredsfestivalen, vilken utvecklades till ett av Sveriges starkaste varumärken. En festival som i decennier drog till sig inhemska och utländska artister och tusentals besökare varje sommar. I Sverige kom Hultsfred att bli synonymt med ordet festival. I denna avhandling får vi följa Rockpartys verksamhet och festivalens utveckling. Här skildras det fascinerade, symbiotiska förhållandet mellan den annorlunda värld som festivalen innebar och det trygga lokalsamhällets föreningsverksamhet. Platsen och dess människor var avgörande för festivalens tillblivelse. Genom vilda idéer, konflikter och heta diskussioner uppstod en alldeles särskild sorts kreativitet. Och utan det oförtrutna engagemanget från ungdomar, föräldrar, artister, branschfolk, festivalfunktionärer, politiker, musikälskare i alla åldrar, föreningar och lokala företag hade det aldrig blivit någon musikfest och Hultsfred hade aldrig utvecklats till en av de viktigaste platserna i svenskt musikliv på en mängd områden. Genom den föreningsdrivna lokala musikscenen och festivalen etablerades så småningom allt från musikbranschutbildningar till Svenskt Rockarkiv.

This study is concerned with a well-known festival in Sweden; how a group of music loving young people, through widespread social networking, created extensive musical activities in the small municipal community of Hultsfred. Out of the locally based independent music association, Rockparty, grew one of Sweden’s biggest festivals. The thesis examine how both association and festival grew in symbios with the local community, how Rockparty together with other actors created the phenomenon known as the Hultsfred festival. The aim is to study the shaping of social community and how the social composition and material condition of a place coordinates with youth and their music activities at this particular place. To analyze the significance of community the concepts of social capital and place have been important. The author analyzes the balancing act of being an alternative and rebellious rock association and a general youth association (or societal association) that bring different youth groupings and generations together. The more musically inclined, caring about taste and credibility, in the association met with those of a more business oriented mind, emphasizing development and growth. This tension broadened the activities and brought them forward. And, this was the fundament for making the rebellious rock’n’roll attitude join in with business-mindedness and a subcultural entrepreneurship. Punk attitude transformed into corporational activity, which generated necessary knowledge for music and festival arrangements and conditions for building important social networks. However, maneuvering between being rock rebels and ”common” rural youth; cultural innovators and commercial entrepreneurs; between broad folkyness and alternative exclusivity; between carnivalisticlawlessness and orderly commerciality, wasn’t always easy. Rockparty managed to construe a social capital that was strong locally and externally, with extensions in a number of directions, but it also led to difficulties and social tensions. The study is based on several years of fieldwork and a wide-ranging empirical material of participant observations, field diaries, conversations, interviews, internal and external documentation etcetera.