I'm sorry the picture's not at its best but you try finding a video hosting service that'd accept nearly 27 minutes and over 2 GB video... I'd love a tip though. :)

Don't think for a minute that what you'll see is anything other than semi-shaky hand-held video shot using a mobile phone and a digital camera. Yep, it's the kind of stuff that makes everybody who's not the parent wince when a string of pictures of the child are held forth.

Once at Way Out West on the Thursday evening, we went to Storan and queued up in the rain. Aagh! Wasn't that much rain though, and through it all we found Jesus!

Now, first band we saw was Okkervil River. And we were lucky enough to see the lads on the same stage that would be taken up by Destroyer afterwards. Sad thing is, even though Okkervil really gleamed at some instances the whole show started off with Will saying that they didn't have a lot of time, and actually this marred the entire show which felt like a strained and forced showcase of the band which sadly showed during the bits where they shouldn't have had to stress at all, e.g. during "A Girl In Port". Still, during tracks such as "Lost Coastlines", the magic was there, which is evident in the video. The guys had to stress away from Gothenburg as soon as the show ended. Here there be pics:

While Okkervil River was leaving, what ended up being my favourite gig of the entire festival came up: Destroyer. X was absolutely in knots about it, as she's been listening to his records for years even back in the day when Stockholm wouldn't contain any of Dan Bejar's records.

Dan Bejar is a really elusive personality to me. While he's part of The New Pornographers he creates Rimbaud-ish lyrics that are quite wonderful, singing with his most peculiar, delicate and original voice, and while being Destroyer he's been corrupting music for quite some albums, in a great sense of the word; his phrasing is often unexpected, the lyrics filled with surreal as well as lucid descriptions, ranging where he wants to go that time.

Fool child, you're never gonna make it. New York City just wants to see you naked (And they will). Though they'd never say so. Wise, old, black and dead in the snow: My southern sister...

"Sister, Sister" was the name of the band. Flesh and blood, my death close at hand! Sister, This is not about me and it's not about you, I swear! No hard feelings, nothing personal, soft sculpture rides the air, For free...

That's from "Suicide Demo For Kara Walker".

The show was incredible. Synth-based rhythms pumped through a drum-machine - as well as a live drummer - with trumpet, saxophone and reverb, echoes... It was almost too much for me. I thought I'd just film some bits but ended up forcing myself not to film the entire show as all of it was just too good.

Mr. Bejar sat down a lot of times and had a swig of drink, even handing over some to his sax player at one time.

Hearing him sing was incredible, in the most true sense of the word. And no talk between songs, as opposed to Will Sheff; a simple "thanks" would suffice before the next track. On-stage, Bejar seemed just as otherworldly as his music and pictures of him make out.

Left that show almost trembling. Yes, bought his latest album, "Kaputt", from Bengans at the festival later on.

The sun was nearly out all of the time so we turned into even more happy campers than before! We topped that off by standing at A Secret Location which was on the top of a little ridge, enabling us to see more than heads and elbows; I'd go for that rather than standing in the middle of a crowd any old day now...just call me old and wise. :)

Hearing Explosions In The Sky playing while the sun was pouring down was otherworldly. We'd only heard them at the ATP festival before, indoors and during the evening when all was dark. Now, however, they were one of the first bands playing during the Friday and it was all great. We just sat down and enjoyed life while their reverby plucky guitars transformed into...explosions. In the sky, a small thing was hovering. Upon closer inspection I saw it was a remote-controlled helicopter with a camera installed! God damn! My Rusty Shacklebird-senses went off and I'm sure the government has a complete file on me now.

And yes, no trip to Gothenburg is complete without a trip to Evas Paley for a cupcake!

Ice-cream time was every time. I scream for it, believe you me.

Watching Joakim Thåström, a legendary Swedish punk-cum-inofficial-Swedish-#1-poet-laureate, from a distance was really great. His voice is like the sound a grater makes when grating another grater, and it really fits in with his persona, a kind of The Mummy-ish moving person; he actually made it from one end of the stage to the other in a matter of seconds, and this went on for a bit! And some of his tracks were really moving, even to a non-devotee like yours truly. The stage bathed in red, pulsating light at times which was really impressive, especially while slowly glancing over the thousands who had come to see him. And Prince, just afterwards.

Only saw a slight bit of Prince, but it seemed good. Though, I must admit, hearing his music for an entire gig seems like a bit too much for me. And Kanye West apparently turned up to guest-spot at his show which I would not have digged. Yes, it's true. I'm one of approximately three people who didn't see his gig. I don't like Kanye West. There, let it be known! No trolling, just a hand-out to all the people who say "WHAT?!" to my response after asking how great he was at Way Out West.

While food generally was good at Way Out West - and I'm a sucker for hotel breakfasts - the service at El Corazon in Gothenburg was...interesting. I mean, X and I could order and received our food quite promptly, but the surrounding entourages had to wait for over an hour, received food they hadn't ordered and the waiter was cryptic and made excuses. Still, the above food was really good. I'm a sucker for tapas, and the sautéed mushrooms and the chà¨vre cheese was really good. Mmm. I love just picking and plucking food like that.

Speaking of food...

Chà¨vre and beet root salad at SoHo Village was simply made and good, letting the vegetables do the talking without fanciness; combined with rosé wine and X's company I could have stayed there all day if it weren't for a) some gigs and b) my face turning brightly red due to the sun. Aw, the place even had a bakery installed and the bread was really good.

Another thing about Way Out West...

People were really friendly at the festival, bar the one time a fight broke out between two drunk guys while queuing to the porta-potties. The queues for alcohol (see above) seemed long but were quite speedily expedited and the staff was nice. All good. I love it when service works like it should and you feel like somebody's taking care of business for you.

More gigs!

Robyn was bouncy and good, using the same props and show as she did when we saw her live at Popaganda 2010. I loved the Kraftwerk-ish beats stolen from "Trans-Europe Express" and I really think Robyn loves performing her music live, the energy is really contagious.

While Robyn was poppy and stuff, Wiz Khalifa really brought energy and fun to another level! While I really like his voice I'm not entirely for his recorded stuff but live...another thing entirely! His DJ did sound-effects like gunshots from Wiz's hands until he got gunned down on stage himself, then bouncing up to do another track, yelling and getting most of the crowd to bounce with him. While I'm sad that Q-Tip had to cancel, I'm glad that Wiz got his stage instead of a smaller one. It was quite surreal to see him jumping about just before watching Pulp, but I've covered that in this prior post.

All in all: a very nice festival with some great musical experiences. And a very nice vacation to boot, two-in-one brilliance! I felt really rested as we left for Stockholm. I was so glad to go with X and if anybody kicked up the volume and made all of my senses dance it was she. <3