After the Anastacia flop: "In general, we are very happy"

Photo: Gunnel Persson

Christel Friskopp (S), chair of the festival committee and Daniel Svensson, festival coordinator, regret returning, but also describe the festival as a success.

The municipality's budget for the Baltic Sea Festival rose to just over 3.3 million crowns. This year, the money was not enough and the forecast is less than 1.5 million SEK. The main reason is the bad crowd at Wednesday's concert with Anastacia Dragonfly, an artist costing about $ 700,000.

"We sold 1,600 tickets, but we had to sell 3,400 tickets," says Christel Friskopp (S), chair of the festival committee, noting that the initiative was not the first for an artist.

The fact that it was a world star who did his only show in Sweden was not enough to attract an audience. The free concert with Rolandz attracted a large audience.

Is it planned to end the paying gig in the future?

– There were discussions about the pros and cons. For Christel Friskopp, this is the new committee, which refers to the committee of municipal councilors who will replace it by the end of the year.

The festival's president and coordinator, Daniel Svensson, regretted that the budget could not be held, but also wished to highlight the success of the festival as a whole.

"In general, we are very happy," said Christel Friskopp.

"We had a wide range of aging options and geography – it was a lot of visitors, which generates a lot of money for the municipality," says Daniel Svensson.

It refers to a study by the Trade Research Institute of 2015, which showed that the revenues of various industries in the city were estimated between 40 and 60 million SEK.