Viva Sounds 2023 sees Gothenburg showcase some of the most exciting talent the live circuit has to offer

Words: Jessica Goodman.Photos: Estefânia Silva, Nikos Plegas, Pedram Fazelzadeh.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a music festival in Gothenburg city. Sure, music festivals are events more typically reserved for the summer seasons, but what would the most wonderful time of the year be without music?

Held over two days, Viva Sounds sees Gothenburg venues open their doors and showcase some of the most exciting talent the live circuit has to offer. Attend a conference to learn all about the latest goings on in the music biz and wander the city to take in Christmas markets with theme park rides by day, then (carefully) stroll snow-covered streets between venues and see hyped bands and musicians by night. Talk about starting the festive season the right way.

Kicking things off in wonderfully frenetic style, Kerosene Kream are a punk lover's dream. With hyped-up energy, deliciously scuzzy guitars, and screech-along choruses a plenty, it's easy to see why. The Stockholm five-piece have already made themselves known on the Swedish live circuit – evident in the number of people packed into the venue and singing along – and tonight, they showcase just how much fun they're capable of creating (spoiler: it's a lot). Blistering riffs meet bouncing rhythms with contagiously raw flare, a bottle rocket of rock and roll energy primed and ready to explode.

For fans of action rock, Gothenburg's very own Upploppet have anthems in spades. Searing guitar solos? Swaggering attitude? Catchy chorus hooks? Check, check, and check again. With crowdsurfers reaching for the ceiling just a few songs into their set, they're a band who've perfected their formula to a T. Across the road, Nemo Sparding offers something a little less conventional. Backed by a five-piece band, his dream-tinged soundscapes are a luxury to get lost in.

Late at night, Bala bring the thunder. The noise rock duo, heralding from Galicia, Spain, have torn up stages everywhere from Benidorm to Melbourne and back. Tonight, it's their first show in Gothenburg, and it's nothing short of rapturous. Snarling refrains and roaring percussion scale to cacophonous levels. A storm on the senses of the most electrifying kind, Bala are like lightning in the dark: rare, bright, and possessing energy laced with fire. Wrapping up their set, the band spur-of-the-moment beckon members of Gothenburg's own Bottlecap out of the audience to join them on stage for a cover of Nirvana's 'Territorial Pissings'.

Winners of the Welsh Music Prize twice over, Adwaith's accolades speak for themselves. On stage, they're every bit the success story you might've heard. Armed with pop hooks, shoegaze sonics, and punk sensibilities, they take every moment in stride – and the crowd are with them every step of the way. With a set largely built from their latest material, including songs from last year's 'Bato Mato' and recent James Dean Bradfield-featuring single 'Addo', Adwaith have one foot firmly on the future pedal.

Easily one of the most ferocious bands around right now, never mind on this line-up, God Mother bring night two of Viva Sounds to a joyously cataclysmic start. From 0 to blow-your-eardrums-off in the time it takes for them to play their first note (not advised for the faint-hearted or the hungover), they bring to life high-octane hardcore punk of the very highest order. Vocalist Sebastian Campbell commands the room from the get-go, performance impeccably, not missing a beat as he writhes on the floor, jumps into the crowd, clambers on the furniture, swings from the rafters – does anything other than stay put in front of a microphone stand and sing, basically. When the band pause between songs barely ten minutes in, he's already got a chipped tooth and blood on his forehead. Go big or go home, right? Tearing through the venue to whisk their audience away somewhere new, God Mother are a tornado of chaos. Deliciously sludged-up refrains meet gloriously freewheeling performance to create something explosive, an experience so sensational and surreal it leaves you reeling.

Ten minutes up the road, the energy is something entirely different. When it comes to bewitching psych rock, there are few on the circuit doing it better than The Hanged Man. Initially the solo project of Rebecka Rolfart and now something of a supergroup including members of Viagra Boys and Dungen, the group drift between meandering melodies and darkly driving refrains, spellbinding their audience every step of the way. The same stage is later occupied by Gothenburg prog-rock outfit Hollow Ship, whose noodling guitar solos craft rich sonic tapestries that drown out the rest of the world outside (and often the world inside, too).

Across the street, Gothenburg's only preserved wooden townhouse is far from a typical gig venue. But then again, the shows held here over the course of Viva Sounds are hardly typical shows. Next to her name in neon lights inside a room littered with postcards, Eliën's set is as much performance art as it is a musical showcase. Between songs, she talks instinctively of connection, of turning her campervan into a makeshift venue and taking it on a road trip across Europe, of the messages people she played for left her on the backs of postcards, and how those messages shaped the songs that make up her album. It's these songs she plays tonight, echoing synths and soaring vocals filling the historic venue with captivating new stories.

Returning to the festival for the second time, this time to draw the weekend to a close, KÅRP are a sonic sensation, and an all-out dance party rolled into one. On a smoke-filled stage drowned out in neon lights, the electronic duo reign over everything their music touches. Anna-Maria Lundberg's vocals echo out of the darkness and guide the room to dance through the band's unique brand of death disco. This is The Knife meets Grimes: danceable and dark, electric, energetic, and euphoric in equal measure. KÅRP make music to move and be moved to – and as the clock strikes twelve and the party shows no signs of stopping, what more could you ask for?