It is always fun to venture to pastures new and try watching gigs out of the UK. European festivals, especially, are becoming more and more popular for those looking for something out of the ordinary, and the likes of Hellfest, Graspop and Wacken host a large number of people from these isles every year. This trip was to Time To Rock in Knislinge. You can read the Day Two report here.
Time To Rock Festival 2025
Knislinge, Sweden – Friday 4th and Saturday 5th July 2025.
Words: Ian Sutherland
Photography: Rich Dillon
Sweden Rock has been a popular festival too, and it’s now grown from more humble origins to a festival of real size and significance. Some people do not want that, though.
In the way that Stonedead and Maid Of Stone fill a niche in the UK rock festival market, Time To Rock has been doing the same thing in Sweden for a few years now. I thought I would give the 2025 edition a bash and see what they are all about as a first-time visitor. 
Time To Rock has a maximum capacity around the 5,000 mark and is run over four days on a site nestled beside a lake in the sleepy town of Knislinge. There are the usual camping, campervan and onsite cabin options, but I opted to stay in Kristianstad, a more substantial city with accommodation options. Standard local bus services take about thirty minutes to get there, and the bands are timed to finish before the last one back at night.
Unusually, the festival runs from Friday to Monday. There are three stages: the larger Falcon and Rock Commander stages and the smaller Pirate Rock one.
On Friday, it’s only the Falcon stage that is open, and the event is listed as a pre-party, so for most, it’s about getting to know the site and settling in with some music to get the party started.
I opted to do some catching up with old friends, make some new ones and only caught the good time rock ‘n’ roll of the John Lindberg Trio, a solid set from Scots rockers Heavy Pettin’ and Local headliners Bullet and their veteran Metal.
That was a solid start, but Saturday is a more serious undertaking with all stages open, and the site is already filling up at 12.30 when Bonafide take the stage. Their sub AC/DC rock ‘n’ roll vibe is going down a storm, and with hindsight, I should have caught more of them before leaving to catch some of Hellgroove.
Clashes are a festival bugbear!
Riot V brought the old school Metal to the Rock Commander stage, opting to play almost all of the classic Fire Down Under album. The rest of their set was a mixture of new and old, and I thought Road Racin’ was a loud and proud version of an old classic, even if they can’t muster an original member in the band fifty years on.
Ambush appeared on the smallest stage, and their sub-Priest style and attitude were fun for a while. But eventually I moved over to catch French blues rocker Laura Cox. She is an accomplished player and has a rock-solid band, and everyone enjoyed a set summed up by the closing hard-edged Hard Blues Shot.
Old school hard rock and AOR are popular in Sweden, so it was well represented on the bill. Singer Erik Grönwall gave his first of two top-class performances on the Rock Commander stage with Eclipse, typifying that style.
Next band up, Wytch Hazel, maxed up the English eccentricity with their theatrical dress sense, mixing with a ’70s-tinged classic Metal sound.
I opted for food next. There is a good selection of food stalls around, and for those who like a drink or three, there is a decent variety of beers on offer as well as cider, wines and more. If you want spirits, you’ll have to opt for a VIP ticket, which was not much more expensive in my opinion, and worth shelling out for to have the extra options and facilities.
Y&T were up next, but at that moment the heavens opened. It was time to get out the sexy poncho and sing through the rain with one of classic rock’s favourite sons, Dave Meniketti.
Given an extra twenty minutes by the organisers after complaints that an hour was not long enough, they put in their usual peerless performance.
Winds Of Change was a pleasant addition to the set, but no, I Believe In You was a surprise to me. In the end, of course, they have too many great songs, so eighty minutes still was not long enough.
The rain got pretty heavy, so the next band I ventured out to see was Nestor. Another of the Swedish AOR contingent, they have a big budget behind them, and it’s working.
They pulled a massive crowd and a set full of parping keyboards, lasers, pyro, dancing girls, and soft rock anthems seemed to please everyone that turned out for them.
Fellow Swedes Velveteen Queen are at the start of their journey and threw their gritty rock ‘n’ roll at their audience with great enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, they were on at the same time as headliner Udo Dirkschneider on another stage, and soon I joined most of the crowd who were there to hear Udo reliving his Accept glory days.
The run through of the entire Balls To The Wall album was enjoyable, but it was an extended Princess Of The Dawn that really got the place going.
It had been a long day, and Udo was finishing at 00:45. But I knew he would play my favourite Accept tune Burnin’ as the last song, and there was no way I was missing that.
It was totally worth the wait, ’80s Metal at its best!
