2008/06/12  Hultsfred Festival; Hultsfred, SE Kathleen Edwards doesn't really manage to wake up the Hultsfred festival. The band's americana is at the boundary of pubrock and the band members seem tired and uninterested. Kathleen Edwards tries, as the first act of this year's festival, bravely to start a tired band, without really succeeding. Maybe it's because they're hungover. In the middle of the show, she says that two of her guitarists injured their fingers after advanced drunken games in their tourbus. But that doesn't show in their guitarplaying. Slick riffs are followed by slick guitar solos, without them missing one single note. The notes are however performed by stationary bandmembers. It smells old men and it smells country. When it's at it's best - like in the song Asking For Flowers - they let the country forward properly. The rest of their polished songs are so much pubrock that even Ryan Adams would be embarrased. At the end of the show, when the dark skies are breaking up, the audience gets smaller. Just as the sun shows up, and there are only a handful of people in front of the stage, Kathleen shows off her violin knowledge to a minimalistic sound background. That's when it's touching - when their guitars disappear, and violin and vocals get the most space. Other than that it's mostly a show in a tight and tired band who does an mediocre try to wake up a sleepy and wet festival. Rating: 3 out of 5 Albin Boman Rockfoto   Translated from the original text				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews