Scandinavian Culture Calendar: May 2025
By Karl Batterbee
KAJ. Photo: Erik Ahman
The month of May promises plenty of enticing things to get out there and see, hear and do across Scandinavia. Read on for our pick of cultural highlights, whether you’re a metalhead or a Manolo Blahnik enthusiast.
Dead By April (3 May)
Swedish band Dead By April have planned their biggest headline concert to date in Norway, at the Rockefeller in the country’s capital. With over 250 million streams on Spotify, 70 million streams on YouTube, multiple platinum and gold certifications and Swedish Grammy awards to their name, these chaps are one of Sweden’s biggest electronic rock exports in modern times. They have previously toured with world-renowned bands such as Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold and My Passion, played some of Europe’s biggest festivals such as Sonisphere, Pier Pressure, Download Festival and Metaltown, and even crossed over to family-friendly Swedish TV; in the form of Melodifestivalen, Allsång på Skansen and Sommarkrysset. Needless to say, concert-goers will be in good hands!
Rockefeller, Oslo
Dead By April. Press photo
Candace Bushnell; True Tales of Sex and the City (5 and 7 May)
With all the old episodes of Sex and the City having arrived to Netflix in 2024 and the trailer for the third season of its spin-off And Just Like That having dropped in April, Carrie Bradshaw is in vogue once more. Now, the show’s creator (and the woman that Carrie herself is based on) is heading out on a world tour and taking it to the Nordics in May. Billed as an unforgettable girls’ night out, Candace regales audiences with tales of her time as a New York girl-about-town that went on to inspire a generation-defining TV show across the globe. And she also lets the crowd in on everything that has happened to the original Carrie Bradshaw since!
Bremen Theatre, Copenhagen (5 May) Vulkan Arena, Oslo (7 May)
Candace Bushnell, True Tales of Sex and the City. Photo: Fadil Berisha
West Coast Country Festival. Jill Johnson. Photo: Rickard L Eriksson
West Coast Country Festival (10 May)
An annual highlight for country-music enthusiasts, the West Coast Country Festival is heading to the huge Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg for its 2025 edition. Kicking off at lunchtime, organisers have lined up a whole day’s (and night’s) worth of entertainment. Attendees can look forward to a large-scale celebration of country music, with plenty of live performances and activities. On stage, visitors will see both established artists and promising new talents, from Jill Johnson and Jay Smith, to Lucinda Williams and Jackson Dean. Emcee for the event is Mattias Hansson, known from P4 Country radio and one of Sweden’s most influential in the genre.
Scandinavium, Gothenburg
West Coast Country Festival. Jay Smith. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist
Open House Helsinki 2025 (15-18 May)
If you’re in the Finnish capital this month, you’re invited to peruse some of the more interesting architectural gems around. Open House Helsinki is an annual urban event which unconfines spaces that are normally restricted to the public. There are guided tours to buildings, interiors, landmarks, interesting neighbourhoods, old and new architectural sites, parks and private spaces. In addition, there are exhibitions, lectures and workshops on offer for the whole family. On the tours, you will even get to hear insider information and background stories; the guides are often the designers of the sites. The tours are open to everyone and admission is free.
Various locations, Helsinki
Amos Rex Art Museum. Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo
Amos Rex Art Museum. Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo
Shirley Valentine (16-17 May)
After a critically-acclaimed first run that saw over 100,000 people buy tickets, Shirley Valentine returns, by demand, to Oscarsteatern in Stockholm for two nights only in May, with Maria Lundqvist once again playing the titular role. The multiple award-winning actress won universal praise for her portrayal of the character first-time round, thanks in no small part to the funny and stylish direction by Edward Af Sillén. The Swedish-language play is a production of the iconic British film of the ‘80s, which follows a middle-aged housewife through a journey of rediscovery.
Oscarsteatern, Stockholm
Shirley Valentine. Photo: Mats-Bäcker
KAJ at Gröna Lund (24 May)
The musical comedy trio KAJ are taking Eurovision fans by storm in Sweden, their native Finland and all throughout Europe. The day after they won Melodifestivalen in March, their winning song Bara Bada Bastu broke the record on Spotify Sweden for the most streams in one day. And the song has now (at the time of writing) spent eight weeks at number one in the singles charts of both Sweden and Finland. Bara Bada Bastu will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on 17 May, and has been the bookies’ favourite to take the win in the run up to the contest. Will the Gröna Lund concert in Stockholm serve as the trio’s victory lap?
Gröna Lund, Sweden
KAJ. Photo: Erik Ahman
GHOST (throughout May)
Swedish band GHOST are set for their biggest world tour yet, and during the second half of May, the group is making a few stops across the Nordics. Known for their spectacular live performances, this is a night that metal fans won’t want to miss; after these Scandinavian stops, the next date on their tour will see the Swedes make their highly anticipated debut at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York. At the end of April, the Grammy-winning, theatrical rock icons released their sixth album SKELETÁ, which saw critics reaffirm their status as one of the genre’s most esteemed creative forces. Copenhagen (17 May), Tampere (20),
Linköping (22), Sandviken (23), Oslo (24)
GHOST. Photo: Loma Vista Recordings
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