Tour Venue Nineteen

Fryshuset, Mårtensdalsgatan 2 120 06 Stockholm, Sweden

Fryshuset is the largest youth centre in the world.  It was founded in 1984 by joint efforts between the YMCA of Stockholm and the social entrepreneur Anders Carlberg. 

The name Fryshuset means cold storage building in Swedish - the original centre was housed in a former cold storage facility in Sodermalm before moving to its current location. 

Sports and music were the initial activities offered but through the years social issues have made their way to the fore as a reflection of young people's needs today.  It believes that encouragement, confidence, responsibility and understanding are the key to enable young people to find their way into society. 

In the summer of 1996, violent riots occurred between teenage groups in Stockholm and the Swedish government asked Fryshuset to step in and help the situation.  They launched a campaign that went countrywide, lecturing on alternatives to violence.  It was during this tour that it became clear that most teenagers were opposed to violence and had many ideas on how to prevent it and build a better future.

The centre is now a meeting place for social projects, education, and passionate interests including entertainment and culture. 

Fryshuset is ever growing and changing, with some activities run in the cities of Gothenburg and Malmo.  It is now famous for its work that includes education, skateboarding, basketball, music and other leisure activities.  It runs several schools and programs for training, courses in theatre, music, sport as well as hosting events, concerts, parties and it even has its own church, The Fryshus-Church.  It employs 500 people and receives 40k visitors a month. 

The social projects cover every area from Bridge Builders (a group that guides young boys into adulthood using role models, activities and discussion) to The Easy Street Project (started in 1995 to counteract vandalism on public transport.  Unemployed young people are recruited to work as hosts to prevent problems) to Exit (helping young people to leave Nazi, racist or other extremist movements) to Job Coaches and Web Coaches (both offer support and guidance services) to United Sisters (to boost self-esteem and self respect among young girls and guide them into adulthood) and many more initiatives.

On the music side, the Music Department has around 600 musicians and 100 bands rehearsing in 39 studios from guitar, keyboards and drums to singing and DJ mixing.

The RML - Rock Music education – is a one-year full time education for rock musicians.  It was started in 1989 and many former students have gone on to become successful musicians.

Also, FUSE - an abbreviation of the Swedish words for publishing company, education, support and commitments - is a record company and project for young musicians between 15 and 25.

There are two concert halls; the smaller 'The Club' and the bigger 'The Arena'.

Artists of note: Bastille, Limp Bizkit, Biffy Clyro, Imagine Dragons, Passenger, OllyMurs, Wiz Khalifa, The Janoskians, Stone Roses, Motorhead, Suede, Ash, FooFighters, The Calling, Slipknot, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, R Kelly,Thirty Seconds to Mars, Fuckface Unstoppable, You Ate My Dog and Destine,OneRepublic, Jason Derulo, Twenty One Pilots, and Harry Styles!