Drammen is a town outside of Oslo, and they have made a great effort in using culture actively to make the town a better place to live and visit. One of the things they have done is to revive and old industry area to make – among other things – a very good concert hall, plus an adjoining hotel. Another thing is the festival Working Class Hero. This coming weekend it will be arranged for the 13th time. Here are some pictures of the artists from the 2009 and 2012 festival while we are waiting for this year’s festival to begin. (Picture above: Donkeyboy from 2009)

Noora Noor from 2009

The 2009 festival had Donkeboy, Motorpsycho, Knut Reiersrud, Noora Noor, Dum Dum Boys, El Caco, Shining, the Notodden Blues Revue and the Seatsniffers as the main artists.

Kjartan Kristiansen from Dum Dum Boys, 2009

Knut Reiersrud, 2009

Morten Omlid from the Notodden Blues Revue, 2009

Shining, 2009

Noora Noor, 2009

Seatsniffers, 2009

Anders Gjesti from El Caco, 2009

The 2012 festival had Jarle Bernhoft, Kaizers Orchestra, Stein Torleif Bjella, Susanne Sundfoer, Hedvig Mollestad and the Goo Men as their artists.

Susanne Sundfoer, 2012

Jarle Bernhoft, 2012

Stein Torleif Bjella, 2012

HP Gundersen with Stein Torleif Bjella, 2012

The Goo Men, 2012

Hedvig Mollestad, 2012

This year’s festival is from May 30th to June 1st, and I will report from t after the weekend. The main artists this year are Judy Collins, Oslo Ess, Rita Eriksen, Morten Abel, Valkyrien Allstars and Ida Jenshus.

All pictures are © Per Ole Hagen and must not be used without written permission.