The Oya Festival in Oslo is over, and all the attendees have had the time to sleep, relax and start preparing for a new week. I have sorted out my photos from the festival, and here are my pics from the first festival day, Wednesday August 7th. (Picture above: Laura Mwula)

This day I shot 10 acts, starting with Mikhael Paskalev. He is a Norwegian singer songwriter, and he’s got some great songs already.

The next band out was Draape. They are also Norwegian, playing modern pop, and they did a good show  at Oya.

My first positive surprise on Wednesday was Laura Mwula. Her modern soul is beautiful and also quite catchy, and as a photographer, she was a joy to photograph.

Steve Mason followed after Mwula. I knew very little about him, but he he writes some very good songs that deserves more attention. I will definitely follow up on Mason.

Black Debbath were out next. They are a Norwegian metal bands with lots of humor in their lyrics, but as they are great musicians, it sounds very good. You can read more about them in an earlier blog story here.

Alabama Shakes played after Black Debbath, and they were my second highlight of the day. Not surprisingly, since I saw them at the SXSW in Austin in March and knew how good they are.

Tame Impala are an Australian band – typical indie rock, introvert, good songs, but they didn’t move me much.

Wu Tang Clan are one of the legends of hip hop, an they are known for cancelling their shows. But they came to Oya and made their fans happy, I am no big hip hop fan, but they made a good show.

Blur were one of the three big bands from the Brit-pop era, and they headlined Enga, the big stage at Oya the first night. My initial skepticism was soon turned to pleasure when they showed us that they are still a vital live band. You can see more pictures from their concert here.

The headliners on the second stage, Sjosiden, were Kvelertak, one of Norwaty’s most promising band with a growing international reputation. You can see more pictures of the Kvelertak here.

All in all, Wednesday was a very good start for the festival. It has been sold out for a long time, and more than 15000 people attended each of the four days the festival lasted. Besides the two stages I visited, the festival has two more stages, one open air and one tent stage. Four stages means that some of the concerts are held at the same time, but it also means that the festival can have a diversity of different styles in their booking. As far as I can judge, the first day of Oya was a good example of this.

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