About Per Ole Hagen

Avid concert photographer and music journalist. Works with Music IP management at the Norwegian Brodcasting System (NRK).

Notodden Blues Festival 2014 Coming Up

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

The Notodden Blues Festival is starting next week. This will be the 27th festival, and it has established itself as the largest blues festival in Scandinavia, and also one of the largest ones in Europe. In 2012 Notodden was named a part of the Mississippi Blues Trail as the only place outside of the USA. Here are some thoughts about the artists, plus some pictures of the highlights from last year. (Picture above: Vidar Busk and His True Believers)

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Ulf Lundell Rocked a Hot Rockefeller

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Sweden have had many big pop acts during the last 40 years, starting with ABBA and so far ending with Avicii. They also have and have had some really great rock acts like Ebba Grøn, Thåström, the younger Lars Winnerbäck and Håkan Hellström. And then they have Ulf Lundell. He has been around since the mid 70’s and is still going strong. Yesterday night he played for an almost sold out Rockefeller in Oslo.

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Tons of Rock 2014 Revisited

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Tons of Rock was held June 19-21., but I have been too busy afterwards to manage to post anything from the festival. This was the first time the festival was held, but it is an easy bet that we will get a new festival next year. Everyone there enjoyed themselves, and the line up was very good with Slayer, Anthrax, Sepulture, TNT, Volbeat, Turbonegro and many others filling three stages for three days.

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Steinkjerfestivalen 2014 – Saturday

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

The second day of the Steinkjer Festival had Timbuktu & Damn as headliner on the big stage, and Highasakite and Black Debbath at the tent stage. But before them many good artists and band played. I had special pleasure hearing Maria Mena, Skambankt, The South and Highasakite again. (Picture above: Timbuktu)

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Steinkjerfestivalen 2014 – Friday

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

One of my routines every summer, is to start my short summer vacation at the Steinkjer Festival. It is a local festival in Steinkjer which is a town in the middle of Norway. The festival is run by Svein Bjoerge, the same man who is behind the new Norwegian heavy rock festival Tons of Rock, which was a big success last weekend. The Steinkjer festival has grown to be a semi-big festival, with lots of good bands and a very nice atmosphere. Here are pictures of some of the bands from Friday. (Picture above: Oslo Ess)

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Norwegian Metal in Warsaw

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Two years ago I held an exhibition at the Galleri MAP in Oslo called Norwegian Metal in Concert. Last year the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs bought the rights to offer the exhibition to Norwegian embassies, and yesterday the embassy in Warsaw, Poland hosted the first exhibition together with a concert with the Norwegian black metal band Order. (Picture above: Billy Messiah from Order)

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Bergen Fest 2014 – Sunday

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Sunday started just as beautiful as Saturday, except for some more wind and a few scattered clouds. The festival schedule started later than the day before, with fewer bands and artists, and the schedule was also more condensed, with less time in between. That was the good news. The better news is that there were many good concerts by Monica Heldal, Tom Odell, James Vincent McMorrow and Bow To Each Other, with John Mayer as the musical climax. (Picture above: John Mayer)

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Bergen Fest 2014 – Saturday

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Saturday at Bergen Fest had the best weather so far. Sunny, warm, and no wind. The music was equally good, Highasakite, Billy Bragg, Graham Parker & The Rumours, Lars Vaular, Lana Del Rey and many more. (Picture above: Lana Del Rey poses for the iPhones of the girls in the front row)

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Bergen Fest 2014 – Friday

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Even if yesterday was Friday the 13th, the rain had stopped, and Bergen was sunny, as it should be with so many great artists in town. The day started with Kylesa and ended with Simple Minds. Not the worst way to spend a day, specially with all those great acts in between. (Picture above: The Dillinger Escape Plan) Continue reading →

Bergen Fest 2014 – Thursday

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Bergen Fest has risen to be one of the most exciting festivals in Norway. For a festival with a quite grown up audience, they have a varied lineup which spans from Blondie and ZZ Top to Joe Henry Lana Del Rey, John Mayer and The Dillinger Escape Plan. In between there are many well known and less known band in different genres. Here are some highlights from Thursday. (Picture above: Blondie)