The front guy of the Norwegian band Honningbarna, Edvard Valberg, looks like a young man who does what his parents tell him, and dutifully goes to cello practice every week. But appearances can deceive, on stage he is like a firework of punky energy, treating his cello like a punching ball while the other band members jump around on stage. As a band, Honningbarna is one of the live bands that gives the most value for the money these days.
The third day of by:Larm is over, and this was the night for the dark and extreme bands. I chose to stay most of the night at Rockefeller with Vithr, Nidingr, God Seed and Shining. The evening started at another venue with Razika. (Picture above: Gaahl from God Seed)
One of Norway’s best live bands in all styles, Shining, had a huge success with their last album “Blackjazz”. The album is their own mix between black metal and jazz, and is a hard, vital and extremely well played collection of good songs. April 8th they will release theis new album, “One One One”, and last night they played the whole album from track one to the end at Rockefeller during by:Larm in Oslo.
Update – Shining won the Statoil grant of 1 million NOK (ap. $180.000) today at by:Larm. If you ask me, a well deserved win!
by:Larm 2013 in Oslo has started with concerts at 19 venues and bands and music fans everywhere. Here are pictures of some of the bands who played on the festival’s first two days. (Picture above: Turbonegro)
Next week the 17th by:Larm festival will be arranged in Oslo. From the start in Trondheim in 1997, it has grown to be an imoportant festival for the music business in Norway. Every year record company executives, managers, media people and an increasing number of international representatives gather in Oslo for four days of music and seminars. Here are some of the artists from last year’s by:Larm while we are counting down to February 13th. (Picture above: Bernhoft)
Every Easter almost 2000 black metal fans gather in Oslo for their annual Inferno festival and family gathering. They come from Australia, China, India, USA, Europe and South America, and Norway. While many of the native Norwegians go to their cabins or hotels in the mountains to ski, the metal fans come together at Rockefeller and John Dee, two clubs in the same house in Oslo. (Picture above: Nidingr)
Junipher Greene was the first and also the leading Norwegian prog rock band in the late 60’s and the start of the 70’s. Their double LP Friendship was the first double album released by a Norwegian artist, and it is still considered the best Norwegian album of all times. The band disbanded some 30 years ago, but the last 4 years they have played some concerts together every year. Their first concert in 2013 was at Rockefeller in Oslo yesterday.
Audrey Horne is one of my favorite live bands. They are great musicians, they have a charismatic singer and they have good songs. The band’s latest CD, Youngblood, has got great reviews in the Norwegian newspapers, and that’s well deserved. Yesterday they played at Rockefeller in Oslo, at the same concert as Black Debbath.
A couple of weeks ago Black Debbath released their sixth CD, “Nå får det faen meg være rock! Akademisk stoner-rock!” (Now, God Dammit It Must Be Rock! Academic Stoner-Rock!). Last week they started their concert tour in Norway, and last night they played a sold out Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo.
This year I have seen something between 150 and 200 concert at some 15 festivals, and at different venues, and I have had the chance to photograph most of them. Concerts in many different styles: jazz, folk, country, metal, classical, rock, hip-hop, pop. Here are my Top 15 concert experiences of 2012.
This will also be the last posting here at Artist Pictures Blog in 2012. More to come in 2013.
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