Saturday at Notodden was the day with the big headliners playing at Hovigs Hangar. But there were plenty of other highlights during the day and night, and also many good concerts I missed because they were playing parallel to the ones I saw. Here are the concerts I saw Saturday at the Notodden Blues Festival. (Photo above: Buddy Guy)
In 1996 Blue Mood Records started out as a Norwegian record company, concentrating on blues, and on August 5th in 1997 they released their first album, Stomping’ Our Feet With Joy by Vidar Busk & His True Believers. Since then the label has released around 50 studio-, live- and compilation albums. Today the label is one of the record company Grappa’s labels, but still dedicated to blues. (Photo above: A few of the Blue Mood label mates)
Friday at Notodden started with better weather than Thursday. The concert schedule at the festival started at 12 noon and ending at 2 AM. With so many parallel concert, you have to make choices, both on artists and venues. My schedule started 1.30 PM, and I chose to see all the concerts in the big tent, Hovigs Hangar, plus one other. (Photo above: Beth Hart)
This year is the 30th Notodden Blues Festival, and it is good to be back. The festival has grown from a small and enthusiastic happening to become Norway’s largest blues festival, and also one of the best blues festivals in the world. This year is no exception, and here are photos of the artists from the first night. (Photo above: students from Little Steven’s Blues School)
Månefestivalen in Fredrikstad, 60 miles south of Oslo, has been around since 2002. They started at the grounds of the former Fredrikstad Mekaniske Verksted, but moved after a few years to the Old Town (Gamlebyen), a part of Fredrikstad from the 16th and 17th century. The festival fits nicely in between the old buildings with a beautiful garden at the back as a hang-around area. (Photo above: Annisette and Savage Rose)
Last night was a perfect night for some good and melodious music performed by songwriter de luxe Sam Outlaw and his band. And before him, Michaela Anne, who also plays in his band, plus the Norwegian band Lucky Lips gave us each a taste of their music.
Saturday at Tons of Rock came with sun and no rain, but the wind had picked up. The bad thing about this was that the festival had to close down the Huth stage on the highest point of the fortress. They took no chance of the stage falling over in the wind. With a tight schedule on three stages, this meant an even tighter one on the tent stage. (Photo above: Satyricon)
Friday at Tons of Rock was the rainy day. The sky was grey, and it rained a little bit most of the day – not much, but just enough to make you wet. But the crowd didn’t seem to mind that much, and the music was just as good as the first day. So here are the bands I saw on Friday. (Photo above: Johannes Eckerström of Avatar)
This year is the fourth Tons of Rock festival at the Fredriksten festning in Halden, Norway. The festival includes hard rock, heavy metal and all other forms of metal rock. During its existence an amazing line up of big names have played at the festival. This year is no exception, and here are the bands I saw on Thursday. (Photo above: Rob Zombie)
After two years the festival moved to the centre of Oslo, to the idyllic Frognerbadet, an outdoor swimming pool with a natural amphi. The festival has had many great artists during the years, and as also been the arena for new and upcoming bands. The last couple of years the festival was near to bankruptcy, but this year there are new owners, and the 25th anniversary festival was held this weekend with a 100% Norwegian band line-up.
Artist Pictures Blog 