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)
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 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)
Everyone talks about when Led Zeppelin will come together again. Jimmy Page wants to do it, John Paul Jones is maybe willing, but Robert Plants has been quoted as dragging his feet. I think he should continue to do that, after seeing him at Bergen Fest last night, I don’t think we need a reunion of Led Zeppelin.
Dance With A Stranger were one of Norway’s biggest acts in the mid 80’s until they disbanded in 1994. They released several CDs, and had top hits in Norway, Sweden and also other European countries. Since 1994 they have had reunions, but now they have started what they say is definitely their last concert tour. Some 25 concerts in 3 months. and then it is over I saw them yesterday at Åsgårdstrand.
Nattjazz (Night Jazz) in Bergen is one of Norway’s longest living jazz festivals. The first festival was arranged in 1972, and since then it has been arranged every May in Bergen, parallel with the Bergen International Festival. This year I saw the opening night, and got three concerts with some of Norway’s finest jazz artists – Nils Petter Molvaer, Come Shine and Haakon Kornstad. (Picture above: Nils Petter Molvaer)
Samba, bossa nova and latin music in general has been popular in some of the Nordic countries for many years. Finland has a strong tango tradition in their popular music, while many Swedish artists like Lill lindfors, Cornelis Vreeswijk and Monica Zetterlund have had several bossa nova songs on their repertoire. We haven’t had a tradition for this music in Norway until Trio de Janeiro started out some 25 years ago. They are still active, and today they played a lunch concert at the AnJazz festival at Hamar.
D’Sound were one of the refreshing new Norwegian band in the mid 90s. They started playing together in 1993, and their debut CD, Spice Of Life came in 1996. From then they have released six more studio albums, one greatest hits and on live CD. Yesterday night they played at Hamar at the AnJazz festival, after a long break.
The fourth and last day of Inferno had Watain as the headliner, but we got many other musical highlights. To me, Rotting Christ from Greece was a positive surprise, the same with the Norwegian veterans Gehenna. I also saw and heard the FInnish band Oranssi Pazuzu, Black Witchery and Tulus. (Picture above: Blodstrup from Tulus)
The last night at Inferno 2014 was closed by the Swedish band Watain. Together with Dimmu Borgir, Hatebreed and Blasphemy, they were the headliners at the festival. With their satanistic philosophy and extremely competent playing, they were a worthy closing act of this year’s Inferno. Continue reading
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