Shining, “One One One” live at by:Larm

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

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!

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by:Larm – Pictures from Wednesday and Thursday

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

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)

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By:Larm 2013 Oslo Is Coming Up

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

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)

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The Inferno Festival Kick Off 2013

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

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)

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Another successful Blues weekend in Hell

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

This year’s Blues In Hell is over, and it has been a great two days with good artists, good blues and friendly people from all over Norway. The festival is held some 20 miles east of Trondheim at a place called Hell, which means a shallow cave in old Norwegian. The headliners at the festival were The Original Blues Brothers, Johnny Hoy, Tommy Castro, Vidar Busk, Roy Rogers and Rory Block. (Above: Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish)

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Blues in Hell is coming up

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

This weekend the Blues in Hell festival is happening at Hell, a place in Stjoerdal, close Trondheim in Norway. This is the fifth year for the festival, and in my opinion it is one of the best and most charming blues festivals in Norway. This year The Original Blues Brothers, Rory Block, Alvin Youngblood and Tommy Castro are some of the headliners. (The picture shows Big Jay from the 2009 festival)

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Granittrock with Bigbang, Oslo Ess and Bare Egil

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

Granittrock is something as unusual as a free, non-alcoholic festival in Oslo, where some of Norway’s best and biggest bands play. The festival was arranged Friday and Saturday this weekend, and I was there on Friday.

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Van Morrison And The Dove

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

I have seen Van Morrison on several occasions, and loved all his performances. My best experience with Van Morrison, is the concert he did at the Norwegian Wood festival in Oslo in June 2000. Both because Van the Man was telling jokes on stage, and making fun of his musicians. But also because of the dove. Today is his 67th birthdfay, but I sincerely hope he has no plans of retiring.

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Happy Birthday Jeff Tweedy!

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

Jeff Tweedy, the singer and front man of Wilco, is 45 years old today. For almost 30 years he has been one of the most important men in the Alternative Country movement, with a background form Uncle Tupelo and Wilco.

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Pstereo is over – see you next year!

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Per Ole Hagen

The Pstereo festival in Trondheim is over, and it is time for some reflections. So far it looks like it was financially successful, with two sold out days. The festival is one of many music festivals in Norway, and many of these have got problems from the bad and rainy summer this year. (Picture above is Michael Krohn from Raga Rockers.)