The Øya Festival 2018 – Thursday with Behemoth, High On Fire, Fieh, Thea & The Wild and more

Behemoth 09082018-34While Wednesday had scattered rain and humid weather, was Thursday sunny and warm. As usual, the venue filled gradually up, but still there was a good crowd to see the first bands. The big headliner Kendrick Lamar had banned photography. None of the other artists had contracts or banned photography, so there were plenty of opportunities to get some good shots without photographing Lamar. (Photo above: Nergal from Behemoth)

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The Øya festival 2018 – Wednesday with Arcade Fire, Jenny Lewis, Sassy 009 and more

Arcade Fire 08082018-34The Øya Festival started today with Arctic Monkeys as the headliner and Arcade Fire, Jenny Lewis, Phoebe Bridgers and the Norwegian acts Dig Deeper, Virkelig, Sassy 009 and Great News. At least those were the ones I managed to see.  Here are photos of the bands. (Photo above: Arcade Fire)

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The Notodden Blues Festival 2018 – Bonnie Raitt, Vintage Trouble, Gov’t Mule and many more

Vintage Trouble 04082018-24The 31st edition of the Notodden Blues Festival ended on Sunday. It has been a long weekend with music from early in the day until 2 AM, and a lot of friendly and smiling blues fans all around town. This year Ry Cooder was the biggest name together with Bonnie Raitt, and then a lot of other great artists after these two. Here are my photos from the festival. (Photo above: Ty Taylor from Vintage Trouble)

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Månefestivalen 2018 – Sunday with The Waterboys, Bel Canto, Lars Vaular and more

Waterboys 29072018-18Sunday was the last day of a most successful Månefestival. I have had four super hot days with music, happy people and great artists. For a local festival, Månefestivalen has top booking with a mix of big names, Norwegian and from other countries and local well known and up and coming artists. The headliner on Sunday was Waterboys. (Photo above: Mike Scott from The Waterboys)

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Månefestivalen 2018 – Friday with Hellbillies, Knut Reiersrud, Hanne Boel and Bernhoft

Hellbilles 27072018-32Månefestivalen started officially Friday, with Thursday’s OBOS på Månen as a kind of vorspiel. The festival is slightly alternative from many of the other festivals because they have a predominately Norwegian booking. And in 2014 they booked only female artists and bands with female members. On the first day of this year’s edition, Hanne Boel from Denmark was the only female and non-Norwegian artist. (Photo above: Hellbillies)

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“OBOS på Månen” – Morten Abel, Christel Alsos and Adam Douglas in the Sun

Morten Abel 26072018-01For twenty years Månefestivalen has been arranged in Gamlebyen in Fredrikstad, some 70 miles south of Oslo in Norway. The venue is an open place in the old town, dating back to 1567. Behind the concert venue is a beautiful garden where people sit around drinking and eating between  the concerts. Yesterday’s concerts were a gift from OBOS to the city and people of Fredrikstad. (Photo above: Morten Abel)

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Bergen Fest 2018 – Sigrid, James Bay, Sondre Justad, Astrid S, Fieh and more

James Bay 16062018-15Saturday was the last day of Bergen Fest this year, and as the tradition is, the day started early, kicking off twelve hours of live music from four stages. Nineteen acts all together. This day was also a predominantly Norwegian day, with some of our best newer artists like Sigrid, Sondre Justad, Astrid S, Fieh, Halie and Sløtface, together with veterans like Real Ones. And with nice weather, mostly sunny, a packed venue and James Bay as the closing act, this was a perfect ending to another successful festival. (Photo above: James Bay)

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Bergen Fest 2018 – Gabrielle, Phoenix, Bendik, Jessie Reyez and more

Gabrielle 15062018-21

The rain from Thursday disappeared over the night and Friday was slightly overcast with some sun, perfect festival weather. And the venue at Bergen Fest was suddenly filled up with music fans. While the preceding days were more rock oriented, Friday had hip hop, pop, some soul and very little rock. And again I got to see artists I have never seen before. (Photo above: Gabrielle)

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Bergen Fest 2018 – Thåstrøm, Father John Misty, Anna of the North, Anderson East and more

Thaastrom 14062018-15While Wednesday had good weather at Bergen Fest – cloudy and not too cold – Thursday started out with rain and wind gusts from the morning, and it kept raining the whole day. The result was that the main stage couldn’t be used most of the night. The wind blew the rain in on the stage, so concerts had to be moved, and the opening act had to be cancelled. But the organizers at Bergen Fest are used to rain and did a thoroughly professional job. (Photo above: Thåström)

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Bergen Fest 2018 – Nick Cave, Sparks, The Last Internationale, Tom Russell and more

Nick Cave 13062018-22Bergen Fest has been a long time tradition for me, all the way back to the 90’s when it was called Ole Blues and was a club festival with mostly blues artists. Now it is an outdoor festival in historic surroundings in Bergen, and with one of Norway’s best bookings, big headliners and many lesser known but definitely very interesting artists. Yesterday I saw Nick Cave and Sparks, but also The last Internationale, which became one of the highlights for me. (Photo above: Nick Cave)

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