Bylarm is Norway’s answer to SXSW, and this year’s festival was number 19. The first years the festivals was arranged in different cities in Norway, Trondheim, Bergen, Tromsø and Kristiansand. In 2008 the festival was moved to Oslo, where it has been arranged at venues around Youngstorget since then. (Photo above: Kvelertak)
The last day at Blastfest 2016 had an equally impressive line up as the other days. All Norwegian bands, and with a good variety in styles. Personally I wasn’t as active as the other days, but I covered the three last bands on the big stage, Red Harvest, Green Carnation and the one I had been looking most forward to, Abbath (picture above).
Friday at Blastfest started out with the same wet weather as the day before. Fortunately it wasn’t raining when I went over to the venue, but the rain came back with a vengeance when I went home after the last band. Hard wind and pouring rain isn’t exactly my kind of weather, so a taxi got me safe back to the hotel. But inside at USF Verftet it was hot and dark with fifteen bands eager to play their songs and fans from all over the world waiting to hear them. (Photo above: Ravn from 1349)
After Hole In The Sky in Bergen quit in 2012, the new Blastfest festival started in 2014. I attended the festival in 2015, and came back for three days of extreme metal this year. This year the lineup is 100% Norwegian metal, but that doesn’t hinder metal heads from all over the world come to Bergen.Someone told me that 43 nations are present, which shows that metal rock has penetrated the world. (Picture above: Gorgoroth)
In Norway we have had a showcase festival since 1998, by:Larm. It started out in Trondheim the first year, and was arranged in different cities around Norway the first years. Since 2008 it has been arranged in Oslo. by:Larm has been a successful festival and conference, getting international attention. In 2011 the first edition of Trondheim Calling was arranged. Not in protest to by:Larm, but as a local alternative in Trondheim. During these five years Trondheim Calling has grown to be a very interesting festival with showcases from up and coming bands and interesting seminars with a talk with Keith Harris as a highlight. (Photo above: Biru Baby)
The second night of Blues in Hell had John Mayall as the headliner. They also had a CD release concert by Reidar Larsen and a surprisingly good concert with Tor Einar Bekken, Richard Gjems and Noora Noor in the acoustic tent. Swedish Knockout Greg & The Injectors followed up with a stylish and powerful concert before, like on Friday night, Davina & The Vagabonds closed the night in the acoustic tent, and The Travellin Brothers did the same on the main stage. (Picture above: Travellin Brothers)
Every year when August is fading away, I have one more festival to look forward to, The Blues in Hell Festival. It is the perfect way to end the festival season, with great blues bands and artists and in the good company of a big part of the Norwegian blues family. Blues in Hell is a intimate festival with high quality artists playing in two tents, the Magic Mirror and an acoustic tent. The first night is over, and here are the artists I saw Friday night in Hell. (Picture above: The Etta James Experience)
The Pstereo festival is one of my favorite festivals, held in Trondheim in the second half of August, usually the week after the Øya festival. Both festival have some commonalities in that they have both eclectic bookings. At Pstereo this means that you have pop, electronica, Americana, metal and hip hop on the same stage. Here are photos of the artists at Pstereo 2015. (Picture above: Yelawolf)
The Oya festival has a tradition where a popular Norwegian artist opens early on the last day. This year, deLillos was the opener, and another Norwegian artist, Susanne Sundfør, was the headliner on the main stage. Between them many other artists performed, and the closing artist in the tent was Thåström. The last day of the Oya festival 2015 was a perfect way to close a perfect festival. (Photo above: Thåström)
Friday at Oya 2015 was a day with many Norwegian artists and bands, plus one very positive international surprise. The headliner this day was Beck, while Lars Vaular from Bergen was the closing artist in the tent. Before that we had folk, Americana, a performance, Ida Jenshus and many more. (Picture above: Samuel Herring from Future Islands)
Artist Pictures Blog 