Austin Music Awards and More at SXSW

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Wednesday night during SXSW is the night for the Austin Music Awards. The readers of the Austin Chronicle have voted for their favorite artists, musicians, venues, and what have you. In earlier years it was held at the Austin Music Hall but moved two years ago to a ballroom at the Convention Center. The show was sold out, and this year it was better and tighter than earlier years, even if the old venue had better atmosphere. After the show, I ran up to the Continental Club to see the end of JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, plus the Waco Brothers. (Picture above, Charlie Sexton, Scrappy Jud Newcombe, Alejandro Escovedo during the Ian McLagan tribute)

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Tuesday at SXSW with Asleep At The Wheel and Carolyn Wonderland

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Tuesday night was a real treat for us who like hand-played high quality music with good songs and even better playing. The main event for the evening at the Saxon Pub was Asleep At The Wheel. Milk Drive opened the show, and after the Wheels, Carolyn Wonderland played, before Insects vs Robots closed the night. (Picture above: Ray Benson from Asleep At The Wheel)

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Monday Night In Austin At SXSW

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Every Monday in Austin some of the same bands play at their “own” venue. One of them is Dale Watson, who performs at the Continental Club on Monday nights, another is Chris Gage who play at Donn’s Depot. yesterday I started out at the Swedish Invasion, an SXSW event, showcasing some of their artists at the Threadgill’s, hosted by Export Music Sweden and local Austin songwriter patron, Troy Campbell, the owner of House of Songs. (Picture above: The Hot Nut Riveters at The Saxon Pub)

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Frank Frazetta and Robert Rodriguez

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

This blog post about the Frank Frazetta museum in Austin is not about music, but it is slightly tangential to music, since his works have been used as album covers by several artists. But some of you might know about Frank Frazetta’s paintings, his book covers and his comic books, and that is worth a post.

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The First Saturday Night In Austin At SXSW

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

SXSW has started, with Film and Interactive. Music starts on Tuesday, and that is also the closing day for the interactive festival. That means the city is filled up with technology oriented people who attend the several hundred seminars and go to the sponsored parties at night. I go to seminars, but I’d rather hear and see some of the great artists and bands here at night before the music festival mayhem starts. Here is what I saw yesterday, March 14. (Picture above: Redd Volkaert)

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by:Larm 2015 – Saturday, Day Three

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Saturday was the last day of this year’s by:Larm, a festival that will be remembered as a successful one. There were lots of people in town these days, many highly interesting seminars, and artists who really came through, but to the fans and the music business people. (Picture above: Bendik) Continue reading →

by:Larm 2015 – Friday, Day Two

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

The second night of the by:Larm festival saw a lot more people at the venues than the day before. Many of the concerts were packed, and you had to get there early to get in. Even the biggest venue, Sentrum Scene, had a line outside when Aurora Aksnes held her concert. This means that the festival is popular, not only with the delegates, but also among the general public in Oslo. (Picture above: Haley Shea from Slutface)

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by:Larm 2015 – Thursday Day One

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

by:Larm is the Norwegian showcase festival that started in 1998, meaning this year’s edition is the 18th. I have attended all of these, the first 10 years in different cities in Norway, but from 2008 the festival has been held in Oslo. Like other showcase festivals, there is a conference and a music showcase part, and the last few years they have also started an interactive part, like at SXSW. I started out yesterday at the concerts, and here are my best pictures of the four concerts I saw and heard. (Picture above: Karin Park)

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Blastfest, Day four, Saturday

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

The last day of Blastfest had Satyricon as headliner. With Immortal out of play and an inactive Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon are the only ones, together with Mayhem, of the big black metal bands in Norway. There are no signs of Satyricon giving up, on the contrary. The closing gig on Blastfest showed that they are still one of the absolute best live acts on the metal scene today. The other bands that I saw the last night, were Decapitated, Destruction, Tsjuder and Finntroll. (Picture above: Satyricon)

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Blastfest – Day Three, Friday

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Friday night at Blastfest I chose to see all the bands at the main stage. As the day before, the fans had a good time, the beer was flowing freely, and the mood was friendly and good, like it usually is at metal festivals. The bands I saw were Borknagar, Cryptopsy, Dark Funeral, Paradise Lost and At The Gates. (Picture above: Dark Funeral)