Hugh Laurie Is In Da House

Hugh Laurie © Per Ole HagenHugh Laurie should be a well known name for many who watch TV, and who doesn’t? He is Dr. House, one of the best paid actors in the TV world. But many of us remember him from the Black Adder series, where he played the airhead who was manipulated by the evil Rowan Atkinson, aka The Black Adder. What many didn’t know, is that Hugh Laurie is an accomplished blues musician and singer, and on Friday he played at Brygga, the outdoor venue at the Notodden Blues Festival.

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Notodden Blues Festival – The Third and Fourth Day

Dana Fuchs © Per Ole HagenThe twenty sixth Notodden festival is over, and it has been a great festival with lots of happy blues fans, great artists who truly enjoyed being at Notodden, and some remarkable and memorable concerts. The festival closed Sunday with a free concert at noon. Saturday was packed with music, from the morning until late night. Here is a report from the last two days. (Picture above: Dana Fuchs)

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Notodden Blues Festival – The Second Day

Van Morrison © Per Ole HagenFriday’s biggest headliner at the Notodden Blues Festival was Van Morrison. He played the biggest outdoor venue at the festival, Brygga, with 8000 enthusiastic fans. Before Van Morrison, James Hunter played the same venue, and later at night Little Andrew, Beth Hart and the Royal Southern Brotherhood played the big tent. Summarized, a great day with one big positive surprise for me.

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Notodden Blues Festival – The First Day

Good TIme Charlie © Per Ole HagenThe Notodden Blues Festival is the biggest blues festival in Norway, and it is also wll known internationally, as being a part of the Mississippi Blues Trail. This years festival is number 26, and 2013 is also the city Notodden’s 100 year anniversary. I have visited the festival every year singe 1994, and it is one of my festival highlights every year. So far, this year will be no exception. (Picture above: Good Time Charlie)

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The Notodden Blues Festival – Highlights from last year

Kid Andersen at the Notodden Blues Festival 2011. © Per Ole HagenThursday the 25th blues festival at Notodden starts, with headliners like ZZ Top, Paul Rodgers, Roomful Of Blues, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and many other great blues artists. Here are some of the artists from 2011 while we are counting down for this year’s festival. The winner of that year’s Blues Prize was Kid Andersen (picture above).

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