Probably of little interest to the general public - but I just came back from 4 great days at the Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway - and since I have nothing better to do I thought I'd share some of my experiences...

The festival is kinda special - it's fairly compact with 5 stages within 10 minutes' walk from each other. But since it's in a park in the middle of the city, there's no camping and the music has to stop at 11 pm. Still, some selected clubs have bands on during the late hours.
The profile is decidedly 'indie' and pretty non commercial compared to other big festivals in Norway. So you get a pretty mature audience of about 15 000 each day, who's there more for the music than the party. Makes the atmosphere very laidback, for better or worse. Healthy crowds for most of the around 100 gigs, but the crowd rarely go ga-ga over the bands. By the way, many of you have probably seen the footage of The Fall playing Øya a couple of years ago...

Weather wasn't all that to be honest, around 16-20 degrees every day, with a few small showers of rain but also a bit of sun. Never got muddy though, which is a plus. They let in a thousand or so too many people every day, so there was a bit of queueing and few places to sit down and chill out.

Anyway, on to the music:

Wednesday:

Started off with Mogwai (UK), which I listened to a bit in the 90's but kinda lost track of. Started off a bit uninspired, but they really hit their stride as they went on - culminating with a great - as usual - 'Mogwai Fear Satan'...

Then went to see Welsh band Los Campesinos on the main stage. Great stuff - indie with both humour and the songs to match. They were new to me, but I'm definitely gonna check out their album. Put me in a great mood.

After a nice, competent comeback gig from early 90's Norwegian cult favourites Kung Fu Girls, I got perhaps the biggest let down of the whole festival with Iron & Wine (US). I like his albums, but this was pretty crap. He'd brought a whole band, which was ok in itself, but they kept jamming and jamming - killing the songs with pointless, uninspired noodling. Bah.
Tried to catch a bit of The Mae Shi (US), but couldn't get close enough to the small stage to make sense of it other than some promising shouting and trombone playing.
Main act in the park this day was Grinderman. Never quite got the hang of mr. Cave myself, and a combination of onsetting drunkenness, bad view and a bit of hurry to get to a club concert, made me leave halfway through. Was allright though, but nothing special.

Made it in time for the club, and the definitive highlight of the day: Dengue Fever (US). I love their last album, and they were even better live. It was just a great cambodian psychedelic party for 300 people from start to finish - people were falling over themselves with joy, and I was so intoxicated I nearly didn't make it home afterwards... :applaud:

Thursday:

After two so-so concerts by Norwegian bands Lukestar and Grand Island, I had a great time during the set from Okkervil River (US). Lukewarm to their records, but very charming live with an animated Ringo-lookalike on drums.

Straight on to a dark, beautiful show from The National (US). I've listened to them quite a lot this summer, and they really have something nice going if you give them time. The singer Matt Berninger was very intense, and had some awkward, MES-ish stage behaviour which led a lot of people to believe he was off his head. Apparently this is his usual stage antics. Great show.

Sonic Youth up next. I like them, but they don't really hit me close to the heart. Good set though, very straightforward with a lot of hard hitting material from 'Daydream Nation' and 'Dirty'. Thurston Moore later played a club concert with some great Norwegian musicians, but I couldn't get a ticket...
Caught a very entertaining glimpse of Jamie Lidell (UK). Half electronic, half soul - groovy and fun stuff amidst all the seriousness.
Ended the day with a marvellous set from Sigur Rós (Iceland). I enjoy their albums, but the live setting in the dark with stunning light effects was mindblowing.
I was very tired and drunk at this stage, so went straight off to my mate's flat where I was bunking.

Friday:
Off to an early start at 1 pm with the likeable swede Håkan Hellström. Not a huge fan, but he always deliver a great live show with some Springsteenesque energy and sincere blue eyed soul a la Dexy's, and he always manages to tug at my hearstrings.
Dirty Pretty Things were pretty rubbish - as I had expected. Say what you want about Pete Doherty, but he's five times the talent Carl Barat will ever be...

Then I had perhaps the biggest revelation of the festival; New York trio A Place to Bury Strangers. Noisy but melodic music in the vein of Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, they blew me away completely at skull crunching volume. Great songs, great performance. Really recommend you to check out this band if you can. Brutal and totally mesmerising :applaud:

Caught 30 minutes of a brilliant new Norwegian band called Elephant 9, highly recommended if you're a fan of 'Bitches Brew' style jazz/prog/rock.
Still, had to rush over to see Fleet Foxes (US), one of the gigs I had high hopes for. And it was absolutely beautiful, despite some stoned banter and tuning between songs that wasted a bit too much time. I was afraid they couldn't recreate the great harmonies from the records, but no worries as they were even tighter and more powerful live. Absolutely beautiful folk hymns, and they came across as a very friendly bunch as well. They were cheered wildly even as they took down their equipment after the set.

Then on to the BIG ONE: My Bloody Valentine. Holy fuck! I get goosebumps just thinking about it now. From the opener 'I Only Said' on, it was mind blowing in the true sense of the word. Absolutely stunning, and I though I'd burst with ecstasy on songs like 'Only Shallow' and 'To Here Knows When'. I'd read about the feedback onslaught towards the end, and as I had forgotten my earbuds I headed away from the stage as it started. After a few minutes, I started to get dragged into it, and moved closer and closer again. I heard the most beautiful melodies in there, and there was definitely a tight beat too? I banged my head to it and looked around - but everyone was tapping different beats and swaying to personal melodies in their own heads (or looking bloody terrified...). As it was a festival set, the feedback blast lasted for 'only' 15 minutes or so, but it could've gone on forever without complaint from me. Perfect.
Then went out into the Oslo night - stars in my eyes and ringing in my ears - and got plastered.


Saturday:

Starting to feel the strain a bit now. Had a bit of a lie in and watched some olympics before starting late at 4 pm with Yeasayer (US). Very eclectic and sometimes exciting, but I got the impression they very trying a bit too hard. Didn't sound like much else though, might like them on record.
Cheeky young garage punk upstarts Pirate Love (NO) were next. A bit disappointing - the band worked hard but the crowd was particularly hard work. No communication. Made the whole thing half baked.
Then I saw, of all things, The Sonics (US). Yes, THE The Sonics. I had low expectations, but I thought they were all right. They were the wildest thing 40+ years ago - needless to say, they can't recreate that as portly 60-year olds looking slightly less hip than my dad. Public opinion on the gig varied a lot, I thought it was acceptable all things considered. I had a good time and they didn't embarrass themselves. Couldn't quite keep the aggressive tempo up, but some decent guitar work from Larry Parypa and Jerry Roslie still got some pipes on him.
Finished the whole festival in a party mood again, with Australian hype Cut Copy. Kinda indie house, but with great, great pop hooks - brilliant and just what I needed to end the festival on a high note. Great atmosphere the gig with loads of drunk and happy people dancing...

All in all - mostly great gigs, a very friendly atmosphere, good company and a liver in need of serious rest... :thumbsup: :beer:

Phew, sorry for harping on...

Now if you'll just bear with me, I'll post some crap pics below... :ohdear:

Some pictures of dubious quality:

The National:


My Bloody Valentine:


A Place to Bury Strangers:


Fleet Foxes:


The Sonics:


Dengue Fever:


Good festival atmosphere in front of the smallest stage:


Yours truly in his Bend Sinister t-shirt. Got a handful of thumbs ups for it - no girls though... :lol:

Were you to scared to check out Sunn 0)))

From what I saw of The Fall playing there (on youtube), and from your photos, it looked a lovely event - really chilled, nice weather etc. Not the usual mud-fest and warm beer we know and love!

Glad you enjoyed it, Kap! :thumbsup:


edit: And The Fall's performance a couple of years ago looked a stunner!

No, but a little too drunk to really enjoy/decipher it. After 20 minutes of ambient rumble I headed for the exit... ;)

Brilliant review and photos (in that I wish I'd been there) thanks. Sounds like a great few days. I MUST check out Dengue Fever...

Great review of a very attractive lineup.

Sounds like you had a great time there Kap.

:applaud:

Glad you liked Los Campesinos. Nothing mind blowing, but they do lift your spirits.