Aug
17
2009

Saturday came around, and I, being hungover for the fourth time in five days, was exhausted. As I pulled my curtains and discovered that the rain was pouring down, the motivation to head over to the festival to stand rainsoaked in a crowd of equally tired people waned some more.
Neverthless, I’m a brave dude, and [...]
Tags: beirut, crystal castles, erol alkan, karin park, rain, röyksopp
Aug
16
2009

Datarock has been touring the world for years now since releasing their self titled debut album in 2005. It’s been working out well for them thus far, and as long as crowds have showed up to concerts and the album has gradually gotten a bigger release, the band has avoided pressure from their label to [...]
Tags: Datarock, Red, øya
Aug
16
2009

I have no idea what on earth happened. Jay Reatard traveled the 4500 miles from Oslo, played for thirty minutes, but probably within that time frame played more songs than any other band at Øya, did some eh, crowdpleasing, and left.
The current face of punk rock is not one to make any compromises, and he [...]
Tags: 30 minute concert, Jay Reatard, Memphis, Punk
Aug
14
2009

A few years ago, there was a lot of talk in Norway about a wave coming in from Bergen, a city amidst seven mountains in the west. That wave is currently pummeling the Øya festival with awesome power and might.
Previously mentioned Lars Vaular was the first installment, but yesterday was really the day when absolutely [...]
Aug
13
2009

Oslo is going haywire weatherwise lately. At about 3 am Tuesday, I woke up thinking my apartment had exploded. It turned out to be the most ridiculously loud thunder I have ever heard. And after a splendid day at the Øya Festival yesterday where I was mumbling disappointingly to a friend of mine that I [...]
Tags: global warming will kill us all (or give us colds), hardcore punk, rain, sun, the bronx
Aug
13
2009

Kåre and the Cavemen is undoubtedly the most classy rockers around. Dressed in matching turtlenecks on stage and delivering smooth instrumental surf rock. I was my friend Judy who is fashionably in love with Knut Schreiner, the lead guitarist, and who would just not stop smiling throughout the show. And who can blame her.
Knut [...]
Tags: kåre and the cavemen, surf rock, wild guitars, øya
Aug
13
2009

I’t 5.30pm on Tuesday and I’m in the lobby of a movie theater, having beer and popcorn watching Lars Vaular, the hands down most gifted Norwegian rapper as of today performing a short and sweet set on a small stage set up just for this. His lyrics are Norwegian, but that didn’t stop the SXSW [...]
Tags: Champagne, klubbøya, Lars Vaular, Miss Harmonica, SXSW
Aug
10
2009

The good people of Øya are doing what they can to get the good people of Oslo ready for festival, and launched the latest installment of the aptly titled Fan Fanzine this weekend with a festival style concert evening at the club Internasjonalen. The club is located in the building of the Norwegian Labour Party [...]
Tags: loch ness mouse, manatee racket, Norway, redd, screamo, socialism
Jul
20
2009
… which is actually deceptive, because contrary to the Bukta Festival which takes place in Tromsø, on the same latitude as northern Alaska, the Øya Festival kicks of in the capitol of Norway, Oslo. We have the light version of the midnight sun, meaning it gets dark in the summer, only not for very long. [...]
Tags: Best Fwends, Festival, Norway, Oslo, Oya