Festivals

To say that Norway has a festival on every crag might be an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Especially during the summer months, when there is a myriad of music festivals in Norway covering both popular genres and niches such as jazz, blues and contemporary experimental music.

The two largest festivals in Oslo are Norwegian Wood and The Øya festival. The former focuses on quality artists from the golden age of rock and pop, with headliners such as Neil Young, Mark Knopfler and Patti Smith. The Øya festival has a somewhat younger and more adventurous profile, emphasizing indie, hip hop and electronic music. Slottsfjellfestivalen in Tønsberg, Pstereo in Trondheim and the Bukta festival in Tromsø are other music festivals of a high calibre.

Norway is in many ways a country of extremes, so it’s perhaps not a coincidence that some of the genres that have thrived here for decades are black metal and jazz (or even black jazz …). Black metal can be experienced in Norway during the Inferno festival, held every easter in Oslo. Jazz festivals can be found in places such as Molde, Kongsberg, Haugesund, Oslo and Lillehammer. And speaking of extremes, the International extreme sports competition in Voss usually has a few memorable concerts every year.