I've waited hours for this...
Now, where to begin? At the beginning? Yeah, that sounds reasonable.
I went down to Trondheim on Tuesday last week, to stay with my brother for a day before we headed on down to the Öya-festival on wednesday. There isn't too much to say about my stay in Trondheim except that we went to see Hellboy which was brilliant. Rooooooon!
We had regular seats on the night-train on Wednesday which was hella-uncomfortable, but the thought of the festival nearing on the horizon got us through the night. We arrived @ Oslo around 7:00 in the morning. We had to use our time, before the festival started at 15:30 that very day, wisely, so we tried to familiarize with the area. First on the agenda was finding out where our hotel was in accordance(I'm not sure what I'm talking about now) to the festival-area. So we got a map and walked towards the street our hotel was in. After a lot of walking(and when I say a lot / you best believe I mean a lot) we arrived at the door of the hotel which had a locked door and a yellow note on it stating that the hotel was closed for the summer. This flabbergasted me and my brother seeing as we had reservations, and we had recieved no form of information about the closing of the hotel( the hotel is a fun "word"). So we made a few phone-calls to see if there were any hotels nearby with available rooms. Luckily there was one with vacancy just a few streets ahead of the one we were supposed to live in. Cochs Pensjonat had it all: Service, vacancy, towel-stealers(not us, but the cleaning ladys!), a TV, wonderful beds, a shower and a fridge. Yay!
So now we chilled at the Pensjonat after a lot of walking and some stressing about. It felt like the day had gone by, but in fact it hadn't even started yet. At around 14:30 we went to the festival-area to see our first band of the festival, which starts my review of the Öya-festival. Band by band, in chronological sequence(couldn't think of a better word but you get the idea.
Day 1: My feet are killing me... Killer music though.
Tv on the Radio: So we started off with this 5-some from the States which was so and so. The singer was funny, the music is obviously good, but the sound was waaaay too bassy. And in addition the bass-player stood in the back with his back to the audience while playing! Booooring. It wasn't until they came on to do one extra song after the audience demanded more that the sound was somewhat listenable. So when the singer predicted predicted that the extra number was going to suck... he was wrong. I rate the concert: ! ! ! (of 6 !'s)
After TotR we went to the "main stage" (it certainly was the biggest one of them), to wait for Johndoe to come on. So we got to see like... 20 mins of Julian Berntzen's set, which was a bit boring so I won't bother rating it. Anywho, it was around this time I remembered that I'd forgotten my glasses... so some of my reviews may be affected by me not seeing if the bands did a good job... kinda sorta.
Johndoe: This music was perfect. The punk-like songs of Johndoe fitted the sunny weather perfectly. They played their songs with great enthusiasm, and they seemed very happy! So I don't see how the reviewer of the gig from Dagbladet(one of the larger national newspapers) said that they didn't connect with the crowd. He must've meant that they didn't connect with him/her 'cause it seemed like people really liked it. I rate it: ! ! ! ! !
So now me and my bro hurried of to the stage where we saw TotR so that we could get the last 30 mins of Your Enemies Friends set, and by gosh I wish we'd seen it all!
Your Enemies Friends: Synth-Core to the max! This was hella-cool. Lots and lots of energy. Tunes to the max(TO THE MAX!). I even bought a T-shirt and a Tie from the Band-Stash. Rock n' Roll. Now to order the album so that I don't come of as a poser...
I rate it: ! ! ! ! !
After the havoc of YEF we went to see Soundtrack Of Our Lives.
Soundtrack Of Our Lives: We got very bad "seats" for this one... It was very crowded so we didn't bother trying to press our way in to get better places. The Track was very much rockin' and the songs they "premiered" of their upcoming sounded really good. BIG TIME! It was around now my feet were at their worst, and I was starting to get tired due to my lack of sleep on the train. So I guess the concert could've been better if I'd my glasses, a little more sleep and better places. I rate it: ! ! !
Span: This norwegian Machine-Gun RocknRoll-band came on after SooL. I'd seen them one time before live, in my hometown Korgen(it was a very intimate gig by comparison) and they did better there. They even did better at the Quart-festival a month earlier(the whole concert was streamed online). There were a few highlights though. Like Cut Like Diamonds! I love that song. The riff is monster. But still you got the feeling they could've done better.
On a suprising note: Stay As You Are fits as well as an opening-tune as it does as an ending.
I rate it: ! ! ! ! (That extra ! is for Cuts Like Diamonds! RAAAAAAWK!)
When they finished their set we didn't bother to wait to see if they did an extra number, because we had to hurry over to a different stage to get decent places for The Streets concert. We got the best places I would say. Sort of in the middle on a bumb in the ground which made for a good view-point.
The Streets: Skinner & Co had some delay, but when they came on it was wicked from A to Z. They encouraged the crowd to go crazy(which they did... well as crazy as a Norwegian crowd can get), and it was one big party. Me and my brothers feet were kinda bummed so we had to make due with the occasional Hip-Hop arm-waving. When they did the slow songs a lot of birdflocks flew overhead which made the experience much more beautiful. I love coincidences. The sundown made for quite the ambience-maker as well. On the "Aftenposten"-building there were sitting people on the roof which was commented by the "band". Skinner was very surprised to hear that Aftenposten was a newspaper seeing as he thought it sounded more like a beer-brand. He even came on for one extra-number, and that number was Don't Mug Yourself and it was the perfect wrap-up of Day 1. I rate it: ! ! ! ! !
Now that was Day 1 Summed up... I'll just post this now, and post Day 2 tomorrow.
Later
Song Of The Day: Your Enemies Friends - A Figure Of Speech
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
