Nick Cave at the Øyafestival in Oslo, Norway. 2022 has beeen a busy year for me with many concerts of festivals. Half of them shooting for Getty Images. All in all I have covered more than 300 concerts at venues and festivals, about 165 for Getty. Here are some of my favorite photos from this year. The photos are in a random order, I have no chance of sorting them from best to “worst”. All photos are © Per Ole Hagen, licensed to Getty Images, and must not be used, copied or exploited in any way. Tatiana Shmailyuk of the Ukrainian band Jinjer performs at the Tons of Rock festival in Oslo, Norw ..read more

Because of the pandemic, many of the regular guests for SXSW stayed home, so the attendance for the festival was lower than before. This also reflected on the Picnic, with fewer people. But the atmosphere was as it always is at Leeann’s – friendly, open, welcoming and including. And social distancing, for those who wanted, was not a problem. (Photo above: Jon Langford) Leeann Atherton The music started with Leeann who sang some welcome songs, before Ben Jones entered the stage. He played an excellent solo set. He gets better and better, and soon someone must discover his talents (other than B ..read more

Norway has four different showcase festivals, and Trondheim Calling is the second longest running of these. This year was their 10th anniversary. A total of 82 bands/artists with all together 350 musicians and artists plus 900 delegates from the Norwegian and international music business were gathered for three days of concerts, seminars and networking. (Photo above: Agnete Kjølsrud from Djerv) The Northern Belle In 1998 by:Larm started as the Norwegian answer to SXSW and other showcase festivals. The first years the festival alternated between different cities in Norway, but after by:Larm dec ..read more

Here are the last twenty of my favorite photos from concerts I have attended this year. I have seen some excellent concerts, both with big international artists and also by lesser known artists and bands. And I have been able to photograph over 300 different concerts in 2019, which is a personal record for me. (Photo above: Robyn from Øyafestivalen) From the Oslo Runway 2019 One of the great things of being a concert photographer in Norway is the good friendship between us who do it regularly. We compete, of course, but at the same time we cooperate, helping each others out. I do think this is ..read more

2019 has been a busy year all over for me, and I have not been very good at posting here on my blog. I will try to do better in 2020. But I have been shooting many concerts and festivals, actually more bands and artists than ever before. Here are the first twenty of my favorites from 2019. (Photo above: All the Norwegian blues artists who performed at The Royal Albert Hall in November) Angela Marquez at the Feria in Nerja My total concerts, both single events and also cncerts at festivals for 2019 totalled at 322, split between 13 festivals and 43 single concerts. This also includes two events ..read more

OverOslo is a new festival to me, even if it has been going on for some ten years. It is located high at Grefsenkollen, a spectacular location with literally a view of all of Oslo. The only practical problem is getting up there, with only a quite narrow road winding up to the venue and no parking on site. But when you get there, it is definitely worth it. The festival’s audience is mainly in the 30-50’s, and the profile is quite mainstream with some older big names and a few newer artists and bands. But it works well for the crowd who isn’t necessarily those who read all the newest music news ..read more

Bergen Fest this year was four days with a great mix of artists and musical styles. just like their recipe has been for many years. I have had the great pleasure of seeing old favorites, new bands, indie bands, pop, hip hop, soul and Americana, all in four days. This year was no difference, with an eclectic mix of styles and new and old. (Photo above: Patti Smith) Madrugada My favorites from this year’s Bergen Fest was Patti Smith and Robert Plant, Ryan Bingham and Madrugada which I have all seen several times before, while Yola, Jacob Banks, Tom Walker and Years & Years were new to me, an ..read more

The last day at the Inferno Metal Festival 2019 had a good variety of music styles. Prog metal from Opeth, black metal with lots of pyro from 1349, symphonic black metal from Carach Angren, epic black metal from Cult of Fire and blackened death metal from Archgoat. (Photo above: Ravn from 1349) Carach Angren The slight festival fatigue I observed at Inferno on Saturday had definitely struck many of the fans  on Sunday. Four days festivals are hard on most of us, and many from the Inferno crowd had started celebrating a day earlier, meeting friends and having a pre-party. But that is how it is ..read more

Saturday at the Inferno International Metal Festival had mostly Nordic bands on the Rockefeller stage. Norwegian bands Gaahls Wyrd, Taake, Impaled Nazarene from Finland plus Bloodbath from Sweden, and Der Weg Einer Freiheit from Germany. (Photo above: Old Nick Holmes from Bloodbath) Impaled Nazarene Like the other days, Saturday was also sold out, and the venue was quite full from the first band, Der Weg Einer Freiheit startet at four thirty, and packed when Gaahls Wyrd and Taake were on stage later on. It was actually more people for the headliners Dimmu Borgir and Hypocrisy the other nights ..read more

Friday at the Inferno Metal Festival had less symphonic and more black and death metal than the first day. This day was also the only day of the festival where there were still a few tickets left when the doors opened at 4 PM, but after a few hours the night was sold out, like the rest of the days. (Photo above: Jonathan Hultén from Tribulation) Ragnarock The first band Friday was the black metal band Ragnarock from Sarpsborg, Norway. With lots of pyro – constant flames on stage and flames shooting up on several songs – they presented a spectacular view, while also being formidable players. Fr ..read more