With Norway’s largest open-air festival, Tons of Rock just under a month away, Katie has put together a list of the bands she is most looking forward to watching at this year’s festival…
This will be my fifth year at Tons of Rock festival and I always have an awesome time. You can read my coverage of last year’s event here:
This year Tons of Rock will take place in Ekeberg in Oslo, rather than at Fredriksten Fortress in Halden, where it has been held for the past five years. Personally I will miss the fortress and the extra epicness that the surroundings bring, though it will save me a huge amount of money not having to travel to and stay in Halden, as luckily I have some wonderful friends who live in central Oslo who have agreed to let me sleep on their sofa for four days! This year the festival features three stages: Main Stage, The Scream Stage and The Vampire Stage, there is also a carnival!
As with previous years, the line-up for 2019 has something for everyone, featuring “everything from classic rock to the famous Norwegian black metal scene”. I have picked four bands from each day of the festival that I am most looking forward to seeing, so here goes:
Thursday:
First to hit the main stage on the first day of the festival are Tons of Rock veterans Black Debbath who are always hugely entertaining and each year they dress in unexpectedly humorous outfits – from shiny silver all-in-one spaceman outfits to dangerously short denim shorts!
Later on in the day, Polish blackened metal giants Behemoth will take to the main stage. I really enjoyed their show in London back in February and am excited to see them return to Tons of Rock, having seen them play their back in 2016. They are playing a show in Gothenburg with Lamb of God the day before which I was keen to go to, but sadly I just couldn’t make it work as well as the festival.
Also on the main stage on Thursday are Dropkick Murphys who should be good fun to watch / photograph of our esteemed editor’s review of the band’s Glasgow show back in April (and Luis’ photos from the London show) are anything to go by!
Headlining the main stage are the mighty KISS, who need no introduction. They are a band I have never seen live before but I am really looking forward to experiencing their impressive live show!
Friday:
On Friday Slayer play the main stage, as they did back in 2017. I was also lucky enough to photograph the band’s London show at the end of last year. You can’t beat a bit of Slayer can you?!
On the Scream stage on Friday I am looking forward to seeing fellow Brits Tesseract who I haven’t seen since they played KOKO in London back in 2016.
Later on in the day founders of the Norwegian black metal scene Mayhem play the scream stage. Another band I haven’t seen before that I am looking forward to, although I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit apprehensive – hopefully myself and my camera can avoid any physical contact with blood or parts of animals.
My final pick for Friday are British metalcore band Bury Tomorrow, who are playing the vampire stage. I got ridiculously into their most recent album Black Flame earlier this year and can’t wait to hear some of those tracks live. I also have tickets for the band’s headline show at Roundhouse in London in December.
Saturday:
On Saturday In Flames play the main stage. They were one of the bands I was most excited to photograph during my first visit to Tons of Rock back in 2015. Say what you will about their change of sound, but I do love a bit of In Flames, and enjoyed photographing them at Roundhouse back in April.
Another band who played Tons of Rock back in 2015 are American thrash metallers Testament, who will take on the scream stage on Saturday. They always put on a great show so I am looking forward to seeing them again.
Playing the vampire stage are British hard-rock band Inglorious, who I saw a year or so ago supporting Steel Panther. They are good fun and I am interested to see how they are received in Norway.
Headlining the main stage on the final day of the festival are Def Leppard (or Deaf Leopard as I used to think it was spelled when I was a kid!). Another British band and a big one at that. I haven’t seen them live before so it should be a great experience.
Tons of Rock festival will take place in Oslo, Norway from Thursday 27 to Saturday 29 June.
