Thankfully there was no more rain forecast for the remaining three days of Tons of Rock festival, so the rainwear could stay at the apartment and the sunscreen could come out. It was a lovely sunny day and probably the line-up that I was most excited about – lots of bands I loved and some I was looking forward to seeing for the first time.
First to take to the Vampire Stage were American rock band Fever 333. I hadn’t seen them in their new four-piece line-up so I was looking forward to checking them out as the last time I saw them at Electric Ballroom in 2019 they were incredible. Their live show is always very high-energy and I was intrigued to discover what part of the festival infrastructure vocalist Jason Aalon Butler was going to climb up and then jump off (it is his “thing”). Their set was awesome from start to finish. I don’t know what proportion of the crowd had seen the band before or were aware of their music, but they had some die-hard fans in the front row singing along to every lyric, and the rest seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. What did Jason jump off? Front of house (sound / lighting desk), and then he crowd-surfed back to the stage. If you are heading to see Enter Shikari early next year, make sure you get there early to watch Fever 333.
Next for me were Halestorm who were the first band of the day to play the Scream Stage. There are never enough women on festival line-ups so it was great to have Lzzy up there. The crowd was packed and I could see more women than usual in the front row and in the crowd in general. They opened with “I Miss the Misery” with Lzzy’s iconic voice roaring out over the festival grounds. Her brother Arejay on drums is also incredible and always really entertaining to watch. For “I Get Off” Lzzy encouraged the women of the audience to get up on shoulders, which many happily obliged. They are a great live band and deserved to be higher up the bill in my opinion.
After a brief rest in the press tent I was back out into the sunshine to watch Avatar play the Vampire Stage. Another band who are always ridiculously entertaining as well as being very talented musicians, first to enter the stage was a guy in a gimp mask carrying a large gift box. He set the box down on a small stage riser, opened the lid and a single red balloon popped up…and then vocalist Johannes Eckerström emerged from the box. Entertaining from start to finish, and their outfits are always incredible as well. First pyro of the day for me as well. I do love a bit of pyro.
Next up for me were Powerwolf from Germany who are another band with great outfits and stage presence. Who doesn’t love a bit of power metal in the sunshine, particularly if it involves corpse paint, and songs about werewolf and vampire legends. Another very theatrical band but, like Avatar, they 100% have the musicianship to match the stage show. They filled the Scream Stage in more ways than one.
After a reapplication of sunscreen I headed to the Vampire Stage to see American rock band Clutch. Unlike all the other bands I had shot so far, this was my first time seeing Clutch, and they put on a great show. Vocalist Neil Fallon was incredibly charismatic and also full of energy, which was matched by his band mates. They were very popular with the crowd, who were dancing and moshing along very happily.
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When I was originally planning which bands I wanted to photograph there was a clash between Nightwish and Mayhem – Nightwish’s last show in Norway for the foreseeable future, or classic Norwegian black metal. I was torn. You only get to shoot 3 songs from the photopit so I couldn’t have done both properly. The previous afternoon Tons of Rock announced that, due to concerns for Floor’s health, Nightwish had unfortunately had to cancel their appearance at the festival (with Madrugada stepping in to fill their spot at the last minute). While this was disappointing for fans who had come to the festival specifically to see Nightwish, everyone’s thoughts were obviously with Floor and the rest of the band. It also made the decision of which band I was going to shoot very easy, so I headed off to the Moonlight stage for some Mayhem.
Mayhem are one of those bands that, due to their aesthetic, just wouldn’t have seemed right to be playing an outdoor stage in the sun, but they also tend to have quite minimal lighting, so I braced myself for a tough shoot. In classic Mayhem style there were severed pigs heads wrapped in barbed wire on spikes, as well as more barbed wire lining the stage, and a further severed pigs head covered in blood on an alter. What was more unexpected however was the lighting, and all the other photographers agreed with me when we were chatting about it back in the press tent. Never have we ever had such nice lighting for Mayhem! I was really happy with my shots, and I think that they still convey the dark vibes of the band…but you can actually make out the details in their faces, and the cross made of bones.
The final band of the day for me, and following on quite nicely from Mayhem, were Behemoth who closed the Vampire Stage. I have shot Behemoth a few times before, both inside dark venues and in the blazing sunshine at festivals. The latter somehow doesn’t quite match up with the vibe of the band, but as the sun was beginning to dip in the sky the stage was fully shaded which made the visuals work well. Behemoth always put a lot of effort into the details of their performance and set design. Whether you enjoy their music or not they are definitely a great band to experience live. They put on a great show to a packed crowd, and sounded as good as they looked.
As with Guns N Roses the previous day, only a select few photographers were allowed to shoot the day’s headliners Volbeat. This seems to be a worryingly common occurrence at the festival – for the first 5 years I attended it was very very rare to have any sort of contract or restrictions for headliners (the only one I can think of was Ozzy in 2018), but the past couple of years things have changed. I don’t know where it is coming from, but it does make me a bit sad to miss out on photographing the headliners. As my friend and I weren’t really fans of Volbeat we headed to catch the bus back to central Oslo to have some beers at the apartment, catch up on our editing and (literally) charge our batteries for the next day.
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All photos by Katie Frost Photography
