This year Tons Of Rock Festival was celebrating its 10th anniversary, and I was excited to be returning to the festival for the seventh year. The festival is similar in size to Bloodstock Festival in the UK, which I think is the perfect size as you can get from one stage to the other quickly and easily.
As they have done every single year, Norwegian hard rock/metal band Black Debbath opened the festival this year with a set on the main (Scream) stage. Despite me diligently practicing my Norwegian on Duolingo (other language-learning apps are available) every day since the beginning of the year, most of what the band were singing about was lost on me as they sing in Norwegian, but it is always something humorous and often political, and the crowd seemed to have a great time. Like last year, they had very low-tech “pyro” in the form of people laying on the ground with hand-painted flame signs that they would lift into the air and waggle at the appropriate time, which I very much enjoyed. The main stage was set up for Metallica who were to headline the first day of the festival, which meant we were photographing from within the “snake pit”, which made a change from the usual set-up. What was also nice was that we were permitted to shoot a song from the stage. Being on the main stage at a festival that was going to be graced by Metallica in a few hours felt pretty special, but due to the bright sunshine and the crowd being quite far away the photos weren’t quite as spectacular as I had hoped.
Next up for me were Norwegian prog/psych band Motorpsycho on the Vampire stage – another outdoor stage a little smaller than the Scream stage. I wasn’t familiar with the band prior to photographing them, but I enjoyed them and they had a sizeable crowd of people enjoying their set. They were tricky to photograph because the Vampire stage was set up for Parkway Drive who were to headline that stage later in the day. This meant a long walkway attached to what was already a pretty high stage, but it is good for you to be forced to get creative!
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After Motorpyscho I headed to the tent stage (Moonlight) for Brazilian all-female thrash/death metal band Nervosa. I really enjoyed their set and they were great performers; really engaging to watch and to photograph. I would definitely go and see them again. As I walked back to the press tent I stopped by some of the stalls, including Neseblod Records whose legendary store in Oslo suffered a fire back in April this year. They were selling some of the fire-damaged stock, which I thought was a great idea (very metal!) and also some tshirts “commemorating” the fire, the profits of which presumably would go to help rebuild the store to its former glory.
I headed back to the main state for veteran British heavy metal legends Saxon who I don’t recall seeing before, but they put on a fantastic show, as you might expect having had many years to hone their craft. Vocalist Biff Byford made use of the Metallica stage set-up by walking around the circular section by the crowd, much to their delight. Following Saxon I headed to the tent stage for one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing at this year’s festival – Alien Weaponry from New Zealand. I saw them play The Underworld in Camden in 2019 and they blew me away. I missed seeing them supporting Gojira recently so I was very pleased to see them on the line-up for the festival. They are an incredible live band and what really sets the apart is that the majority of their songs are sung in New Zealand’s native language “Te Reo Maori”.
After a small break and what was described as an “Impossible Burger” (it tasted great but not impossibly so) I headed back to the tent for Sheffield metalcore outfit While She Sleeps. I have seen WSS a few times before and they alway put on a great live show, and today was no exception. The tent was packed and the crowd were really into the show. They are certainly a very polished live act.
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For me the main focus of the day was Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive, who I have been a fan of since around 2019. I am a sucker for some decent pyro, and Parkway Drive are right up there for me with the likes of KISS and Rammstein when it comes to a great pyro display. I photographed them in 2019 at Alexandra Palace but was frustrated with the shots I got as there was no fire in the first three songs, and if you are capturing a Parkway Drive show there has to be fire! This time round I was determined to get that fiery shot that I wanted so badly, so after three songs in the pit (which was a bit of a challenge due to how high the stage and walkway were), I braved the crowd, gradually edging myself closer to a spot central to the stage to get the vaguely-symmetrical flame shot that I wanted. I knew that the most fire comes during the penultimate song of their set – “Crushed” – so when a big pit started I took advantage of the gap in the crowd to get myself into position, and was really happy with the shots I got. Photographing a band you love just hits different, and Parkway Drive are an incredible live band, so capturing them in a way I was really happy with felt fantastic.
Headlining the first day of the festival were Metallica. I can’t say I am a huge fan, but I respect the legacy. Only a hand-full of photographers got to shoot their set, my friend and I were not selected so we left our heavy gear in the press tent, grabbed a beer and went to watch a few songs from the crowd. I particularly enjoyed “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Enter Sandman”. We finished our beers then headed to get the shuttle bus back to the center of Oslo where our hotel was. Perhaps there was an assumption that nobody would want to leave before the end of Metallica, but for whatever reason there were no shuttle busses and a huge queue of people, so we walked to get the tram instead. This being Norway, this was through a really beautiful forest! Back at the hotel we treated ourselves to cold beer, which we enjoyed with our sore feet in a nice cold bath to prepare ourselves for another 3 days of festival.
All photos by Katie Frost Photography
