I saw Yuma Sun on a small stage last Thrursday, they were good. They’re a very promising band. A bit rough around the edges, as expected from a young/new band, but very playful and very exciting. They have a vision and they are on their way.
They call their music “prairie rock”, and they fit the bill. It’s not country rock in The Eagles vein, but more a StanRidgeway/Wall of Voodoo (but without the 80s snaredrum sounds) twangy italian western influence. With an emphasis on the rock part.
They are right now in the middle of a release tour for their album, Romanza. Go see them if you can.
Yuma Sun are:
Jaran Hereid – Akustisk gitar & vokal Bjørn Ognøy – Baritongitar Andreas Dyraas – Trommer Jonas Konrad Knudsen – Bass Espen Lund – Gitar
My favourite from the new record is the opening track Another Day:
CHARLES BRADLEY AND HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES This is our third CB concert this summer… all 3 have been GREAT. I would have preferred Vika @ 21:00.. but he nailed it at the Enga stage in the sunlight as well. His “Soul scream” was in perfect shape… setlist was pretty much built around “No Time For Dreamin” & Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold”. Lot of Love, Heart, Compassion… and wonderful southern soul groove. What a good band he has with him on this tour!Hugs were available after the concert.. and this time we grabbed the opportunity. Best songs: Why is it so Hard, No Time for Dreaming & Golden Rule. The BEST concert at Øyafestivalen 2012.
FIRST AID KIT Klara & Johanna Söderberg sang their wonderful harmonies in the sunshine…. and everyone (at least as far as I could observe) smiled & sang back.. Lovely Americana with some great songs (Emmylou & The Lion’s Roar). I also really liked the Fever Ray cover, When I Grow Up (Hallgeir).
First Aid Kit:
SWEDEN In spite of their name they are from Norway and they are good! Strong songs and their own style, not “just another indie band”. Looking forward to follow them.
Sweden:
THE WAR ON DRUGS Nice concert. TWOD (silly name btw) plays their dreamy, guitar based Americana indie. Adam Granduciel is more of a songwriter & guitar player.. than a great singer in my book (Egil). The Highlight of their concert was Come to the City. They drew a fairly large audience and it was a pleasant early afternoon concert.
ODD NORDSTOGA I really liked his sweet songs and it was a good start of the last day at the Oyafestival.
BEST COAST I like Best Coast but this was not a very good concert for them, not bad, but a bit bland, it looked like the band didn’t care and it rubbed off on the audience. Too bad, I was looking forward to their show. I like them much better on record than live, at least if this show represents what Best Coast can do live.
THE BLACK KEYS A bit “slow” in the beginning.. didn’t really kick off before GoTC got us jumping. You get a strong White Stripes vibe, especially when Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney plays alone.. and that’s a good thing. Great “party blues rock”.. but not as great as Afghan Whigs on Thursday 🙂 And btw.. it’s not before/after Danger Mouse.. it’s just: “The Black Keys”. Best Songs: Little Black Submarines, Lonely Boy & Gold on the Ceiling –
LIGHTSHIPS Lovely summer music. Sun, Beer, relaxing.. & listening to “Teenage Fanclub”… sorry.. Lightships. Yes, it’s much the same.. and that’s Good. Gerard Love has, after all, written many of TF’s best songs.
AMUND MAARUD Very cool stuff. Hard Rock Blues… with quite a few soul elements. Mr Maarud really rocked and gave us a fine start to “Friday @ Øya”.
OFWGKTA Well… it was fun.. and a bit fascinating. Lot of energy, irony, “bitches”, “niggaz”.. etc. But I guess that’s the deal. We @ JV might be a bit too old to really get this stuff.. and frankly.. I’m not that interested.
BUSHMAN’S REVENGE Well at least we tried… and didn’t get it.
SUSANNA They are quite good at what they do, but maybe the bookers at the Oyafestival this year have booked one too many of the melancholic women. I saw the whole concert but got bored, I would have loved to see them at a club where I could give them my full attention. I believe it would have suited them much better.
THE AFGHAN WHIGS Great concert! Best performance so far @ Øya 2012. They still have a lot to prove. Greg Dulli has a soulful rock voice & nice stage present. But I feel this is first and foremost a great band.. the total is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Best Songs: City Solei, Debonair, 66 & Gentlemen
ST. VINCENT I did not know what to expect from St. Vincent.. did not do my homework.. only listened briefly to her/their last record… and did not like it that much.
The Concert was very positive experience… it was intense, focused & rock solid. I liked the songs far better live than the studio versions…. Annie Erin Clark even reminded me a bit about PJ Harvey 🙂 Hallgeir: I really looked forward to see them, and I was not disappointed, great concert!
CASA MURILO Must be one of the best kept secrets in the pop world, what a revelation! Warm pop, good melodies and done with heart, just lovely and I’m really looking forward to their new album this autumn. They debuted a new song to Oslo, it was very nice, and I mean that in the best possible way.
BARONESS
Good band, solid performance… but too heavy for me.. 6 songs was enough… over to Hallgeir “Metal” Olsen: Hallgeir: Not too heavy at all! A great hardrock band (with a bit prog thrown in). Good solid concert from one of the very few “metal” bands that I can stand.
BILLY BRAGG We got what was expected. Always in need to “preach”.. waging a war against cynicism.. but that’s his “calling”. And he is good at it. Solid performance.
Other:
JONAS ALASKA
Nice enough.. but rather boring.
FRANK OCEAN
20min late.. and left after only 4 (good) songs. It was announced from the stage that he was sick…
I feel he should have have shown the audience some respect and at start up declared something like: “Sorry I’m late.. I don’t feel well.. but I’ll do my best..”. Frankly – Frank – this felt a bit “fishy”.
Willis Earl Beal I really did not know what to expect from this artist, and it was magnificent, to go to a show with no expectations and get your mind blown is just so fantastic! It was Caruso merged with Otis Redding and Tom Waits in a theatrical spectacle. Has to be one of the highlights of this festival!
Bob Mould performing “Copper Blue” + Mr. Mould still rocks… hard. Copper Blue is great album with many highlights. Strongest @ Øya was Hoover Dam, Helpless & If I Can’t Change Your Mind – from “Copper Blue”. He also played 2 great Hüsker Dü classics “Celebrated Summer” and “Makes No Sense At All”.
And btw.. this might be the loudest concert I’ve attended since I got my ears set on fire by Motörhead in Stavanger about 10-11 years ago.
Feist Solid, always interesting, strange & funny “choir girls” & man.. she could play the guitar as well.
Best songs: Comfort Me, Graveyard & The Bad In Each Other.
Mathias Eick Lovely festival music in the sun. The former member of “Jaga Jazzist” played lovely Jazz-rock in the sun.. Perfect music for relaxing in the nice summer weather .. accompanied by a couple of beers.
Thurston More We expected to hear many songs from his recent acoustic ventures, but instead we got a hard, tight & noisy show.. more in the Sonic Youth landscape. Good stuff.
Sondre Lerche
A good opening of the festival, there are usually not many peple out for the first act of the festival, not so today, we met in great numbers. Sondre Lerche delivered a fine set, I’m not a big fan but he took me by surprise and gave a good concert.
Feist Øya 2012:
Other:
The Stone Roses
Tragically bad. Both JV’s left the concert after 5 songs. It looked like the band were sleeping (expect maybe for a silly looking drummer) & having a boring dream. And btw we both a JV like the album “The Stone Roses”
Hallgeir: My hopes were so high, and I became a bit sad. The Stone Roses has been part of my musical upringing and I really like their first album, but today they were disappointingly bad.
Susanne Sundfør
We left after 4 songs. Good performance.. but not quite JV’s taste in music.
