Norwegian Concerts

Prior to coming to Norway, I had no idea what the music scene was like here.  To be completely honest, I had never knowingly heard of a Norwegian band.  Turns out the band, "Aha" is Norwegian. You may remember their one hit wonder in North America, "Take on me".  I then found out that the female lead singer of Aqua, is Norwegian as well.  Who could ever forget the song, "Barbie Girl". But to be completely honest, I had no idea that they had Norwegian roots till I moved here.

Lately, I have gone to 2 different concerts. From what I have heard, rock is the preferred music here in Northern Norway.  I do not listen to the radio often, so I really have no idea how true that is.  From what I have experienced, I sometimes feel like I am back in Canada.  The school I work has Bieber Fever, and has been listening to Carly Rae Jepsen a lot lately.  I guess there really is no way to escape Justin Bieber.

The first concert I went to was at a cafe in Harstad.  It kind of reminds me of the bagel stop, but a little bigger.  The Hot Chocolate I had there was absolutely amazing, and I have had some of their sandwiches before, and they are also fantastic.  So I knew that if I didn't understand a word they were saying, I would still enjoy the experience.  The band "Oh!" took stage, and I was really surprised.  They sang all of their songs in English, and were really really good.  The music had a Jazz feeling to it, and it sounded amazing. It even reminded me a lot of my Jazz Band Days. They even did a covers, and one that stuck out was a Rihanna cover of Umbrella.  They did an amazing job, and I really enjoyed their music. Unfortunately I was not close enough to get a picture, and I cannot seem to find a link to a video of theirs.  If I come across one, I'll post it here :)

The second concert I went to was at the on-campus bar called Ludo.  I actually had no idea that there was a concert till the day of.  I was hanging out with some friends, and they seemed really excited to go see Lise Karlsnes.  So I decided this was another great opportunity to see some more Norwegian music, and tagged along.  Am I ever glad that I went.  The only disappointing part was that not many people showed up for the concert.   I am really not sure why, as she is quite famous in Norway. Apparently she puts on fairly big shows in southern Norway, but that may be because of bigger population. The concert was amazing.  The size of the crowd did not deter her, and she put on an amazing show.  She reminded me of a Norwegian Katy Perry.  She had loads of energy, and her band was also really good.  Here is a video of one of her songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQViTxiUWs