Øya Festival, Norway’s largest outdoor music festival, is delighted to announce its initial line up for 2013, including first headliner Blur. Returning to the beautiful Middelalderparken in Oslo for a 15th year, Øya Festival is widely considered to be one of the most discerning and credible tastemaker festivals in Europe, and 2013 is already looking to cement this position.
Following this summer’s sold out London Olympics Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert in Hyde Park, and 22 years after the release of their debut album Leisure, Blur will make their live return to Norway with a headline set at Øya in August next year.
Joining them is Haim, the hotly tipped Califonian trio of sisters and first band to successfully fuse folk with R&B, and the fascinating masked psychedlic collective, Goat, who are said to originate from Korpilombo, a small village in Sweden, and whose aptly titled debut album World Music sees them infuse all manner of cultures, musical styles and genres to create an all-encompassing kaleidoscopic psychedlic sound.
Also confirmed are fellow Scandinavian five-piece Of Monsters and Men, who broke out of Iceland to become one of the global success stories of 2012 with their indie folk debut album My Head Is An Animal, and Detroit native Angel Haze, whose ferocious rhymes, innovative hooks and startlingly honest lyrics have won her the place on many of the major tastemaker ‘Ones to Watch’ lists for 2013.
Placing equal importance on home grown talents, Øya is delighted to welcome a host of native Norwegian acts to the 2013 line up, including folk singer Tønes who will be returning to the festival for a second time; blues and folk inspired emerging artist Monica Heldal and fellow female singer songwriter Rebekka Karijord, whose sensitive and ethereal pop has been described by MOJO as ‘creating its own world’.
John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen will be mixing pop, rock, soul and punk to create their original ‘gatepop’ sound, while representing the punk contingent for 2013 is Okkultokrati, who have recently toured Europe with Kylesa and Black Tusk and have just released their dark and furious second album Snakereigns.
2012 saw standout performances from the likes of Björk, The Stone Roses, The Black Keys, Bon Iver, Refused, OFWGKTA, First Aid Kit, A$AP Rocky, Chromatics and Nicolas Jaar to name but a few.
Øya is held in a medieval park, a picturesque spot surrounded by sandy beaches, the OsloFjords, the green Ekeberg Hill and the Oslo skyline. Rooted deep in history, the medieval park is also the place where the capital of Norway was founded a thousand years ago. For 4 days in the middle of August, the Medieval Park in Oslo is transformed into an arena for musical, visual and cross-cultural performances. The Øya Festival is an energetic and symbiotic experience with a unique atmosphere and audience that bares resemblance to no other.
Amidst the festival area of trees, green grass and water, the festival is well equipped with stages, shopping streets and small shops serving food (almost 100% organic and locally sourced) and drink. The site creates an exciting rendezvous between nature and culture, being just a short walk from the city centre of Oslo.
In addition to receiving nominations for ‘Artist’s Favourite Festival’ at the 2012 European Festival Awards and ‘Best Line Up’ and ‘Best Medium Size Festival’ in 2011, Øya Festival is officially recognised as one of the greenest festivals in Europe, having won the "Greenest Festival in Europe" at the European Festival Awards 2010 and also the ”Green ’n’ Clean” award.
