The top music festivals in Norway this summer

2023-05-14 09:03:35

Norway is well-known for its music festivals, and a number of globally renowned stars and performers visit the country each year.

Regardless of whether you’re into rock, pop, metal, hip-hop, or electronic music, the summer festival season in the country will likely have more than enough options for you to pick from.

From east to west and south to north, here are some of the best music festivals in Norway you can look forward to in the coming months.

Stavern Festival (Stavern, Larvik Municipality)

Stavernfestivalen is an annual music festival that takes place in the small town of Stavern in Larvik Municipality at the Larvik Golf Arena. It has been running strong for more than 20 years.

The festival usually takes place in July (from July 6th to July 8th this year), and tens of thousands of people visit the event.

While the programs run for three days, the organisers also offer the option of buying daily passes.

As of the time of writing, confirmed performers for the 2023 Stavernfestivalen include Karpe, Kygo, Nial Horan, Tyga, Dagny, Ice Spice, and many others. You can find the full line-up on the official festival website.

Remember that you’ll need to show an ID before entering and that the festival has strict age requirement rules in place – both are pretty common for most major festivals in Norway.

Island Festival (Oslo)

Øyafestivalen is one of Oslo’s biggest musical festivals, and it boasts a two-decades-long tradition. It is usually organised in August and takes place in the Tøyen Park.

This year, it will run from August 8th to August 12th.

The festival always offers a mix of international and domestic groups and musicians, with both acclaimed acts and up-and-coming artists.

Visitors of Øyafestivalen in 2023 will be able to enjoy performances by Blur, Lorde, Sigrid, Pusha T, and many others. New acts are continuously being added to the festival’s line-upso make sure to check out their website every now and then.

There are several available ticket options, including a weekly pass (that gives you access to the festival in the Tøyen Park from Wednesday to Saturday, as well as free entry to Klubbdagen on Tuesday, August 8th, and discounts on several other related offers), day passes, discounted youth tickets, and others.

NEON (Trondheim)

Launched for the first time in 2022, the NEON music festival in Trondheim turned out to be a major success, and its 2023 line-up shows that it has quickly become one of the hottest summer kick-off festivals in Norway.

The 2023 edition of NEON will take place on June 9th and 10th in Trondheim’s Bryggeribyen E.C. Dahls Arena.

Festivalgoers will be able to see and hear international heavyweights such as Lewis Capaldi, James Bay, Mimi Webb, Benjamin Ingrosso, and Dean Lewis, as well as several Scandinavian pop and dance-pop stars, such as Sigrid, Dagny, and Zara Larsson.

Tickets are already availableand you can choose between a festival pass, daily tickets, or premium ticket options.

Numerous internationally famous musicians and artists perform in Norway during the summer festival season. Photo by Tijs van Leur on Unsplash

Slottsfjell (Tønsberg)

Slottsfjell is one of Norway’s most popular rock and pop music festivals. It takes place in Tønsberg in eastern Norway and has been a hit with audiences since its launch in 2003.

The festival is well-known for booking a broad program of artists, and over the years, it has hosted international superstars such as Kendrick Lamar, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Mac Miller, and The 1975, as well as most of the more famous Norwegian artists.

Slottsfjell had to go on a four-year hiatus from 2018 to 2021, but was relaunched in 2022 with an updated concept. The 2023 edition of Slottsfjell will take place from July 12th to 13th.

The festival area was recently moved from Slottsfjellet to an area just five minutes away from the pier in Tønsberg, where 2023 festivalgoers will be able to enjoy three large outdoor stages, a nightclub, lounge areas, a food hall, a beach, lawns, parks, and much more.

This year’s program and line-up have been announced, and – as of the time of writing – Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Nas X, Zara Larsson, Klovner I Kamp and Sondre Justad are among those to have been confirmed.

Molde International Jazz Festival (Molde, Møre and Romsdal County)

The Molde International Jazz Festival, also known as Moldejazz, is among the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It takes place every year in July – this year, the festival will run from July 17th to 22nd – and it has been bringing joy to jazz lovers in Norway since 1961.

During the festival, visitors can enjoy around 120 concerts, and roughly 22,000 tickets are sold each year.

There are often around 500 artists playing at Moldejazz, and some 600 volunteers support the festival staff and ensure the event runs smoothly.

If you’re into jazz and staying in Norway for the summer, going to Moldejazz is a must.

The 2023 program has already been announced, and tickets can be bought on the festival’s website.

Buktafestivalen (Tromsø)

Bukta Tromsø Open Air Festival – also known as Buktafestivalen – is an open-air pop and rock festival that has been taking place in Tromsø annually since 2004. This year, it will run from July 20th to 22nd.

From Northern Norwegian punk, Danish metal, and British indie rock to Norwegian Americana and Austrian psych music – Bukta caters to many different musical tastes and is among the premier summer events of its kind in northern Norway.

Honningbarna, shame, Takeshi’s Cashew, Murder Maids, Signe Marie Rustad, EYES, Louien, Rick Grove, Aromatic Ooze, Barnevænnlig, TREHOLT, and many others are expected to play at the 2023 festival edition.

Tickets and daily passes can be bought via Ticketmasterand the program for 2023 has already been announced.