Wedesday

Bergenfest 2025 kicked off on a beautiful Wednesday mid-June. Even with Bergen’s status as the rainiest city in Europe, by some miracle, this was the third year in a row Bergenfest went on with perfect festival weather. The people of Bergen showed up with a great mood, ready for a day or four of good music, good food, and a good time with friends!

I started my day by going to see the Norwegian band ULD and, even though their music is maybe not exactly what you think of when you think about festival sets, the venue was full of people listening along to their beautiful and touching Norwegian songs.

I then headed off to catch the Swedish pop star Molly Sandén at the main stage. She had an incredible performance, with backup dancers, magnetic stage presence, and spectacular vocals! Although she was maybe not a hit for the older generation there to see Alanis Morissette, she still had a good chunk of fans in the crowd! I absolutely enjoyed her set: it was lively, fun, and she was engaging with the audience!

Between sets, I went over to the food court to check out what the local vendors had to offer! There was a great selection of food; however, most people seemed to go for the greek gyros. I would often see a long line there and no lines at the other vendors — a little bit of a shame, in my opinion, as the gyros weren’t really anything special and there were other foods more worth trying instead of staying in a long line for this. However, I understand people like what they like, and there was something to eat there for everyone, from pizza and burgers to streetfood, baked potatoes, and, my favorite of the weekend, pulled pork bao buns.

Then it was time for Lucy Dacus, who I was the most thrilled to see this day! I was really excited to shoot her set which was wonderful! One of her bandmates had some technical issues, but that got sorted and the rest of the set went smoothly. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s very well known in Norway, and most people seemed to only know “Night Shift.“

Tonights headliner was ’90s icon Alanis Morisette! Unfortunately, I was unable to shoot her set, but she delivered a great performance with a wide variety of songs, although the crowd seemed to mostly be there to hear her hit songs.

Thursday

Due to work and scheduling conflicts, I could only make it to catch three acts on Thursday. I managed to catch Ary at the Magic Mirrors stage. She had a visually interesting and captivating performance! Her dark and emotional electronic style music was perfect for this stage!

Tonight’s headliner was another ’90s legend: ROXETTE! The Swedish pop-rock band is back on the road, now with a new female lead singer (Lena Philipsson), after the unfortunate loss of original band member Marie Fredriksson to cancer five years ago. Bringing the band back on tour shows that the music and legacy still lives on, and while Lena is not a replacement, she did a great job of being a part of continuing ROXETTE’s legacy. The crowd seemed excited to be able to sing along to hits like “It Must Have Been Love,” “Listen to Your Heart,” “The Look,” and more. These were songs I grew up hearing on the radio, so being able to hear them live was pretty cool.

The last set of the day was at the Magic Mirrors stage again, after Roxette had gone off stage and most people were on their way home. Those who decided to stay got to see the incredible Lambrini Girls, who were my absolute favorite set of this whole weekend. With their punk-rock, politically left and queer forward music, I had the best time shooting their set! There were multiple mosh pits, the crowd was the most lively I’d seen, and the band was engaging with the crowd, jumping in with the audience multiple times, and overall, just an incredible set!

Friday

Friday started for me with another artist I was incredibly excited to finally see live; the wonderful Paris Paloma! With her powerful songs and gorgeous voice, she delivered exactly what I was expecting in the best way possible. Being able to finally hear songs like “labour,” “as good a reason,” “hunter,” and “the warmth” live was unforgettable! Before playing “the warmth,” she talked about writing the song in Bergen, and how this is her love song to the city and the first time she preformed it here! The sentiment added a nice personal touch to the performance.

Benjamin Ingrosso was up next. With his upbeat songs and electric live performance, he had the crowd dancing and singing along the whole time. Even though I don’t really know his music, I thoroughly enjoyed his set! He’s a great performer who had an excellent stage presence, and an impressive vocal control while running and jumping around on stage.

After Benjamin, I took a bit of a break to grab some food and rest my legs for a bit before heading over to see Confidence Man. I had never heard of this duo before, but they have had quite the festival run through Europe this summer. Unfortunately, this was not for me, and it seemed like it wasn’t a big hit for the crowd either. In my opinion, they should have swapped places with Benjamin on the lineup as he is more popular here than them. A unique performance for sure, but didn’t seem to land amongst the Norwegians.

Back at the smaller stage, it was time for 070 Shake – another set I was looking forward to seeing! She gave a good performance, and tried to get the crowd engaged as much as possible. However, Norwegians are, in my opinion, not great festival crowds. I witnessed one of the worst mosh pits during her set, but eventually the crowd warmed up and let loose. 070 Shake is not super well-known in Norway, and even though she didn’t look super happy with the crowd, it was still a really good set!

The headliner this day was our own Kjartan Lauritzen, who has a discography full of music for a great party! The show started, and so Bergen’s biggest party was on! The crowd was packed with people ready to have a great time. They were vibing, singing, and dancing along. Kjartan has previously stated he doesn’t usually put much into the set design, normally opting for a subdued backdrop to keep things simple. For this headline spot, he went all out with a full set design, which was a nice addition to the show!

Saturday

Saturday started for me with catching rising Norwegian artist Ramón, who has had great success with his recent album, Torres Tivoli. For this summer festival run, he had put together a cool stage design, going along with the theme of his album. Alongside him was a team of great back up dancers doing choreography, with and without Ramón, the whole set. Ramón has become a really good performer over these past years, and I’m glad I finally got to catch one of his performances!

Over on the indoor stages, I went to see Chloe Quisha and Anna of the North! As someone who prefers smaller venues, I love the addition of the indoor stages. Even though they overlap with each other and the smaller outdoor stage, there seemed to always be a good turnout of people here!

The last act on the smaller outdoor stage of the day was Bergen’s own Michelle Ullestad! The stage was absolutely packed, and I am sure next time she will be on the main stage. Michelle was actually the first real concert I got to shoot almost two years ago, so it was nice to have a little circle moment to wrap up this festival. You can tell she really elevated this performance and, in her own words, has grown up more. She had a fun lively set and the crowd was with her the whole time!

The last headliner of the weekend was, of course, Norway’s national treasure AURORA! For once, she could speak in Norwegian to the crowd, but she still acknowledged the international fans she recognized, which I thought was very sweet and shows how she cares about her fans. Aurora was everything you think she is: wonderful, magical, emotional, and powerful. I was in absolute awe of her the entire set, and it was a wonderful ending to a long and exhausting weekend.