Øya — round since 1999 (save for 2 peak pandemic years in 2020 and 2021) — has advanced to be like Oslo’s personal model of Coachella, attracting a who’s who of native Norwegian acts and worldwide A-listers spanning a variety of genres. Even higher, very like Norway itself, Øya has gone out of its approach to create a very inexperienced, environmentally pleasant expertise, with sustainable meals choices, fossil-free transportation (as an alternative of vehicles, rows of parked bikes are lined up close to the fest’s entrance), and a lot of the fest’s signage and decor is meant to be reused yearly, and most attendees stroll round holding reusable beverage cups, which pageant goers return on the finish of the evening.

Throughout 4 days and 6 phases, Øya welcomed an enormous swath of artists, every of whom appeared legitimately delighted to be there (except for Irish art-pop performer Róisín Murphy, who canceled her Wednesday set on account of sickness). “This can be a lovely nation. Actually makes America seem like shit,” cracked Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan, who carried out a handful of tracks (“Pristine,” “Warmth Wave,” “Glory,” “Valentine”) from 2018’s Lush and 2021’s Valentine on the Vindfruen stage.

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Jordan couldn’t have been extra proper — although Tøyen Park was a bit overtaken by thick mud on Day 1, which noticed on-and-off rain showers, the situation is a large however not overwhelming house that’s brimming over with greenery and loads of timber to offer shade when the solar peeks out. Even lengthy picnic tables got here dotted with clusters of herb planters. “Did you catch Blur final evening?” Jordan requested midway via her set, which began out a bit of disjointed (“pedal malfunctions,” she defined) however solidified and grew stronger with every music.

Wednesday’s spotlight was simply Lorde, who returned to the stage for the second time this summer time since wrapping her Photo voltaic Energy tour in April. This new run of exhibits marked Lorde’s self-described “Night time Imaginative and prescient version” of the Photo voltaic Energy tour, and certainly, there seemed to be a concerted effort on the singer’s half to dim the (at occasions polarizing) lightness round her 2021 album, the place it appeared her solely job was seashore. To that finish, an icy-blonde Lorde had a 16-song set, opening with “Royals” and shutting with “Inexperienced Gentle.” All of the whereas, she danced with abandon across the stage, which held no seen backing band — one other divisive selection that I personally didn’t thoughts, because it made the entire set really feel that rather more intimate.

After a gap day of intermittent rain, the solar got here out on Thursday, which featured indie and main acts like UK hardcore punks (and Band To Watch) Excessive Vis and New Orleans dance punks Particular Curiosity on the Hagen stage, Australian pub-rockers Amyl And The Sniffers on Vindfruen, hometown heroes Susanne Sundfør (who drew an infinite crowd on the Amfiet stage) and Sløtface, Pusha T in full hype-man mode, and Brit-rock icons Blur, who helped shut out the evening with a career-spanning set that included cheeky asides from Damon Albarn.

One other promoting level to Øya is “Øyanatt,” which principally simply signifies that an entire mess of different bands and DJs mess around Oslo’s venues and nightclubs. This yr featured appearances from the Tubs, the Alchemist, Water From Your Eyes, Caroline Rose, and Lindstrøm, amongst many (many) different native acts. Then there was LA singer-songwriter Christian Lee Hutson, who introduced up Phoebe Bridgers (on the town to headline with boygenius) at Krøsset. As we reported earlier within the week, the 2 longtime collaborators teamed up for a spontaneous duet of Hutson’s 2020 single “Lose This Quantity” and Bridgers’ personal Higher Oblivion Group Heart monitor “Chesapeake.”

Talking of boygenius, Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus’ Friday evening set drew a packed crowd on the Vindfruen stage, and as quickly as they launched into songs from The File just like the harmonized “With out You With out Them,” “$20,” “Satanist,” and “Emily I’m Sorry,” the viewers shrieking received so loud, it was like watching, effectively, a boy band.

Closing out Øya, Saturday’s lineup featured a barely scaled-back group, with standouts like UK post-punk revivalists Dry Cleansing on the Sirkus stage, Tristate space indie standard-bearers Yo La Tengo, and Swedish rock greats the Soundtrack Of Our Lives, who performed their third of some reunion exhibits – the primary was Spain’s Azkena Rock Competition in June, adopted by Sweden’s Means Out West fest. As somebody who couldn’t cease spinning “Sister Encompass” in school, this author is holding out hope for a brand new album and a few North American dates. (SOOL broke up in 2012, with their final launch being the identical yr’s Throw It To The Universe.)

I received to eager about one thing Friday performer Caroline Polachek stated whereas undulating across the Amfiet stage. In between hermetic renditions of “Bunny Is A Rider,” “Welcome To My Island,” “Sundown,” and different picks from Want, I Need To Flip Into You, Polachek, who thanked the gang with an easy “Takk,” greeted these of us seated on an uphill slope. “How’s everybody on the grass?,” she requested, including, “I got here to Øya and I touched grass. So true.”

For anybody touring to Øya from North America, Australia, the UK, or — let’s face it — most different international locations and continents, Oslo’s premier music pageant was a chance to do precisely that: contact grass. Actually, certain. Additionally, in each different sense of the phrase. Need to unplug for a bit and float off on a sea of recent meals and of-the-moment music? You are able to do that. Need to reassess your life decisions and think about turning into an expat? Right here’s a glimpse of how the Scandinavians dwell. Need to take what you’ve seen at Øya and foyer to assist make US festivals much less chaotic and extra inexpensive? One other laugh-to-keep-from-crying anecdote: At one level, my new Nordic buddies stated they hoped to see Blink-182 after they got here to Oslo, however the tickets – at $200 – could be too costly. I nearly spat my drink out. Not due to the value tag, however due to how comparatively low-cost that quantity sounded to me, an American totally damaged down by Ticketmaster inflationary brouhaha.

There is a greater approach to expertise summer time music festivals, and Øya proves it. I’m not a live-music organizer or a authorities worker, so I can’t fake to know the way precisely Øya is so profitable at pulling off this near-utopian, seamless setting yr after yr. However the truth that it exists signifies that it’s doable. Not everybody can simply journey to Norway — the truth that I did was on account of skilled privilege. So, I implore different fests, notably the American ones: contact some fucking grass.