ØYA Festival
Reputed to have one of the most revered festival line-ups in Europe, 2014’s Øya Festival was once again a superb mix of credible, divers and quality artists: Queens of the Stone Age, The National, Röyksopp & Robyn Do it Again 2014, Neutral Milk hotel, Janelle Monae, Blood Orange, Jonathan Wilson, Joey bada$$, Deafheaven, King Midas (no), Spidergawd (no), Hanne Kolstø (no), Daniel kvammen (no), Omar Souleyman, Nadine Shah, Emilie Nicolas (no), Thulsa Doom & Bombino (Niger), Bloody Beach (no) are just some of the acts confirmed so far.
2014 marks the start of a new era for Øya Festival, railroad construction is due to take place at the festival site therefore for its sixteenth year, Øya moves to a stunning new site called Tøyenparken; Tøyenparken is even more special than the original site and is situated between three Oslo landmarks; the international Munch museum, the beautiful botanical gardens and Oslo's huge outdoor amphitheatre park - which includes an outdoor swimming pool, a football field and picturesque walking paths. Since the festival had no choice but to move, it has gained permission to do something very special; Øya will close the main street between all three areas and join the two parks to become one huge area. Despite the new site being bigger than its predecessor, Øya will sell the same amount of tickets allowing for more space and a comfortable experience. Promoter Claes Olsen says:
"Øya is about being an urban park festival, more than a dirty field. We got into this because of our love for music, not love for mud and running a camping site. With the new site, three of the outdoor stages will be amphi theaters which will be amazing."
The city centre is still only a short walk from the festival, which creates an exciting rendezvous between nature and culture and between the outdoor festival experience during the day and intimate club shows at night. Visitors to the city can use airb&b for cheap accommodation or book hotels such as the stylish and inexpensive comfort inn http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-oslo-norway-NO020.
