For four 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, symbiotic & liminal experience with a unique atmosphere and audience that bares resemblance to none other.
The Øya Festival is a festival put together by music lovers, for music lovers, and with a focus on presenting a cutting-edge bill with a big, Scandinavian heart. Where else would you find such great and diverse artists as The Knife, Band Of Horses, High On Fire, Beck, and Yoko Ono all sharing the same backstage?
The Øya Festival is held in what is called the Medieval Park in Oslo, Norway – a beautiful spot surrounded by white, sandy beaches, the Oslo Fjord to the south, and the Oslo skyline to the west. The Medieval Park is also the site on which the capital of Norway was founded a thousand years ago – and it’s only a short walk to the city center of Oslo, which creates an exciting rendezvous between nature and culture.
Audience and artists are presented with a festival area consisting of trees, green grass, and water, accompanied by stages, shopping streets, and small shops serving drink and food (prepared – in fact! – by the best young chefs of Oslo). The Eastside, where the Medieval Park is located, is undoubtedly where the action is when it comes to Norwegian music, and the area is also the nation’s primary cultural melting pot. In the years to come, several hundred million Norwegian “kronerâ€, both state and private, will be invested here, for the development of new housing areas, and the new Opera House, which will be the Medieval Park’s closest neighbor in the Harbor area.
THE ØYA FESTIVAL 2009
Oslo, August 11-15
Open air site: August 12 + 13 + 14 + 15
Arena capacity : 16.000 pr. day
Stages : 4 (Enga – capacity: 11000, Sjøsiden – cap.: 6000, Vika, cap.: 3500, – Odden cap.: 2000)
Club shows: August 11-15
25 clubs in the Oslo city center, with a total capacity of 6000 people.
SOME THINGS WE ARE PROUD OF:
The 2002 – 2008 festivals were all sold out in advance!
We had 77.500 visitors in 2008, but there wasn’t a single arrest!
We’re the largest and coolest outdoor music festival in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
The Øya Festival is among the group of Norwegian festivals that receives the most media coverage.
We are the first Scandinavian festival boasting 100% organic food.
We are the most environmentally friendly festival in Norway.
Check out this great video from the Øya Festival 2008:
Made by NRK Lydverket. Watch more videos from the Øya Festival at our videos section .
