Bergenfest Steps Outdoors

Having spent 18 years as an indoor club festival, Bergenfest stepped outdoors for the first staging of the event in the grounds of the Medieval castle near the centre of the west-Norwegian coastal city.

Although the average daily crowd only half-filled the 6,500-capacity site, near where the city’s Bergen Calling series of summer shows is held, festival organiser Frank Nes feels the new-styled event made a good start and is keen to develop it.

“The customers that turned up certainly enjoyed it and the media reaction’s been very favourable,” he told Pollstar.
Although the weather can always be problematic in the Nordic territories, Nes was also happy that the four-day gathering enjoyed mostly clear skies.

For two of the days, the festival also ran its usual programme in central-Bergen clubs, which sold a further 1,500 tickets per day.

The acts helping Bergenfest leap into the great outdoors June 21-24 included Patti Smith, Billy Talent, Tinie Tempah, Opeth, Lars Winnerbäck, Turbonegro, and Flogging Molly.