Rundgren Sends By:Larm International

They’re not exactly saying that they’re trying to ready themselves for a show by Todd Rundgren, but the organisers of Norway’s By:Larm conference admit he’s the reason they’re relaxing their approach to international acts.

Photo: John Davisson

Toddstock II v6.5, Nottoway Plantation & Resort, White Castle, La.

The annual conference and showcase, now in its 18th year, has previously booked acts solely from the Nordic region. A couple of years ago head of programming Joakim Haugland questioned the policy of restricting the bill when Rundgren, who was at By:Larm to make a conference speech, would have been happy to play a set. But the Nordic-only rule got in the way of him doing that.

“That’s when I thought the rule was really stupid,” Haugland told Pollstar. “He was in Scandinavia to do a couple of shows, I think they were in Bergen and Stockholm, and he said he would be happy to play a solo slot.”

Haugland also thought the Nordic only policy would soon result in the showcase festival having to re-book the same acts over and over again. This year about 20 percent of the 100 or so acts will come from outside the Nordic region. “If we can get people to come here, we’ll have their focus entirely on Norwegian and Nordic music for four days. That will be guaranteed to benefit the Nordic music industry in the long term,” Haugland explained.

By:Larm is in Oslo March 4-7.