This amusing guide for Brits who wish to experience a rock concert in Norway first appeared in The Times of 24 February. It is actually quite helpful.
01/03/2004 ::
- Norwegians smoke like it's going out of fashion -- which it is. Smoking in bars and cafés is about to be banned
- Some Norwegians get their hit instead from tiny teabags containing slugs of tobacco which they keep in their mouths pressed between their lips and gums -- Scandinavian tradition
- Few smoke dope: if you light up a spliff at a gig, you get funny looks
- They are oddly attached to Jolene by Dolly Parton
- Being of Viking stock, they are all tall, which makes it tough at gigs for a shortarse
- In crowded gigs they have no sense of personal space and barge through. They mean no offence -- living in so much space, they aren't used to dealing with crowds
- Beer, like everything else, is shockingly expensive -- a fiver for falf a litre
- Charmingly, they still raise thei cigarette lighters aloft for favourite songs
- There are at least three scenes in Norway: the Bergen one (Röyksopp, Kings of Convenience), the Tromsø one (Biosphere), and the outsider one for bands such as Madrugada, who come from the wild north
- Madrugada is a poetic term for the hours before sunrise
The Times