School of rock... Vilde, 7, at the Death From
Above 1979 gig.
Photograph: Gwladys Fouché
Day two of Øya festival and Culture Vulture had the dubious pleasure of watching Pete Doherty and Babyshambles perform on stage, write Neil Perry, Gwladys Fouché and Hildegunn Soldal.
The rain stopped, at last, and we enjoyed a dry, sometimes sunny, day. Norwegian act Don Juan Dracula kicked off proceedings on the main stage, featuring their local schoolband in a wacky blend of electro-pop and baton-twirling.
But a more relaxing start was provided by the melancholic Ane Brun, with her soulful songs of love and lust, which were a perfect accompaniment to treating a hangover while watching the ducks on the lake.
Regretfully, we all got stressed out when Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore took to the Sjøsiden stage with his other act Diskaholics Anonymous Trio. After ten minutes of howling feedback, we realised they weren't just tuning up. Run away!
Then, we moved back to the main stage to watch Babyshambles. Instead, an announcement was made that the singer had not yet shown up, but the band had, and it was hoped that they would be performing later on a smaller stage. The man with the bad news mentioned Kate Moss several times and the crowd laughed. Backstage, the festival promoter was probably scrambling to get a refund.
Act of the day was Canadian two-man band Death From Above 1979. Don't let anyone ever tell you that Canada is safe or boring: with just a bass and a drum-kit, the pair kicked out a set of a high-octane noise that many bands don't even achieve with a full complement of instruments. The singer re-christened the festival the 'oh yeah' festival. The crowd loved them and so did we.
What seemed like the entire crowd of around 11,000 crammed in front of the tiny Vika stage to enjoy The Magic Numbers, fresh from Fatgate. They created a happy hippy vibe, the sound was perfect, and Richard Bacon was nowhere in sight. The band seemed to be right at home. After all, they look like Vikings.
Pop queen Annie graced the middle stage, all sexy and glamorous in a fetching green 50s dress. The 'Norwegian Kylie' went down a treat with her electro-pop numbers. Maybe the Australian Annie should hire her for her next album.
Then, in a perfect example of what makes this festival so enjoyable, a minute's walk took us from Annie to the raging satanic death metal of Norway's Satyricon on the main stage. Faces painted white, headbanging in unison (watch the video here) Satyricon were frankly stupendous, and when the singer made a comment about their extreme underground sound becoming mainstream, the entire crowd - only a few hundred of which were probably hardcore fans - cheered him long and loud. One hell of a band.
While Sonic Youth wowed the main stage, Babyshambles finally staggered onto the second stage. Pete Doherty did his shambolic thing, girls screamed, boys cheered him admiringly for some reason... and then he threw up. Watching a car crash like this might have been just about OK if the tunes were even half-decent, but there weren't any.
Today we're looking forward to Franz Ferdinand, Norwegian rockers Madrugada and Roots Manuva. And a hair of the dog...
