TONS OF ROCK 2025 – Day 4

Full photo galleries – including a lot of shots from Jinjer and Dark Angel moshpits and crowdsurfing

TONS OF ROCK 2025 – Day 4

Photos and Text by Andrea Chirulescu and Jonathan Mazin

A cool Saturday morning after a rainy night in Oslo was a decent start for the last bus trip up to Ekeberg. This last Saturday in June hosted a lot of events in Oslo, including a big Pride one, so there were tons of cool encounters on the way to the bus stop. It also made it a bit more hectic for the returning buses as they had to stop at even more random places than before, given the city center had a lot of traffic restrictions. Hope everyone made it safe home or at the next party. Actually, the day before, Skunk Anansie held a concert in Oslo and some of the photographers that worked at the festival, also ran down to the city and photographed this show. That’s dedicated. I didn’t have it – nor did I know about the extra concert.

Tarja opened the vampire stage and I think she was a bit unprepared for the chill afternoon so she started her set wearing a jacket. Weird fit for the usual elegant singer. As I wanted to also catch the chance at photographing The Cruel Intentions on the tent stage, I left after one Tarja – long – song and finally got to see the Norwegian rock’n’rollers or glam rockers live. They also had a good crowd and that’s always nice when you are the stage opener. They perform a modern sleazy metal and yet manage to have a sort of old fashioned glam look. I liked the combo and their stage presence. Then I left back to watch some more of Tarja but I don’t think I caught her on a good day. I feel like she butchered the songs from Nightwish that I knew so I will not say anything else on that concert.

Main stage was opened by a highly loved Norwegian act, Backstreet Girls, who have been around for many years and have delighted people all over the country with their dirty rock’n’roll. Sadly, their lovely vocalist Bjørn Müller has recently passed, so the concert was a tribute to him and their 40+ years of existence. The first minutes are only an instrumental tribute from the long term 3 band members – Petter Baarli, Gaute Vaag and Jonas Amazonas and then there were several vocalists that showcased their skills but also support for this band: Tarjei Foshaug (Thrashcan Darlings, Valentourettes), Roar Leren or Biff Malibu from Gluecifer. A lot went on during their setlist, very emotional and very touching and I’m sure they made Bjørn super proud of having had left such a beautiful legacy.

I heard lots of good things from people who have watched Molirock inside the Moonlight tent stage. Haven’t heard about this band, but apparently they got a good level of crowd engagement and singalong, so I’ve made a note to try to catch them live next time. But, the next band on vampire stage couldn’t be missed: Jinjer. Words are really not enough to explain how amazing they have become live. They’ve blown my mind few years ago when I saw them on the smaller stage, but now Tatiana and her bandmades took it up to a great next level. Everyone does their part with precision and passion, both from singing and growling wildly – combined with super pleasant dance moves – but also from crazy guitar/bass rhythms sustained by heavy drumming patterns. The crowd went wild, both in cheers and noise, but also in amount of crowdsurfers, mostpitters, rowpitters…One dude – or maybe more – ended up literally walking on top of the crowd. I must admit I split my concert half watching the show and half photographing the super happy crazy people. I think the security folks in front of that stage got an insane workout – and there was more to come that day.

Up next on the tent stage was Kim Dracula and some of the weirdest blend of core and opera styles. With a saxophone! It’s cool, it’s odd and it’s definitely worth to watch a whole show if time allows. We left to catch some of Jerry Cantrell who held the next concert on the main stage. He is known from his Alice in Chains founding days, but has also released four individual solo albums. While I must admit that the vocals and the songs were cool and pleasant, they are not a band to fill a big stage. Ok, they had some words and messages projected on the backdrop, but all in a low a rather low key show. Yet, a welcome breather after Jinjer, so maybe that was a good choice in the end.

Luckily, another level of insanity was about to be delivered on Moonlight tent stage – by the American thrash act Dark Angel. A band that had it’s hiatus years here and there, but have put out some super cool albums from this genre and they’re surely an act not to miss. I am glad I did. Last time they played in Oslo they didn’t have their super awesome guitar lady Laura Christine and she was such a joy to watch, delivering insanity together with the male band mates. This was another one of those concerts where you’d snap some photos of the bands and then quickly turn around to both protect you from eventual incoming crowdsurfers but also try to capture them. This requires a lot of camera settings fast changes, so I missed a lot of good shots, but it was tons of fun and tired shoulders by the end of the first three songs. Then I went into the crowd and captured some more people in the moshpit. This was was a bit more intense than the Jinjer one so I stayed further away and left sooner. But the concert itself was lovely and I am glad to have witnessed live the thrash band once more.

Afterwards, the mighty Emperor brought their ‘best of’ setlist under the afternoon sun and since they are not relying on any visual elements, it is one of the black metal bands that won’t look like mickey mouses with light on their faces. Ihsahn’s skills and vocals are always a joy to witness, but the whole sound is in the hands of experienced musicians who make Emperor known songs sound like perfect Anthems. ‘Ye Entraceemperium’ and ‘Inno A Satana’ were pure bliss. And while all this happened, few meters away from where the sound started to fade, Black Debbath were holding their fourth signing session by the Big Dipper tent. This one was announced on the festival’s app and we got to witness it and capture some photos – which you can find in our Photo galleries section.

Megadeth were once again, impressive and provided a lesson in metal history. Back in the days I found them boring live, but with the newer lineup, the whole dynamics changed and the band is actually really fun to watch live. They always had all these well known hits, but now they are being delivered with way more intensity and life. Dirk Verbeuren behind the drums is killing every beat and the new Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari acted as he has been in the band since like forever. I got to watch Megadeth with Kiko Loureiro last time they played in Oslo and I wasn’t aware he had to step away from the live shows, but his replacement is pure gold. Hats off, mr Teemu!

Tired legs didn’t agree to go and cath The Sword back in the tent, so I located my friends and got a good spot to watch Machine Head. Holy mother of machines, they leveled that place down. Robb Flynn’s voice in itself is a force of nature, but combined with the way he delivers the songs, the speeches in between and the fast paced guitar parts, hes mesmerizing to watch. Also while trying to keep an eye on his bandmates, but not miss how much fun the crowd is having – I think there were even more crowdsurfers than at Jinjer. The mospits were elegantly directed from the stage, a stage that got filled with insane amount of pyrotechnics at times. Hope everyone’s eyebrows stayed in place. Then there were gigantic inflatable hammers and dice thrown from the stage and filling the ‘top of’ the crowd making for some interesting visuals. I am not familiar with the band’s full discography and I could only recogise a couple of songs, but what seemed to be from the last album surely had a lot of power and made me want to be done with all the reviews and photo editing so I can check out the stuff that I put on my list. And latest Machine Head is rather high on the list.

Festival’s last headliner were the Americans in Avenged Sevenfold and they closed out the entire festival with a bombastic, theatrical set that hit hard even for someone like me who’s never really listened to them beyond the big tracks – but when “Hail to the King,” “Afterlife” and “Bat Country” dropped, it was impossible not to get swept up. “Nightmare” hit just as heavy, with the whole field moving in sync under the weight of that massive chorus. The production was top-tier – blinding lights, fire, and dramatic visuals like a burning house playing out on the screens – all dialed in to match the mood of each song perfectly. And as “A Little Piece of Heaven” brought things to a twisted, singalong end, a burst of colorful fireworks lit up the Oslo sky – a fittingly over-the-top sendoff to close out Tons of Rock 2025.

With huge amount of gratitude to the Tons of Rock’s press team, that did a brilliant job this year keeping us hydrated, sun protected and informed, and to everyone in the crowd who smiled or showed a good time towards our cameras, we bid you good bye for now and looking forward to even more intense memories in the years to come. Rock on \m/