Tons Of Rock 2026 – Day 1
- Posted on 01-07-2026
Full photo galleries can be seen here
Photos by Jonathan Mazin/Andrea Chirulescu
Text by Andrea Chirulescu
Tons of Rock started, once again, on a Wednesday in late June 2026 with a dense schedule across multiple stages all carefully setup at Ekeberg area in Oslo, where you’d usually see a lot of football fields for bigger or smaller games. This year, the festival decided to rearrange the stage’s placement, thus swapping the tent (Moonlight) and second outdoor stage (Vampire) location and adding an additional tiny Swam stage with random concerts announced 15 minutes before they started. The art tents got placed somewhere behind the Swamp and a skateboarding area also found its place there. The tent became way bigger and got an elevated platform all the way to the back, which made for a cool viewing point or sit down area for those who dared to swim there. And overall it offered more shade during the really heated days, as this festival seems to book the weekend with the hottest weather of the year. Not sure what kind of deal they have with what kind of superpower, but while there’s tons of rain before and after, it’s rare that the bad weather was a really big issue during its years in Oslo. Not for more than one day in a row, but maybe my goldfish memory could be broken.
While this year’s toilet queues seem to have been significantly reduced due the new placement of toilets and their increased numbers, the festival was handed other bad card they had to deal with – and the biggest one of them all was a complete powergrid failure in the whole area for about 30 minutes on the first day. This led to a bit of chaos and delays and could have gone way worse if it had been any longer. The toilets for example wouldn’t flush without electricity. Nor did the stage function in any way, so at most it could have been an acoustic afternoon. We avoided that, but I think it has caused a lot of extra work for stage technicians and sound engineers, as surely some of the items that were in place before that time, had to be re-done and reconfigured.
Other than that, I am personally not a fan of ‘we expanded the festival with this and with that’. Given the fact that I have to run around with a camera and try to capture concerts, eventually run between two concerts that start 15 minutes apart, and I have to eat, use some toilets, drink water, try to say hi to my friends…I have no way of enjoying all the newly added cool stuff. I haven’t even gotten to set my foot inside the Arcade or the merch stand this year, not to mention that I barely visually browsed the art tents, mainly from a distance. All the cool merch stands? Nope, just a quick glance while running between stages. They even had some cars and motorbikes parked by the coolest big tree of the area, so people lost a bit of their shade spots. And I must admit that most shops and stands seem to have tons of crowd at most times of the day, so I guess it works out for everyone in the end. I just think it’s almost impossible to see as many bands per day and enjoy all the other goodies. I personally prefer to prioritize music, but then again, maybe a lot of people are here for a band or two per day and then they fill the time with shopping and games.
I only got to try one item of food this year, but from talking to my friends, it seemed that even the food queues seem to function better for most of the time. One item that the festival struggled with was an issue with the water pressure for the water stations where people would fill their bottles. They had huge queues the first day or two and then some of them were completely turned off. On the hottest day (Thursday or Friday), they ended up giving away bottles at certain tents to help people cope with the intense heat and lack of water sources. That was a nice gesture, but unfortunate it was needed. Hope they understand how this can be better handled in the future. I have noticed the festival has taken most complaints very seriously and have always tried to improve situations that caused most friction and I believe this is one of them.
Besides the logistic nightmares and happy stories, the main ingredients of the festival are artists and the tons of people in the audience. And those who setup the stage, manage the stage, handle the sound and the lights and the pyro effects, the volunteers who contribute to cleaning, serving drinks, moving stuff around, the security who deserves its own chapter in any review and maybe even the bus drivers. I think the festival finally found the sweet spot of how to negociate with the local transport authority and got a good number of busses. They had indeed, struggled on Saturday when most people left for the festival early, but some of that is also because of limited roads capacity combined with another big event in the city. All in all, I mainly heard good stories about the transport experience.
The security team, together with the volunteers designated to work in front of the stages were easily heroes for a lot of people. Either because they caught the crowdsurfers and prevented them from falling on the hard fences, because they constantly filled glasses with water and handed them to anyone in need of hydration, because they were listening to a story or two and chatted with the audience before the concerts started and ensured for a good mood and last, but not least, that they did their best to take care of photographers during the time when they were allowed in the photopit. Sometimes we got thrown out before the usually allowed 3 songs, because it was a dangerous situation mixing ‘falling crowd’, a tight space and security people who had bigger priorities in ensuring the crowd’s safety. But I think they had a very professional behavior at all times and most of them performed their tasks with an extra smile on their face. Or at least those who did get some extra kudos for me. I’m sure standing up for so many hours and lifting heavy people over a fence takes its toll throughout the days.
Now, about the music:
Black Debbath – Scream Stage
As usual, first band on the main stage of this festival is Black Debbath with their characteristic blend of heavy rock and satirical Norwegian lyrics. And the longest ever countdown, which started about 30 minutes before the show. It was a countup though, going from 1 to 1000 and having tons of funny little things said in between numbers. The band had a new heavy-metal-bad-ass look, based on their latest music video “Bøler Rock Bydel”, but same old witty humor. Their set leaned into tight grooves and spoken-word-style delivery that has defined their live reputation for decades. The performance functioned well as an early-day crowd energizer, especially for local audiences familiar with their catalogue and they had occasional guests on stage, one of which was the talented vocalist of Madder Mortem band.
Die Spitz – Vampire Stage
American female only rock act Die Spitz delivered a fast, aggressive set on the tent stage, aligning with their rising reputation in the modern punk circuit. Their performance emphasized raw energy and the band’s youthful intensity translated well to the mid-day festival setting, where momentum is often more important than polish. Their set reinforced why they are increasingly appearing on larger European festival bills and I think they were in my top 3 bands for the day, as I got charged with a lot of good energy from their mad show filled with sweet riffs, jump, smiles, crazy leg lifts and hand stands.
Cavalera – Moonlight Stage
As previously announced, Cavalera was set to deliver CHAOS A.D. in its entirety at this year’s Tons of Rock and that got the crowd going wild form the first beats of Refuse/Resist. As the music leaned heavily on rhythmic drive and groove-oriented aggression, it quickly created a dense sonic atmosphere, but it was sadly interrupted by the power outage sometime midway. The crowd was hoping for continuity and tried some ro’ing in front of the stage while waiting for the music to continue. It didn’t happen though so this was the day’s shorted concert.
President– The Storm Stage
PRESIDENT appeared on The Storm Stage with a modern rock sound that contrasted sharply with the heavier acts on other stages. Their set emphasizes melodic structure and clean production, offering a more accessible alternative for the crowd. The band’s performance style is more focused and restrained and I had no envy for the fact that they perform in such fancy suits. I’m sure they were all soaked by the end of the performance.
Trivium – Scream Stage
Trivium has always been a good-mood band, their music balancing technical precision with melodic hooks and super hot pyro effects which constantly raised the temperature around the stage by many degrees. Their performance highlighted the band’s ability to gracefully move between aggressive passages and more structured, anthemic sections. Vocalist, Matt Heafy, has always had a charismatic appearance, which adds a bonus to the tightness of his guitar/vocals performance.
The Carburetors – Moonlight Stage
Long time since I last watched Norwegian rock’n’rollers The Carburetors live and it did feel like a bit of time travel. While they high-octane rock energy to the Moonlight Stage, emphasizing speed, swagger, and straightforward riff-driven songwriting, it was at a different level than the shows delivered many years ago. But there were still some wild jumps and crazy riffs, yet it felt a bit more laid back. Their set leaned heavily into classic rock aesthetics, with a performance style still built for immediate audience engagement.
Babymetal– Scream Stage
I had only heard one BABYMETAL song before and actually never checked what their live show is all about so I was waiting with excitement for it to begin. The 3 ladies delivered a highly choreographed and tightly synchronized performance, sustained by few masked musicians in the background who delivered the metal instrumentation. Their set relied on precision, both musically and visually and the fusion of pop melodies and heavy instrumentation remained central to their identity throughout the performance. The bass was aggressively hitting all of your organs. But nothing more interesting happened after two or three songs so that’s as long as I lasted to satisfy my curiosity and decide to applaud them for their work and to understand it’s not something I’m interested in watching again.
DumDum Boys – The Storm Stage
Because of the shows being delayed on the smaller stages, my legs didn’t make it back fast enough to photograph DumDum Boys, but I got to watch some of their set from the site. The band is representing one of Norway’s most established rock traditions and it was easy to see and hear this with so many people singing along and being generally happy to watch them. They’ve been around for quite some time and thus know how to own the stage and delight the audience, even if they don’t necessarily do any extreme moves. But adding a lot of classic songs to the playlist was surely a good move that brought a lot of enthusiasm and a big choir among the attendees.
Blood Incantation – Moonlight Stage
With albums that draw a lot of attention and high level reviews, American progressive death metallers Blood Incantation performed a technically intricate and atmospheric set on the Moonlight Stage, characterized by extended compositions and shifting structures, delivered with incredible energy which quickly transferred back and forth between crowd and band. The band appeals to a lot of your senses, as their music can be both ugly and intense and soothing and playful. Sadly, I had to run to another stage but I hope to catch them live again and enjoy a full set.
Jordsjuk – Vampire Stage
New sensation in the Norwegian black metal music, Jordsjuk delivered a raw and aggressive set on the Vampire Stage, leaning into dense riffs and a harsh, uncompromising sound. Formed by experienced musicians who have performed together in other bands, they feel like a well oiled mechanism and they deliver with fierce intensity and one can totally understand why there is so much attention around them lately: their compositions are fresh, even if they stay faithfull to the genre. It was nice to finally get to watch them live and their presence fit well within the underground-oriented segment of the festival’s lineup.
The Offspring – Scream Stage
Wednesday’s ‘small’ headliner, The Offspring, are childhood heroes for many of us in our 40s. I met few friends during the day and they were all looking forward to singalong to those catchy tunes that might have been the first CD or casette purchased. The band has been on extensive recent tours so their stage presence is well tuned and natural. Dexter still looks like on Americana and Noodles seems to always be up for a joke or two. There’s some moments of longer speeches, during the band, once again, sets a new audience record which changes occasionally as a few more have given birth or passed away. If I heard it correctly, Noodles even had his son on stage and had him perform on drums, but I was too far away to even see the screens for that. Surely a cool moment. But then I got back closer to the stage and screamed my lungs out for most of their songs, as lyrics would just come back to my memory out of nowhere. Lots of confetti, some big balloons and altogether a band with a long experience on large festival stages which was evident in their tight structure and efficient transitions. And lots of nostalgia.
Blood Fire Death – A Tribute to Bathory – Moonlight Stage
Last act on the tent stage was Blood Fire Death – A Tribute to Bathory, and while I heard good praises from a lot of friends and colleagues, we didn’t get to photograph them. I also have mixed feelings on such tribute acts that end up headlining festivals so I will actually not write anything more about this.
Bring Me The Horizon – Scream Stage
The day ended with the British rock act Bring Me The Horizon, and they closed it with a highly produced and dynamic headline-level performance. I have no interest for their music, I only appreciated the tons of visuals on stage but only for a few songs. And it turns out that I have left early enough to miss the fact that they had Babymetal as guests on one of their songs. Certainly a joy for many. An even bigger joy for my feet was to get to the point of being shoeless and showered.