Tons of Rock 2026 – Day 4
- Posted on 17-07-2026
Photo galleries can be found here
Photos by Jonathan Mazin and Andrea Chirulescu
Text by Andrea Chirulescu
Saturday was, yet again, a day when there are tons of events in Oslo, including the ever-colorful pride parade, and that led to some logistical challenges for the transport to the festival area. You’d get there, but need a bit of extra patience and maybe walking, as many roads were closed and trams or buses had different routes. That didn’t stop the sun to arrive early though and we were in for another sauna day.
PAIN – Vampire Stage
Saturday’s opening act, the alien metal PAIN, performed their industrial metal set built on electronic textures combined with groove-driven riffs and eccentric stage looks form mastermind Peter Tägtgren. He’s in charge here, but his bandmates are offering a professional and tight performance and seem to enjoy being on stage at the early hour. The crowd was not yet fully awake and the sing-along for some of their hits wasn’t as loud as it would be later on. I also recall some rather dramatic background movies, with robots and war-like scenes, so the show had a lot of visuals to offer. As I really enjoyed PAIN’s performance, I didn’t get the chance to sneak in and catch any of BLOOD KILLS EGO’s performance, that got captured by my colleague.
DDR – Scream Stage
DDR was not a project I was familiar with and had to ask my Norwegian colleagues what was the deal with these Eastern Eruopean references that you could see on the screens or on the props on stage. Once I understood it was a Norwegian band that translated classic Norwegian pop and rock songs (mainly by artists like D.D.E.) into heavy, “East German-inspired” German language. I went to watch a bit and try to understand why they got placed on the main stage and all I could think of is that kitsch sells. It was gruesome and distasteful and so I happily moved away to the other area of the festival.
Slay Squad – Moonlight Stage
Slay Squad are told to be one of the most exciting acts in the new wave of extreme metal and their live performance is a good indicator why they are described like that. Lots of energy on stage, fast pace for both music and show and for those who might have not wake up before their show, this was surely a good coffee replacement. I only got to watch it for few minutes but I think there’ll be more of this name on festival posters in the future.
Black Label Society – Vampire Stage
Zakk Wylde and his Black Label Society is always a crowd pleaser with their Southern-influenced heavy metal set built around groove-heavy riffs and strong guitar leads. A performance that balanced heaviness with melodic phrasing, classic and modern ideas. Zakk’s voice is always a pleasure to listen and covering an Ozzy song during their shows, the band is always winning the hearts of many.
Gaerea – Moonlight Stage
I finally got to witness the Portugese extreme black metallers in Gaerea and was nicely impressed by their wild show. With the extra air of mystery added by their full body and face covering clothing, they don’t shy away from delivering rough and insane rhythms while managing to be all over the stage and allowing everyone in the band to display their skills. The blast-driven aggression is nicely mixed with some more emotional passages that somehow manage to bring out even more of their intensity. They were also rather impressive for having lasted the whole show with their faces fully covered.
Sepultura – Scream Stage
Sepultura‘s final show in Norway was nothing less than epic. The crowd gathered in big numbers and went wild from the first beat. With the unfortunate power break during Cavalera’s show from Wednesday, fans of the genre had extra energy to put into the wild moshpits and crowdsurfing that went almost constantly, making area in front of the stage a rather difficult one to be at. On stage though, Derrick Green and Andreas Kisser lead with style and the whole band delivers impeccably hit after hit. The extra percussion number where they had Tons of Rock crew on stage has stolen the heart of many and got a lot of bums shaking. I always loved how they blend the wild metal riffs and tons of groovy drum beats. And for this concert in particular, it all got mixed with tons of sweat. I couldn’t last the whole show and had to go grab some water, and while walking through the crowd I saw tons of happy faces.
Leprous – Vampire Stage
I cannot recall if I have watched Leprous outdoors and in daylight for many years now. Their latest show seem to use a lot of strobes and the daylight cancelled their annoying effect so it was actually pleasant to get to watch the band’s wild energy live. especially as they now have a keyboard player and this leaves Einar free to roam the stage and focus on the intensity of his vocals. I’m happy to see that their hard working career has brought them so much recognition from the fans, who gathered in big numbers to watch the young Norwegians and sing along when they perform the ‘Take on me’ cover. Their complex and often ‘against the patterns’ music is not always easy to digest and they keep delivering it with technicality and refinement. Despite his fame and skills, I think the drummer could make an effort to blend in with the band’s stage looks when it comes to clothing.
Accept – Scream Stage
I don’t know how often a band gets to announce a replacement, only to have it replaced once again in the end. The German hevy metal act Accept were the replacement for W.A.S.P., who was replacing Twisted Sister. While I was really hoping to get another chance at seeing mr Snider one more time, the Germans have one of those catchy stage shows which is always fun to watch and is delivered with lots of good mood and smiles. They are highly comfortable on a festival’s main stage and didn’t disappoint.
Blood Red Throne – Moonlight Stage
The sweaty Moonlight tent stage was the perfect setting for the brutal death metal delivered by the Norwegian act Blood Red Throne with their set focused on speed, heaviness, and technical riffing. Daniel “Død” Olaisen is an excellent riff leader and the insanity of the band’s songs gets the crowd going wild – and probably even more sweatier with each song. I desperately needed some food at this point though, a two hours shower and a foot massage. I settled for food only, in the short time before the next act started.
Baphy – The Storm Stage
I was told that the young Norwegian act Baphy is a really exciting performance from a highly skilled young lady and it’s worth watching. So I took the trip to the small tent Storm stage and can’t say I regret it even a bit. Vocalist and drummer Thea Ossum performed a dark, aggressive metal set all while looking extremely kind and sweet. Her two stage companions counter-balanced this with a bit more ‘mean’ metal look, but most important is that everyone performed with the highest of skills and the genre breaking metal that they delivered was super refreshing to experience live. I am grateful that my friends ‘sold me’ this show so well and convinced me to attend.
A Perfect Circle – Vampire Stage
One of the most awaited shows for many I knew at the festival was A Perfect Circle‘s performance that closed the festival’s second stage. The crowd was thrilled when each of the band members took the stage when ‘The Package’ started and then erupted when Maynard took his usual spot in the back of the stage. Being a festival, they no longer had a way to appeal to the crowd’s common sense and not use phones, but luckily, not many in the front rows were interested in that. The groovy and atmospheric setlist flew by in no time and it culminated with the crowd pleaser ‘Judith’. The band doesn’t bother with much visual elements, besides a huge logo projected on the backdrop and some big round spotlights arranged under the drum and keyboard raisers. So it’s all about the music which was so soothing and beautiful. And for those who admire Maynard’s work, he reminded the crowd he’d be back in october with Puscifer. Yay!
Limp Bizkit – Scream Stage
Limp Bizkit closed Tons of Rock 2026 with a high-energy nu metal headlining set built around aggression, nostalgia, and crowd interaction. But it was rather scary to watch the amount of crowd surfers from afar and wonder if those who fought for their place in the first rows even got to watch any of the show. I heard stories of many injured people being carried out from the front of the stage, so I hope it’s just stories and not many people got injured. No part of the performance reached me in any way so I was glad to leave after a couple of songs and get an early rest after the long sauna day.
As usual, taking the bus home after the final day comes with mixed feelings of being glad that it’s over and you can relax the tired feet, but sad that there’s no more live music for the coming days. For us who cover the festival with a review or with images, the festival lives a bit longer while we’re editing the images and typing the text. So I guess as soon as this text ends it’s when Tons of Rock 2026 draws the curtains for me.
It was nice to watch the festival trying to fix the issues that arose the previous years and learn from their mistake. I guess it is nice that they try to expand and offer a variety of activities for the attending crowd. But I can’t stop feeling that it’s too much. yet, I’m already looking forward for the same 4 days madness in 2027 and given that the early bird tickets are already sold out by the time I write this, I guess a lot of people consider this event to be one of the highlights of their summer and they don’t want to miss it. Cheers and see you at Ekeberg in 2027 \m/