Commemoration concert at Rådhusplassen

One year has past since the tragic happenings of July 22nd 2011, that is the bombing in Oslo and the shooting on the island of Utøya.
In memory of the many victims a free commemmoration concert was held yesterday at Rådhusplassen.
Already the previous days when passing there on my way to/from work it looked like it was going to be a big thing as they set up a huge stage for days.

Artists had been rehearsing since Saturday.

Then on Sunday, the big concert. Start was at 8 p.m. I had met up with some friends and colleagues at around 6:30 p.m. Unfortunately it was raining the whole evening. Nevertheless, the Rådhusplassen was full. I heard there had been over 50.000 people attending the concert.

The artists performing were mainly very famous Norwegian/Scandinavian singers - with one exception: Bruce Springsteen :-)
He is currently on tour in Scandinavia, with a concert on Saturday 21st in Oslo and Monday 23rd in Bergen. I was already wondering why he wouldn't come for this concert on his "day off" between Oslo and Bergen. And well, then he got announced as a surprise guest :-)
Veeeeeery very nice to see him perform live! Click here to watch the video of his performance "Shall we overcome".

There was also Mari Boine which I thought was really great to see/listen to live. Mari Boine is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the traditional "yoiks" of her native people. Having grown up under suppression of the Sami minority she stands up for the recognition of the Sami culture and rights. Most of her songs are actually in Sami language - like the song she performed yesterday "Jierrat Biekkas" (which means translated "Why?" - why this tragedy?).
Click here to see the video.

Among the other artits were:

Laleh, Bjørn Eidsvåg, deLillos, Karpe Diem, Lillebjørn Nilsen, Marit Larsen and more.

After the concert I walked straight back home, since I just live around the corner of Rådhusplassen. That's also why in the street right infront of my appartment there was this huge queue of coaches parked to collect all the people after the concert.

Despite the rain, a great, touching concert!