By going here I guess you thought this could be interesting to read. I hope it will be, at least I've tried to give you an aspect of how the Quart Festival was this year. The memories you can read here are my personal reflections, based on a two day visit to the biggest festival in Norway. If it gets too personal and boring don't bother to nag me - it's just another article, my friend.

You can also check out the homepage of the Quart festival at http://quart.yahoo.no (in Norwegian, though).

This summer was the seventh one for Quart to be held, and it would be the first time I'd go there. Looking back now, it was probably also my last time...

Kristiansand is Norway's 5th largest city or so, with 60-70000 inhabitants. For five days in July this figure increases by perhaps 30000 young music lovers, and you're most likely to hear an Eastern accent rather than the local one on the streets.

Now, a little 'bit about a couple of these five days.

Musically, this year was kind of a revival, as they'd reinvented many previous visitors, like Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim and Blur. Other headliners were Garbage, Skunk Anansie, The Cardigans and -Basement Jaxx-. Yeah, BJ was one big reason for going (even knowing I'd have to write for the UF about it).

We (couple of my friends and myself) turned on the ignition and drove south on the 6th of July, and I crossed my fingers we'd be there in time for Basement Jaxx's club-concert. We arrived in time, yeah, but what a ticket line! The place could take maybe 800 persons, and with a recent hit like "Red Alert" there was real danger it'd be sold out. We could only get in line and I crossed my fingers again. And then, after some 20 minutes the message that it was all sold-out was cried out, and we had missed a big event. Poop.

So we headed to our lair for the night. I had made arrangements with a friend of mine who's living down there, so we could stay at his and his girlie's place. The only problem was finding their place - a quest by itself. Well, eventually we located it and could lay our heads down for the night, disappointingly without a Basement Jaxx experience. Bummer.

The sun reflected upon the city as it rose, and you know that helps quite a bit. We all went to the store, bought some breakfast ingredients and had a picnic out in the blue. Our host worked for the organizers as a "band-contact", and he was assigned to taking care of some visiting bands. Well, believe it or not, he had to deal with none other than Massive Attack! No surprise though as he'd been their contact the last time as well, and even visited them backstage when they did Oslo, so he kind of knew them. He gave us a couple of inside stories, like how Horace Andy sometimes seems to be caught up in his own world, and how the others looked at him like a sort of father figure.

There was a rumor going on in the press that Mushroom had quit. He hadn't been with them on the latest concerts. Our friend asked them about it, but they wouldn't say anything, as if it still was somewhat uncertain. He'd allegedly been offered a contract for a solo-project, but 3D or any of the others wouldn't confirm anything.

Time went by and we finished our little picnic. We figured we'd better get off our butts and up on our feet so we wouldn't experience any trouble getting tickets for today's events. So we left our place and headed downtown... no more than a 5 min. car-ride. Then there was only a little walk to the festival area, which was right outside the center of the city, on a small island. Well, in fact the whole city centre together with the island could be referred to as the festival-area. See, the concept of Quart is a 'bit different from other similar arrangements I know. From 1-11 pm the outdoor concerts are held on the island setup, which then closes and is succeeded by the club-concerts arranged in different clubs and discos down in the centre of the city. The camping-area is also separated, both physically (located in the other side of town) and economically.

Subsequently, this makes three sources of income for the organizers, although the first one's 'huge' enough already. Smart huh? "In an expensive country like Norway, who will notice?" Is that a possible thought they've had? I don't know, but I'd say it's a f*ck*ng greedy way of thinking, no matter what. In my opinion the organizers are not different from a bunch of bloodsucking bloody motherfrikkin' bloodhounds. It pisses me off! Not just that, but they also increased the price of beer by 1/3 from last years event. Imagine those poor Danes and Germans...

(Have you noticed how each paragraph seems to slightly increase in length? Hmm, I'll better try stop that tendency...)

Okay, where were we? Ah, the insulting prices! That's also why I couldn't stay there for any longer than a couple of days. Having two more months of summer to fill with entertainment and fun, I wasn't ready to l leave everything with the bloodhound gang!

OK, so we came downtown to buy tickets for the day. If you didn't purchase a festival-pass you could get a ticket for each day which allowed you access to the island. As I said, the club concerts were in addition! After paying $60 for the island and one club, we were finally ready to check out some music. The island had two stages which showed concerts in intervals, avoiding bands you'd like to see to crash. The first bands on stage were usually Norwegian/local bands, and this particular day the first band happened to be a black metal band, so we didn't stay there for all that long, even though one of the singers was an ex-stripper and Miss Something. Instead we got some beer plus some food and went back to our base.

Sometimes when you're cozy with a beer in your hand (and some inside), you don't wanna move out of the sofa, other than to get another beer. And if you're lucky camper, one of your friends finishes his and will go to the refrigerator to get you one as well. This was the situation as we were satisfied to the fullest after a good pizza meal, and we slowly started to get our groove going. We were watching the clock pass one band, and then the other, just sinking deeper into the groove. Not that we weren't listening to some good music! This local band Nud really impressed me with some clever texts and arrangements, as well as additional DNB programmed beats, but mostly the rhythms were soothing trip-hop beats (if I recollect correctly). I certainly hope and believe I'll hear more from them. In that case I'll try notify this Web sites devoted readers.

It started to get late, and it was time to get into the action downtown. What was a five minutes car drive earlier turned out to be a rather extended jaywalk, but at least we got there in time to see Skunk Anansie. As they came on, maybe 5-6000 had showed up to see Skin explode several times. Hopping around, screaming out, giving everything. I'm sure she can lighten up the dullest crowd - she's just an incredible character on stage!

But the beer supply was not right there in front of the stage, so we had to turn away for a second because the stands were all the way back, infringed - meaning you were not allowed to enjoy alcohol outside this area. That sucked 'coz it was far behind a gigantic mixing-tower, and no big screen attached to it!

Next up at this particular stage we were now was no other than the infamous rocky horror boy named Marilyn Manson. That's correct, and you're right if you suggest we saw alot of "Manson-babes" that evening (you know that goth make-up hype... without crediting Manson for inventing that of course). I had to go in order to catch the club-concert I bought a ticket to, so I didn't see much of his show, but I saw a picture in the paper next morning showing Manson with the microphone up his ass. Couldn't help but thinking that this is actually where his lyrics come from...

My ticket was for the club staging Norwegian DJ and musician Erot (featuring on "FBU: Recollections in rare altitude" previously reviewed), a guy called Pure Science (unfortunately it wasn't Gerald), and Plastikman. I thought I'd get to see Erot perform his own stuff, 'coz what I've heard is oh so beautiful synthsolokinda house music, so I ran all the way from the island downtown in fear of missing anything.

When I came there, I was surprised to see just a handful of people gathering before the entrance. "Hmm, how can people miss this?" I thought. Well, it appeared Erot wasn't performing but DJing. Maybe he doesn't have a full set yet, I dunno, but it didn't matter at all, because he started spinning a tasty selection of swingin' house just as tasty as his own productions. I walked about a little while waiting for one of my friends to show up. Still no more people seemed to pop thru the doors, and it also hit me that no one was dancing either. "How ridiculous.. poor DJ" I said to myself. My friend showed up and we hit the floor as the first ones. Dunno, if someone thought of us as ridiculous, maybe - I'm not a good dancer, but after a little while a girl joined in, and soon a couple of other guys. Perhaps they now envied the brave pioneers? Anyway, it didn't really take off 'coz there were not a whole lot of people in this place.

Erot didn't play for more than an hour before there was a break and Pure Science would come on. I saw Erot taking some refreshments in the bar, and took the opportunity to make contact. He was open and honest, although I can only remember fragments of our conversation now. All I know is that I didn't ask the questions that popped into mind the next day. However, I got to take a photo of him to show you all, so it wasn't for nothing.

The rest of the night was just dancing. By the time Plastikman was into his set, playing a more techno-ish set than usually I was told, more people had found their way to the clubs and to the dancefloors. As closing time approached 4 am (clubs were 11pm-4am), we figured we should roam the streets a 'bit before going all the way back to base. I don't know how long it took us but it felt like a really, really long time, and our feet hurt all the way because of the dancing. In other words, lying down made us feel like being in paradise. Unfortunately, we were locked out by accident and didn't have a key to the building, so we slept outside. The lovely image image of paradise faded away...

Now that I've explained how the first day was like, I don't really have to go in detail on the second one. We did some other things though, like taking the bus for a change, staying downtown for a little longer and so on. The sun was shining all the time throughout the festival, which kind of justified being there despite the high prices. Festivals aren't just music and beer either, and there were some things you got for free (other than stuff from the sponsors). You're always free to throw a glance at pretty chicks (and vice versa), it costs nothing for the sights, you can jump in the sea or just hang out at some places with your friends. One of the most popular and coolest radio shows in Norway in the recent years closed down with three live sets, demanding no admission. That we got to see a show before we went was great. They did the most crazy stuff, making drinks out of shrimp, milk, soda, cream, sanasol (all in one drink) and actually drinking it, dressing persons with a wet suit and pumping them full of air to play volleyball with them, biting off ones mustache with another's teeth, and the list goes on. Imagine they made 700 radio shows like this...

The best musical experience we had was without a doubt the Massive Attack concert that night. We were there early to secure a spot with a good view and distance to the stage. I didn't care about anymore beer as long as we could see Attack. The place was packed as the hours were closing up. The band came on stage, followed by Horace Andy, and they opened with "Angel" from the latest album. They continued with another song before 3D and Daddy G entered the podium, and the crowd responded accordingly. The set lasted appr. for an hour and a half, and they didn't leave without performing "Unfinished Sympathy" (of course!!!), with the wonderful voice of Deborah "Debs" Wilson.

It was a magical evening, and we left Kristiansand on a high.

Per Arne
October 1999