Tons Of Rock – the Breakdown (days 1 and 2)

Over the last few years, Norwegian rock and metal festival Tons of Rock has been getting more and more popular, with visitors from all over the world attending the Ekeberg site for four days of nordic music celebration. With performances ranging from pop-punk to black metal, festival first appearances and legendary bands playing their final shows, this year’s festival has been probably the biggest and most diverse in terms of attendance and bands taking to the stage.

I took to Oslo to see it for myself and had the great pleasure of being part of the media team for this year’s festivities.

With Oslo as its backdrop, Tons of Rock takes place in the Ekeberg park, a short ride from city centre, which is very well administered by the festival, with very frequent shuttles and transport options, especially as the festival seems to be mainly attended by day ticket holders.

Smaller in size when compared to the likes of Download, Hellfest, or Rock Im festivals in Germany, it manages to pull the same headliners currently running the Summer circuit, with this year seeing Bring Me The Horizon, Iron Maiden, Joan Jett and The Black Hearts (as a last minute replacement for Yungblud after having to withdraw for health reasons) and Limp Bizkit.

Whilst the headlines on the main stage (Scream) are some of the more commercial ones nowadays, the festival does not forget it’s roots and core nordic audience. Alice Cooper, Mayhem, Possessed and A Perfect Circle are just some of the mains that headline the second stage (Vampire) and the tent stage (Moonlight), which has been redesigned for this year, a wider stage, bigger overall, and swapped places with Vampire, which makes travel between stages easier.

A new addition sees the Swamp, an area dedicated fully to art, tattooist, a skate park and a small stage sitting on top of a shipping container, where secrets sets are to be played at frequent intervals throughout the festival.

Wednesday

The first day at a new festival can always feel a bit daunting. From getting your wristband, to going through checks, understanding the site and scale, nerves can be high on alert. This was not the case with ToR. Check in is smooth and friendly, security is warm and approachable, and everyone’s English is probably better than that of some of native speakers.

One of the first things I did notice is how well ran the festival actually is. Ample seating spaces whilst not allowing the dreaded camping chairs in the arena grounds, a layout veryeasy to follow, multiple water points (even though they did struggle in the scorching heat, but the issue was remedied instantly), a medical tent providing sun screen and help when needed and various other little things.

Black Debbath have pretty much become a traditional opener for the festival on the Scream stage. Providing a blend of Nordic stoicism with well placed humour, playing with the crowd, chanting, bringing on a choir, motorbikes, and possibly some other props, they do feel like the perfect opener for a truly nordic festival.

The Vampire stage is opened by thrash legends Cavalera Conspiracy, formed by brothers Max and Iggor Cavalera (founders of Sepultura, who will be seeing later in the week!), they are set to play their most influential album in full, “Chaos A.D”, however due to a power cut in the wider Oslo area which aﬀected the festival site, their set is unfortunately cut short.

In Moonlight, the ever elusive President made their rally debut to a roaring crowd as well. We did not manage to photograph the set, but it looked as strong as ever.

Trivium take the main stage by storm, having been on one of the strongest festival runs the band has ever put on, their heavy riﬀs and larger than life personalities shine bright in the Oslo sun. With a considerable amount of pyro blazing from all corners of the stage from the start of “Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr” to crowd chants and an a sea of surfers lasting all the way through the ringing notes of “In Waves” they showcase once again that they are one of heavy metal’s strongest live bands, and that their blends of heavy, metalcore and melodeath are incredibly well received by all listeners of the genres.

Back on Vampire, Babymetal’s curse when it comes to European festivals seems to continue at ToR. Due to the earlier power cut, the set gets delayed but approximately 45 minutes. The tech teams recover quickly and they are fortunately able to cary on, putting on their ever so tight performances to the crowd who has not wavered at all in spite of the tech issues. They play through all of their hit songs, from “from me to u” to “RATATATA” and “Gimme Chocolate”

Thursday

Thursday comes with a packed schedule and a superb mix of festival newcomers and established scene legends alike.

Norwegian Audrey Horne open up the Vampire stage with such an infection energy radiating from singer Torkjell “Toschie” Rød that it’s hard to stay still. Always interacting with the crowd, in high spirits and putting on a flawless performance, you can hear the Maiden and Mötley Crüe influences through their set.

Apocalyptica have always been widely celebrated in both Finnish metal circles as well as gaining world wide popularity with their cello cover of Metallica’s greatest hits all the way back to the 90s, they still stand strong as one of metal’s most unique groups, blending the classic cello with electronic beats. Their set on the Scream stage is atribute to Metallica, playing their most famous covers of the band who’s endorsement has skyrocketed them to fame over 30 years ago.

Back on Vampire, Swedish Imminence are making their Tons of Rock debut. The band has been on consistent rise over the last few years. Coming straight oﬀ of the Australian leg of the Violent Nature tour with I Prevail where Imminence have been a main support, with new music and having just been signed to Sumerian Records, their set was one not to miss.

Ever so theatrical, but executed flawlessly, with the cathedral themed set design and sharp elegance, they ran through their biggest songs, from “Temptation”, the heavy and dark “Heaven Shall Burn”, newly release “The Sword That Never Bends” and ending on their most popular track, “The Black” proving once again that their signature blend of classical violin and metalcore darkness as a perfect fit.

Unfortunately this was the only brutal clash for the week for me, as at the same time Canadian grandson was playing in the Moonlight stage. I have managed to catch a bit of the set and can clearly say that he is beloved in all corners of the world. I also got to see probably the biggest moshpit of the week during Blood//Water, the song that rose him to fame back in 2018.

Grandson has since moved away from the techno sound in most part, however he stayed true to his messages on politics, equality, dystopia and pretty much everything that’s wrong with the world. There’s hardly any artist that’s quite as relevant in the current climate as grandson in. Highly recommend going to a show, and listening to his latest album “INERTIA”.

Next band on the main stage famous sleaze and cowpunk D-A-D. Originally called

Disneyland After Dark, abbreviating after a lawsuit threat from the big mouse himself and to ensure that they can obtain record deals worldwide, they are still one of Denmarks most influential bands. Since the 80s the soulful vocals of Jasper Binzer combined with the eccentric Stig Pedersen on bass, famously known for his double string bass custom builds and extravagant outfits, they have won over arenas all over the world. Their return to ToR has been a successful one, with one downside being a very crowded set design at the start which made it quite hard to follow the band.

Next up, Suicidal Tendencies, largely seen as the grandfathers of skate punk, starting as a hardcore punk blend band in 1981 and shifting to thrash in their second album, they brought their infections energy to ToR. Mike Muir, the only remaining founding member, gave everything on the stage. And you can’t talk about Muir without talking about his unique singing/spoken word blend of hardcore, which looks almost frenzied at times but it’s extremely well controlled. Starting with chuggy riﬀs on “You Can’t Bring Me Down” and demolishing the stage on “Possessed to Skate” they run through a wide arrangement of their music, all cut in between with Muir’s humour which seems to especially land with the Norwegian crowd.

Where D-A-D and Suicidal Tendencies played on eccentricity to win the crowd, thrash East Coast representatives Anthrax are a little more by the book. There’s nothing particularly grand or theatrical about their set, and after four decades of carrying the genre alongside Megadeth and Slayer, they don’t really need any flourishes to stand out. They run through classics “Caught In A Mosh” and “Indians” from 87’s “Among the Living”, some of their famous covers for “Antisocial” (by Trust), even opening their set with The Blues Brothers cover of “I Can’t Turn You Loose”. They also play “It’s for the Kids” from their upcoming album Curium Perficio due to bereleased September 18th.

Finally, we’re ending the day on Swiss beatdowns coming from Paleface Swiss who, for the first time playing in Norway, are headlining the Moonlight stage. Having exploded in popularity over the last couple of years, they bring their crushing deathcore and nu-metal mix alongside newly released power ballad “Everything is Fine” from The Wilted, released January 2026. The band has been running their most successful festival season in their career, and even as Tons of Rock is near the end of their run, the energy is unmatched. They play through staples “Hatred”, “Nail to the Tooth”, “Let Me Sleep” before ending on “Please End Me” and throughout the whole thing Marc “Zelli” Zellweger has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The tent set is a spectacle of pyro, heavy moshing, aggressively addictive energy and a conveyor band of crowd surfers.