Tag: norway

Little Simz performing live in Oslo

Back when I lived in the UK, I went to a lot of concerts. Between knowing the assistant to the director of SJM Concerts and taking photographs for NME-rival magazine Artrocker, I would see myself guest listed for several concerts each week. Most of these were in Manchester, but quite often in Leeds, sometimes in Liverpool or other cities in the North West of England.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to see some of my most favourite bands play live (Blur, David Bowie, Los Campesinos!, Green Day, Tellison), often for free. And also to watch others that weren’t quite my go-to when I pick up a record, but have been great shows (The Darkness, Paramore, Limp Bizkit, Kanye West, Harry Styles). Shows that were just a bit odd, therefore brilliant maybe? (Daniel Johnston, Lord Mongo, Salty Lips) Or to be able to discover new, smaller artists before they get popular or disappear altogether (Jamie T, Tom Vek, Bromheads Jacket, The Old Romantic Killer Band, Cage the Elephant, Kings of Leon).

There are too many to mention or properly categorise.

Now that I’m old(er), live in Oslo and have a family to look after, I don’t really go out to as many live shows. This entire year, I only made it to 3 concerts and 1 festival; The Wombats, Harry Styles, Day 2 of Øyafestivalen and Little Simz.

I guess that’s okay, but I think in 2023 my intention will be to go to more.

Seeing artists play live can be a great experience. Some concerts are great to go to on your own, others with friends. My music taste is quite broad and it’s sometimes hard to find someone to go and so I don’t mind going on my own. That’s what I did for the Little Simz show.

I’d been in Manchester the entire week and only flown back earlier in the day, but made my way out into a cold and snowy Oslo, queuing alone outside the venue, Rockefeller Music Hall.

The spare ticket? I gave it away for free to two people looking to buy their way into the sold out show. My friend Ben described this as “the most Coxy thing I have heard this week”.

Since I wasn’t feeling super fresh and was quite tired after a 6am start to catch a plane – evident by the fact I got into the venue, bought a beer, but walked away from the bar before they served it – I decided to go up onto the balcony at the venue, where things are a little more sensible and reserved.

This meant that I was prone to grabbing my phone and taking photos + video of what was going on. I don’t usually do this but often see others doing it. I’ve become one of them. But now you get to witness some of what I witnessed:

Little Simz, in my opinion, put on a great show. I like her music anyway but wasn’t sure what to expect from a live performance. And she delivered.

From the music, to crowd banter and audience participation, the slow songs, the hard hitters, to bringing her cousin up on stage to give him credit for his part in all this, to the heartfelt thank yous to the tour crew – who were also handing out water to the crowd to keep the fans hydrated.

There was no faulting it.

Not too long before the show rolled around in the calendar, Little Simz dropped a new album called NO THANK YOU. On stage, she acknowledged that the tour was not for the new album, so there would be no new songs played tonight.

That said, after the official set had ended, the lights stayed down and NO THANK YOU started playing. Little Simz and her co-pilot for the evening came back out on stage and just started dancing as people were leaving the venue – with the remaining crowd just vibing for the next 10 minutes.

It was a proper party atmosphere. Nice.

Little Simz · 18.12.2022
Rockefeller Music Hall (Oslo, Norway)

22 December 2022
We bought an apartment 🏡
Today, my wife and I officially took the jump on to the housing market and agreed a deal with the existing owners of a nice little space in Rodeløkka, in central Oslo.

I’m so excited about the purchase and proud to have saved up the money for the apartment myself. Now it’s a case of counting down the days until the Vestengen-Cox family move in to our new 2-bedroom 100m² home.
22 September 2021
Merchandise
I recently added my little social network logo to Red Bubble – which means you can now buy a whole plethora of oslo.town merchandise.

oslo.town has recently topped 100 members and was never meant to be a big thing, so I’m quite happy with this. And, I’m not expecting to see people (other than myself) walking around the city wearing merch – but the option is there should you want to own some swag.
The oslo.town logo print t-shirts in various styles of cotton.
20% of all purchases go to running the site. The rest goes to production and distribution.

Red Bubble, almost laughably, will print on anything – so now you can pick up an oslo.town pin badge, iPhone case, backpack, wall clock, pillow and the classic t-shirt.
The oslo.town button badge in black and white.
3 June 2021
oslo.town
Previously, on this blog, I have mentioned Mastodon – the free and open source social network that is akin to Twitter. The more keen-eyed reader might have also noticed that my username on Mastodon was @lychee@mstdn.io

If you have never heard of Mastodon before and wonder how it’s different from Twitter or Facebook, then you can watch this short video:

Well, after spending some time playing around with what the social network has to offer, I decided to create my own community at oslo.town

My new username on Mastodon is @matt@oslo.town and whilst the website domain is clearly targeted to residents of Norway’s capital city of Oslo – anyone is welcome to join. Sign up to Mastodon today!

If you don’t want to sign up to oslo.town, maybe one of these other communities tickles your fancy:
And remember: you can sign up to any local community and still connect with the wider world. So, regardless of your Mastodon username, follow me:

@matt@oslo.town

Thanks.
6 December 2019
Birding at Østensjøvannet
When I’m not staring at a computer screen, I like to stare at other things. Whether it’s gazing out of the window into the garden, or across a pond – I love to watch birds.

Despite having lived in Oslo for quite a few years, it was only this past Autumn that I made my way to Østensjøvannet – a freshwater lake outside of the city.
Østensjøvannet is home to one of the richest population of ducks and birds in Norway. Surprising, considering the immediate surroundings have a strange suburbia vibe. The area has been “developed” into something that feels more like a man-made nature reserve as opposed to a natural occurrence.

As we strolled around the outside of the lake, I snapped some photos of the birds we saw. The most visible birds were all waterfowl, but we also encountered a woodpecker too.
This Spring, I aim to return to Østensjøvannet on a more regular basis – armed with some binoculars and a keen eye. Records show sightings of over 200 different species of birds in the area. Until I return, I can share photos that I took on this outing.

Do you like bird watching? What are your favourite birds?
11 February 2019