Flatøy Rock is a

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

held on the island of

Flatøy Flatøy is an island in Alver Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in the district of Nordhordland, just north of the city of Bergen. The main village on the island is Krossneset on the southern part of the island. The nor ...

, in western

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It was started in a garden by Vegard Flatøy and his friends in the summer of 2008, while Flatøy's parents were on vacation in

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...

. In the beginning, the stages were self-roofed by a garden tent. In 2011, the festival had grown too big for the garden, so it moved to the islands closed elementary schools yard, where it could hold a bigger crowd. It expanded into a two-day festival in 2012. Flatøy Rock is based on the volunteer work of the inhabitants of Flatøy, although many of its guests come from the nearby

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Lindås Lindås is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the Nordhordland district in the old Hordaland county, Norway. It existed from 1838 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020 when it was merged into the new Alver Munici ...

Meland Meland is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the Nordhordland district in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1923 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020 when it was merged into the ne ...

and

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. Its philosophy has been to promote up-and-coming artists and acts which normally do not get big stage attention. Flatøy Rock also has a sub-festival for people under 18 years of age. In 2013 Flatøy Rock introduced the 18th century rebel and warlord

Jochum de Lange Jochum de Lange was the leader of ''Strilekrigen'', an 18th-century farmer's rebellion, in Bergen, Norway. He led several thousand men to protest against the high taxes which were imposed on the poor farmers and fishermen of Norway. Biography Joc ...

as the mascot and theme for the festival. This was done in an effort to raise awareness to the history and heritage of the people in

Nordhordland Nordhordland is a traditional district in the western part of Norway. The district consists of the northern portion of the old Hordaland county (now in Vestland county), north of the city of Bergen. It includes the municipalities Alver, Aus ...

. The line up featured acts like Krakow, The Scumbugs and Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatoy Rock Culture in Hordaland Rock festivals in Norway