Kåre Virud Band
We at the Notodden Blues Festival continue to celebrate Kåre Virud and his impressive career. During last year's festival there was a lot of excitement and a fight for the tickets for the concert where Kåre Virud reunited Telemark Blueslag, on New Year's Eve Virud turned 80 and now we can launch a very rare concert with the fantastic Kåre Virud Band for this year's festival.
A dream is thus coming true for us as organisers. It is now several years since Kåre Virud Band last stood on stage together. There is therefore wild jubilation with us that we have been able to organize this concert, and that it will be in perfect surroundings in Myrens Dam just makes it extra grand. We want to give our audience great and memorable experiences. This will definitely be one of them. When it is also in a double concert with Reidar Larsen, it will be complete for us. It doesn't get any more Notodden Blues Festival than that.
We don't know which songs Kåre Virud will choose for this concert, but there are enough classics to choose from; "Storgata", "Ild og Vann", "Dama Mi", "Ikke je", "Blind Lemon", "Uflaks", and all the other well-known and beloved Kåre songs. There is guaranteed to be a great atmosphere in beautiful Myrens Dam. Maybe he even plays "Just Wanted to See Your Town"?
Kåre Virud a pioneering artist when it comes to singing blues in Norwegian. One of his first appearances as a musician was with the local rock band The Tornadoes in the Notodden theater in 1962. In an interview in connection with his own 60th birthday in 2003, he said that he discovered the blues genre in Copenhagen in 1964, and started what was probably Norway's first blues band in a bomb shelter at Notodden in 1965.
Kåre Virud made his record debut with Barbeinte Engel in 1974. Since then there have been many record releases. All in Norwegian language dress. His lyrics often have a local touch, which has meant that he enjoys enormous respect in his home town of Notodden, but the lyrics are nevertheless written in such a way that they have a general national meaning. Audiences all over Norway have pressed Kåre Virud to their chests, and he is more recognized and popular than ever.
Kåre Virud Band consists of Kåre Virud (vocals, guitar), Espen Fjelle (keyboards), Tore Wildauer (drums) and Bård Slagsvold (bass, vocals).