Luger expands into Norway

Swedish concert promoter and festival organiser Luger is expanding into Norway, opening an office in Oslo to strengthen its presence in the Scandinavian market.

Luger now operates in three Scandinavian markets, adding to its Swedish headquarters and its Danish office, which opened in Copenhagen in 2018, led by Sarah Sølvsteen.

The expansion into Norway follows the bolstering of a fellow European promoter’s presence in the country last month, with FKP Scorpio’s acquisition of a majority stake in booking agency Nordic Live.

Luger’s new Norwegian office will be headed up by Torgeir Gullaksen, a veteran promoter with over 20 years’ experience putting on shows and events in the country. Gullaksen joined Gunnar Eide Concerts (now Live Nation Norway) in the late 90s, founding his own promotions company, Goldstar (now FKP Scorpio Norway), in 2005.

The Luger Norway head has worked with acts including Arctic Monkeys, Queens Of The Stone Age, Radiohead, Rival Sons, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, Ben Howard, Arcade fire, Belle & Sebastian and Michael Kiwanuka.

“My aim is to firmly establish Luger as a strong brand in Norway”

“I’m delighted to be joining the Luger family and look forward to working close with Ola and the rest of the team,” comments Gullaksen. “Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Luger on both international and domestic acts and consider them the best in class in developing new talent over here.

“My aim is to firmly establish Luger as a strong brand in Norway and continue working with the acts I already have existing relations with, as well as become the natural promoter for emerging acts in Norway.”

Luger Sweden MD Ola Broquist adds that Gullaksen is “a great person, a great promoter and a music lover – the ultimate combination.”

Luger is one of the Nordic’s leading promoters, as well as acting as an agency and tour producer for Swedish artists. The company promotes over 300 a year, in addition to festivals including Way Out West, Åre Sessions and – together with C3 and Live Nation Sweden – Lollapalooza Stockholm.

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Goldstar to become FKP Scorpio Norway

FKP Scorpio will ring in the new year with a new office in Norway.

The Oslo office, the German-headquartered promoter’s first in Norway, will be run by Goldstar founder Torgeir Gullaksen, who becomes executive director of the new FKP Scorpio Norge. All employees of Goldstar – a national promoter which has organised Norwegian shows by Radiohead, Biffy Clyro, Arctic Monkeys, The xx, Arcade Fire and Queens of the Stone Age – also join FKP.

Excluding sparsely populated Iceland, Norway is the last of the Nordic countries where FKP Scorpio does not have a market presence, with the new office joining local operations in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, as well as Austria, the Netherlands and its Hamburg HQ.

FKP Scorpio Norge officially launches on 1 January 2018.

“For many years Goldstar has been putting on quality shows around Norway, but of course we’ve noticed that it’s harder and harder to be small and independent,” comments Gullaksen.

“In FKP Scorpio we have found a partner who is a big player but has kept its indie mentality”

“In FKP Scorpio we have found a partner who is a big player but has kept its indie mentality over all those years. So, we’re very happy to be able to continue doing what we love and do best, but now as part of a large European company with similar values to our own.”

FKP founder and CEO Folkert Koopmans adds: “Norway is a fantastic country with a very vivid live music scene. Since Torgeir and his team have been reliable partners for us over many years, it feels like the natural next step to establish FKP Scorpio Norge together.

“We share the belief that professionalism and trustworthiness build strong relationships – with artists, fans, managers, venues and everyone we work with.”

FKP has since last June been majority owned by CTS Eventim.

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