Travelling from the UK to Norway for a single gig might appear to border on the eccentric, but some nights justify a journey. As it turned out, a cold (for the English), mild (for the Norwegians) Friday in Lillestrøm – a town buzzing with anticipation ahead of the next day’s cup final – was absolutely the right place to be. Thomas & The Angry Hearts, already beloved as a local band, took to the stage in their home territory and delivered an evening of music that felt both celebratory and intimate, a party in full voice yet threaded with moments of startling emotional clarity. They may be from the other side of the North Sea, but they sing in English, and the warmth, storytelling and folk-rock sensibility they have cultivated made the whole evening feel immediately familiar.
Thomas & The Angry Hearts are Thomas Warhuus Ådland (vocals, acoustic guitar), Hilde Bergersen Ådland (keys, vocals), Nils Stian Aasheim (guitar), Stig Terje Inderberg (bass), and Leiv-Rune Gully (drums). All are outstanding musicians who are involved in multiple projects, but have come together for this band. Their eponymous debut album was released last year and is definitely one to check out.
It is worth saying now – without yet revealing too much – that I had spent two days with the band in the studio beforehand, a story I’ll tell in full elsewhere. But even keeping that experience to one side, it was immediately clear just how tightly woven these five musicians are. The affection and trust between them is powerful. On stage, what matters is the ease with which they move together: rhythmic instincts aligning, harmonies settling naturally, glances exchanged between songs and sometimes mid-phrase. It’s the chemistry of a group who live inside their music.
The evening opened with ‘Bits and Pieces’, greeted by ecstatic applause before a note was played. There was already clapping across the room as the first chords rang out, and the song’s joyful bounce set the tone immediately. It’s a track that thrives on energy and rhythm, and in Lillestrøm, it landed like a hometown anthem.
That sense of collective ownership deepened with ‘All Here Now’. A beautiful, chiming chord progression introduced the song before the crowd – many, seemingly word-perfect – joined in almost instinctively. This is a band that has quietly built a following that knows every chorus, every lift and fall and Thomas’s voice, warm and melodic, carried the room effortlessly. When the audience sang the break section back at the stage, the whole band joined in with harmonies that created a sense of communal joy: one of those shimmering moments where a live show becomes more than performance.
‘It’s You’ followed, continuing the anthemic run. If the band were tired after three days of close-quarters work in the studio, absolutely none of it showed; instead, there was a looseness and vibrancy that suggested the opposite – a group feeding creatively off one another.
The tempo softened into ‘No One But You’, a romantic number that let Thomas showcase the emotional richness of his voice. He has that rare combination: a tone that can be tender without losing presence, and a folk-rock phrasing that lifts familiar sentiments into something textured and real.
‘Until the End’ kept the romantic thread but shifted the spotlight to Hilde, whose lead vocal brought a delicate, shimmering sadness to the start of the song. The band rose together beautifully into the final crescendo, the melody blooming over Gully’s drums and Aasheim’s strings. Live, it was one of the real peaks of the set.
Then came something new: ‘What Went Wrong’, played even faster than the fresh studio recording. The introduction of Amelie Lied Haga on violin added a different kind of musical lift – thoughtful, emotive and rich. Haga is classically trained but has a folk intuition that is second to none. The crowd might not have known this song, but they will. It is a song of enormous power with the depth of the lyrics craftily hidden in a strong, up-tempo tune. Lines like the wonderfully romantic “It used to be thrilling, it used to be fun/I remember feeling drunk, just holding hands” are delivered in a way that the music has moved on before the emotion has hit you.
The Irish influences bubbled up next with ‘Carry You’. This was the closest the band came all evening to Pogues territory – a swirling folk-rock tune with lively harmonies and melodic interplay between guitar, bass and violin. It had the feel of a pub session pulled into a theatre and polished just enough to shine without losing its grin.
The pace dropped sharply with ‘Open Your Eyes’, one of the freshly recorded songs and a standout of the entire concert. Hilde’s voice, plaintive and clear, carried the weight of the song, accompanied by a mournful fiddle line from Haga. The lyric “No one looks better when you smile” offered a fragile moment of hope in an otherwise sorrowful piece, and the gentle piano fade-out was handled with real care. In a set marked by energy, this song dared to be quiet – and the audience absorbed it and so let it breathe.
Energy flooded back in with ‘Elinor’, another new number. Romance and momentum existed in equal measure, and again, the presence of violin transformed the arrangement, pushing it into the realm of Irish folk-rock with such ease that it felt like a classic already.
‘Lucky Man’ gave the rhythm section space to shine. Inderberg’s bass, Gully’s drums, and Aasheim’s guitar locked together in a way that felt natural and unforced, pulling the song into rockier territory than its recorded version suggests. The guitar solo was delivered with a freedom that suggested Aasheim was enjoying himself immensely, and the call-and-response with the crowd showed just how loudly the room was willing to sing.
The sound of americana was in full throttle on ‘Perfect Rules’, which was given a slightly breezier tempo live. Floating guitar lines and a harmonised chorus made this one of the most satisfying ensemble performances of the night.
A surprise cover of Green Day’s ‘Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)’ drew the audience back in for another singalong, handled without irony – just warmth and a little nostalgia.
And then came ‘Gold Tomorrow’, the perfect closing choice. With Lillestrøm set to play in the cup final the next day – and with many of the band donning the team’s gold shirts for this tune – the song resonated with a lovely sense of communal hope. The line, “We know the lights will shine on us tomorrow”, became a collective wish, sung loudly, proudly and all together. It was a touching end to a night that had felt rooted in place and community from the outset.
This was a homecoming show in every sense – a local band singing in English, drawing their neighbours into rhythms, stories and emotions that travel easily across borders. The crowd’s involvement, the pre-cup-final electricity in the air and the band’s effortless rapport all contributed to an evening of honest, heartfelt music-making. Thomas & The Angry Hearts have the rare ability to shift from celebratory folk-rock to melancholy balladry without ever losing their centre.
And while I’ll keep my reflections on their studio dynamic for another article, this much can be said already: the band are entering a fascinating creative moment. On stage in Lillestrøm, they opened that door just a little. The rest is yet to come.
