Bieber Concert Prompts Town to Change Midterms

Say what you will about Justin Bieber's recent troubles, but he's still quite popular—popular enough to cause one entire town in Norway to change its school exam schedule. Alesund is about eight hours away from Oslo, but the school district still expects low attendance at five of its schools when Bieber plays in Oslo later this month. Midterm exams were originally scheduled around the same time as the concerts, so administrators decided to reschedule them a week earlier in order to avoid any conflicts, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"We considered that this was a battle that we could not win this time," one principal tells a local broadcaster; half of the girls at his school are expected to attend a Bieber concert. Bieber's Oslo show last year led to throngs of fans in the streets (and, the AP reports, dozens of injuries), and was one of the biggest recent musical performances in the country. But the Oslo schools commissioner disagrees with Alesund's decision. "I don’t think this helps to raise respect for the school," he says.