With the sun finally shining, the timing is right for festival season, and this weekend is serving up not just one, but three mini-festivals. But while the Tivoli Rock Festival and the Vesterbro Festival are focusing on up-and-coming acts, the Øresundsfestival’s featured performers, albeit mostly indie, are of the tried and tested variety. Just a train ride away in Malmö, they’ve assembled a great line-up and, with perfect weather forecast, there is no better way to kick off a summer of music!
The festival is bringing Malmö venues Babylon Kulturbolaget, St John Kyrka, Far i Hatten and People’s Park together for the first time. Over the duration of the two-day festival, audiences will be able to experience a diverse mix of the best Danish and Swedish artists in the region for an incredible price. And while the festival relies heavily on indie artists, with headliners like Denmark’s Kashmir and Iceage on board, it promises to be quite a party.
Headlining the Kulturbolaget stage on Friday, “Kashmir has distinguished itself as one of the most popular, critically acclaimed and award winning Danish rock bands over the past two decades,” claims the festival’s organisers. The group debuted in 1994 with the album Travelogue and has released seven studio albums since.
Also hailing from the Danish music scene are punk rockers Iceage. Described as “the only current punk band I can think of that sounds really dangerous” by legendary Iggy Pop, they are a true revival of the punk scene. Everyone from the New York Times to Pitchfork are celebrating the dark energy that defines these rockers and makes them one act you should not miss.
Slightly newer to the Danish music scene are electro-pop band When Saints Go Machine. Music news site Soundvenue describes the group as “riding the waves of synth, one loop warped around an analogue rhythmic crunch, while vocals shadow each other with the frontman’s appropriate level of abstraction”. Which sounds like another hearty recommendation to us.
“And suddenly you have a pop song that is instantly catchy, but also moving in a dreamy haze, which means that you never at one time can comprehend all the elements and meanings involved in their music,” it continues.
Also appearing at the festival are Danish acts Fallulah, Eclectic Moniker, Agnes Obel, MØ, Linkoban, Broke and Night Fever, and Swedish acts Big Fox, Chords, Completely Off, Looptroop Rockers, This is Head, Babian and Fastpoholmen.
Öresundsfestival
Various venues in Malmö; Fri & Sat 19:30-0:15; tickets 150-250kr; www.oresundsfestival.com
