Roskilde cometh (see our overview of all the outdoor music festivals this summer) and so does the July holiday – a period during which every day is like the one after the meteor ‘light-show’ at the start of The Day of the Triffids.

I first made that observation in 1996, when I was working in Canberra. I meant it despairingly then, as a 23-year-old frustrated by the lack of life in a capital city founded in 1913 (I shudder to imagine how dull the ongoing centenary celebrations probably are). Although it must be conceded that a kangaroo did enter my garden once, and this had led to many enjoyable arguments with Australians, who it transpired were nature experts, adamant that this (and the dingo killing that baby) could have never happened.  

But in a city like Copenhagen – granted, it’s a sleepy village compared to somewhere like London – it’s a pleasant respite, which tends to last from the start of July to the middle of August.  The odd essential business might rather annoyingly close down, but that is apparently the price you must pay for six weeks of serenity.

However, while in previous years this period has offered little for us to get excited about at InOut, this year sees a host of new events joining the well-established Jazz Festival (look out for our special supplement next week), Opera Festival (July 28-August 4 – also expect a supplement), and the Copenhagen Summer Festival (starts July 28), which offers 12 days of classical music in the heart of the city.

Time will tell whether Henry’s Dream (July 18-21) and Vanguard (August 3-5), both of which were previewed in our festival special, return in 2014. To be successful, they will need the support of a public (although there are the tourists, of course) who most urban event planners perceive to be uninterested in tearing themselves away from their summerhouses.

But this year, they will certainly inject a bit of much-needed life into our summer, and they might even keep the Triffids at bay.