A Love Letter to Copenhagen
some words about my favourite city + music and venue reccomendations :)
Copenhagen might be my favourite city in the world. I live about an hour away, in Malmö, a Swedish city on the other side of the bridge that connects the countries. I was born in Copenhagen and my parents are from the surrounding areas. It’s the closest capital city to me and by far the place with the most vibrant live music scene.
The city itself is gorgeous. There are endless streets to wander around as well as great cafés, record stores, bookshops and countless flea markets. I love the pastries and the colourful houses. I always feel like a tourist and a local at the same time. The magic which I imagine tourists feel when they visit never seems to go away. The best thing is that my grandma's house is just a short walk away from my favourite music venue. This means that I always have a safe place to sleep after a concert, and we get to spend quality time together.
I have been to two concerts in January. They were my first since returning from backpacking around Europe. Concerts are a big part of how I feel connected to being Danish. There's something special about listening to music in your native language that hits closer to homw. I love the community aspect of having a place that I visit frequently. I can often recognise the same people at gigs and it’s sweet that we all seem to have similar music tastes. I wish I would talk to them more, especially since music is a great common ground to base a friendship on in my opinion.
On January 19th I saw an artist called iomfro. An artist that writes catchy indie pop songs about topics that are very relevant and important such as climate anxiety, relationships and family dynamics. She is a new addition to my music library and it was a lot of fun to see her live. The concert felt intimate and personal. It was sold out and there was a lot of good energy and excitement in the room.
On the 26th, I went to a talent showcase on Friday called Vegas Udvalgte where 5 upcoming acts had been chosen by the venue Vega. Discovering new talent on the music scene is something I’m super interested in and passionate about. I would love to work as a concert booker or talent scout. Discovering an artist early in their career and getting to follow their growth is special and I love to feel that I’m ahead of everyone else. Seeing the joy on peoples faces when they see an artist I’m obsessed with for the first time brings me joy. I love seeing the sparkle in their eyes and hearing what they have to say about the show afterwards.
I encourage you to look up similar events in your area. They are so fascinating and I have discovered a lot of good music through them. There is something about an artist being completely new and playing one of their first shows that is just so exciting and nerve-wracking in the best way. When everyone in the room is wondering if they’re going to end up being a big name in music or not and making their predictions.
If you live close by or come for a weekend and are interested in seeing some live music, you’ll easily be able to find something. I’d recommend looking up the venues which are listed below. You can also use Bandsintown, an app in which you put in your location and it shows you who is playing. Spotify also has a "concerts near you" function that you can try. Some venues to look up are:
Vega: This venue has three rooms and there are often three gigs playing on the same night. There is Ideal Bar, which is the smallest and also most affordable as well as Lille Vega, which means Small Vega, and Store Vega, which means Big Vega. I have seen countless concerts in this building, for example, Kehlani, Maggie Rogers and Caroline Polachek. Here is a photo of a Caroline Polachek from a year ago. Her show was absolutely incredible, if you want to know more I wrote about it in Albums That Defined My 2023: January - June.
Hotel Cecil: A smaller venue that also has a nice bar and a small record store attached. I have seen Stella Donelly and Holly Humberstone at Hotel Cecil. The artists that play here are generally slightly less well-known than the ones that play in Store Vega.
Loppen: A small venue in Freetown Christiania, a very famous place for it’s hippie community. I would assume you’ve heard about it. At Loppen I have seen Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy and Crawlers.
Pumpehuset: Another small venue that is an old waterworks building. I have seen The Aces and Lennon Stella there. Also, they often have free concerts outside on the weekend. There is an instagram account called @byhavencopenhagen where you can see who is playing.
KB Hallen: One of the biggest venues in Copenhagen. This is where I saw boygenius. Big Danish artists usually play here as well. I have seen Tessa and Jada at KB Hallen.
Royal Arena: The biggest venue for concerts. I have seen Ariana Grande, Halsey and Kendrick Lamar there.
I have made a playlist of danish music which I hope can function as an introduction if you don’t know any. It’s mostly pop, indie pop and indie rock because that’s what I listen to the most. And there is a variety of bigger and smaller artists as well as a variety of songs in danish and english. I hope you find some new songs to add to your music library <3