I am the first to agree that Denmark was an
odd choice for a weekend trip away but once I explain to you why we went
hopefully you too will consider going here as it is such an inspiring place. A
friend of mine back home set off for South America and Europe about 18 months
ago, met a Danish girl and ended up living in Denmark with her. The time has
come for him to return to Australia and we decided to meet up just before he
went home and before deciding who would fly to who he told us about this free
street festival that goes for 4 days called Distortion. We were there.
Much of what I am going to explain to you
may seem a bit plain or simple yet it is only once you see it all in context
and experience the atmosphere you are bewildered by it and instantly become
jealous that you know you would never have such a cool experience like this
back home as it is not possible for so many reasons. We arrived on the
Wednesday and instantly heard about the events of the previous day. The
coordinators of this event announced 2 hours in advance that they would hold a
rave on one of the trains… you had 2 hours to get to that train line or 2 hours
to get as far as away as possible SPEWING!
We went
and met up with Aidan and walked to where the madness was about to begin. Each
night the festival moved to a different part of Copenhagen and tonight it was
only a 15-minute walk from us. Instantly as we walked there we saw a hell of a
lot of people on bikes and soon discovered that Denmark has ‘gone green’ and
driving cars is not cool so everyone rides bikes and just leaves them there,
not chained up so its almost an unwritten law to have a shit bike as it is
bound to be stolen at least once. Why am I going on about bikes? Well it gets
better, people ride around with bikes that have a front compartment and for
this festival (and mostly in the Summer) these compartments where filled with
massive subwoofers or sound systems so it looked so weird seeing all these
portable DJ’s.
As Denmark
is pretty expensive (1 beer can is about 8 pound) we did as the Danish do and
brought out alcohol from the convenience stores and drank in the street. Once
we got to the party we saw people dressed up (and may I say they go all out
when they dress up) walking the streets and giving people stickers, glitter,
balloons and kisses or hugs. Next we looked up and in the apartments above; on
just about every second corner there was some window open with the person’s
sound system blaring onto the streets and people on the streets dancing and
moving along. We witnessed a proper dance-off being set up within minutes and
everyone simply enjoying it. We moved further in to the set-up stage and within
a few hours the place was soo packed you couldn’t move. People were on top of
buildings, statues, bringing in ladders to stand on; jumping on to the stage,
cars and whatever else they could find to elevate themselves. Where were the
police? Nowhere. This was the craziest and most controlled environment I had
ever seen. People were absolutely blind and a few clearly on drugs but there
was not a single fight, push or shove. Everyone was so peaceful and focused on
just enjoying them selves, it was incredible and definitely not something you
would see in Australia! We took it all in and submerged ourselves into the
surroundings for the night. Sadly, the next day we woke up with the biggest
hangovers, looked outside at the rain and stayed in bed all night until the street
festival was to begin again (it only formally went from 4pm-10pm each night).
This time
the party was in the ghetto, about 3km from us…and in the rain! We arrived and
met up with Aidan and Kristiana we had a few drinks at a small bar to keep dry
then once the rain cleared explored the two set-up stages. As well as music and
fat beats they lit flares and shot confetti into the crowd sporadically
throughout the night. The craziness continued and once it was finally all over
we sort for shelter and food before bed. Kebabs seem to be a worldwide drunk
food choice but we went for a burger and chips, which really hit the spot.
For the
final night you had to buy tickets to the party, which was located on a semi
island/cargo area/warehouse and cost 350kr (about 60 pound). Steep for the
Danish but not for us. We had to go to the hippie town to by tickets then get a
free shuttle bus which Aidan and I got on but Toma missed so she had to stay
with a few friends from Aidan’s work and we soon were reunited. We walked in
extremely excited, got drinks and had our face painted. Poor Aidan asked for
Batman and ended up looking more like a gay fairy. Nevertheless, we made our
way to the ‘3-minute rave’, which boasted water, a helicopter, a bus and strobe
lights (or something like that). This was the only disappointing thing but we
could have thought ahead and realised that the combination they promised doesn’t
quite work out. It began just after 9pm and a bus full of strobe lights was
lifted near the water by a crane and a helicopter just flew in, waved then flew
back away. A bit of an anti-climax but we laughed it off and enjoyed the
moment, wandering between stages and running into people they all knew so by
the end we had a quite a decent sized crew, making it a lot more enjoyable.
When we
finally decided to leave we soon realised just how hard it was going to be to
get home as everyone was racing to get on the shuttle buses. We made the inevitable
choice to walk it off for an hour to where we got the shuttle and then get the
metro home but not before we stopped at Maccas and ordered a feast wayyy to big
for the three of us. By the time we walked out at about 4am it was so bright,
making us think they should have had the breakfast menu out.
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