‘Smukfest’ Drinks To Success

Rain on the first night was too much for some of the notoriously hardy Skanderborg crowd, but the weather picked up over the next three days and everyone seems to have started drinking to another sellout success.

Festival press officer Poul Martin Bonde said the wet start would have sent more of the one-day ticket holders home if it weren’t for the rousing efforts of Franz Ferdinand.

But it still dampened things and it showed at the food and beverage stands, with first-day takings 500,000 Danish kroner (about $100,000) down on 2007.

Food and beverage sales are one of the most reliable barometers of measuring the overall success of the event.

This year’s version of what’s also known as Smukfest, or “happy and beautiful fest,” turned out to be extremely happy despite the slow start, as the tills ended up taking 3 million kroner ($600,000) more than last year.

The final figures weren’t available at press time but it seems the 30,000-plus crowd at the forest festival supped more than the 36,000 gallons of beer and consumed more spirits than in 2007.

Vodka and fresh orange juice is a big Skanderborg favourite. Last year’s gathering got through 50 tons of oranges.

The lineup entertaining the very merry crowd August 6-10 included such international acts as Kaiser Chiefs, Lenny Kravtiz, Katie Melua and top Danish talent led by Kashmir, Johnny Madsen, TV-2 and Spleen United.