A Spot In The Sun

This year’s Spot Festival not only pulled more than 1,100 delegates, but also brought some warm sunshine to the Danish city of Århus.

Gunnar Madsen, who works for the Danish Rock Council and promotes Spot in cahoots with the country’s Music Export Office, gave up using the Århus City Hall car park as an outdoor venue two years ago because it was too cold to be outside.

Apart from the delegates, the festival part of the gathering – which stretches across about a dozen Århus venues – sold 3,700 tickets.

The event has a reputation for catching Scandinavian talent as it’s about to break, with previous editions featuring Sigur Rós (Iceland), The Raveonettes (Denmark), and Kaizer’s Orchestra (Norway).

Conference speakers included former MTV host and Reeperbahn Festival regular Ray Cokes, Musictank chairman Keith Harris, Daily Telegraph rock critic Neil McCormick, and Nordic Music Export programme director Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdóttir, Spot Festival was in Århus May 3-4.