Scorpio Beefs Up Northside

German promoter Folkert Koopmans and Danish partner Brian Nielsen have taken a step closer to establishing Northside as an international festival by booking such acts as Elbow, Suede, White Lies and Band Of Horses.

Koopmans, who produces or co-produces nearly a dozen German festivals and also has major events in Switzerland and Sweden, believes the Danish market can take another festival of 30,000-plus capacity.

He said he hopes Northside will be in that position over a number of years, although the lineup for the second edition suggests things are happening a little faster than that.

Last year’s Northside pulled 5,000 to a rain-soaked 8,000-capacity site at Tangkrogen. The bill was mostly Danish acts.

This year the festival is moving to a much larger site at Aadalen, a couple of miles from the centre of Århus, the country’s second-biggest city and home to its biggest university.

The site is parkland owned by the local authority, although the police occasionally use part of it for dog training. It also has the potential to stage festivals much bigger than the 20,000-capacity event Koopmans and Nielsen are planning for 2011.

The other acts on the Northside bill June 11-12 include Interpol, Crystal Castles, Thomas Dybdahl, The Streets, Tina Dickow, The Vaccines and Turboweekend.