BeatDay 2009: Rated!

Valby Park, Copenhagen - 14-15 August

03 September 2009

Overall – 7/10

Three years in row now, Beatbox Booking presented Copenhagen with the two-day music festival, Beatday. This year the event was held in Valbyparken, a park in the south-west part of Copenhagen. The line-up held many prospects of a great festival.

Getting there - 9/10

Located in the south-west part of Copenhagen, getting to the festival site was either a short bike-ride from the city centre or an easy train ride. The station of Ny Ellebjerg is located a mere 10 minute walk from the festival site and trains leave every 10 minutes.
 
The festival site and services - 7/10

The site was large and scenic and could easily hold three times as many people as were present. With the shore as a natural barrier to the site, it was easy to last a whole day of concerts when you could sit on the beach in between shows. The selection of food was very limited though. A soup stand, a burger stand a crepe stand were the only options for a nutritious meal, and as the organic soup cost 45 dkk when a large stuffed crepe was priced at 50 dkk, the line was naturally way too large at the only reasonably priced food stand.
 
The atmosphere - 6/10

The festival was clearly marked by the high priced tickets. The outcome was very poor. This made for a duller atmosphere. Yet it also meant that it was impossible for anyone to not be close to the main stage. There were just not enough people that the crowd ever went beyond the sound tower. Past this point people would enjoy the music from their picnic sites on the grass. Bottom line, it had a cosy atmosphere.
 
Music

The Ting Tings - 5/10
The British duo The Ting Tings charmed the pants of the Danish crowd with quick phrases in the native tongue. Yet the musical charisma never quite reached the understanding of the audience. Despite having invaded the radio world with a couple of hits, The Ting Tings had too few memorable songs on their repertoire to get the party started.
 
Basement Jaxx - 9/10
The dance-fever that The Ting Tings did not manage to contaminate the crowd with, Basement Jaxx certainly managed to pass on. The British pioneers of dance music, got the party started from the moment they stepped on stage, in lavish sparkling costumes. Changing clothes, performers and line-up with nearly every song, there was not a dull moment on the stage or among the crowd.
 
Mew - 6/10
The Danish band Mew was set to release a long awaited album just days after the concert at Beatday, so the anticipation was great amongst the audience and fans present. The highly emotional content of Mews music shone through in a captivating concert, that unfortunately delivered nothing else than a musical flow.

Recycled images from previous tours dating over two years back, decorated the space behind the band that so confidently relied on their music to carry them through the performance. Hype and music alone is unfortunately not enough to deliver a memorable concert and thier performance at Beatday was less than that.
 
Florence and The Machine - 8/10
In the light of a cancellation from Jenny Lewis, Florence and The Machine was scheduled to play in her place. Some fortune may be cast upon this destiny, because Florence turned out to be a positive surprise. Florence sung her lungs through her chest, bringing soul through to the audience. The combination of her rough but sweet voice, and the raw sound of The Machine, delivered a surprisingly enthusiastic sound.
 
Band Of Horses - 7/10
American Band Of Horses were perhaps one of the most anticipated artists featured at this year’s Beatday festival. The indie-rock band also delivered a harmonic and satisfying musical experience. The sound of the band live was amazingly identical to their recorded sound, giving a strong sense of recognition amongst the audience. Being as it is, the concert also much resembled a session of lazing in your sofa listening to their album ‘Cease to Begin’, from which nearly all of the material presented in the concert stemmed.
 
Arctic Monkeys - 6/10
The young British rockers attended Beatday as the headlining name. Releasing a much anticipated album merely a week or so after the concert, the expectations were grand and some fans had loyally appeared. The young rockers delivered serious and ambitious new tracks and chatted the audience up in different Dansih phrases in between. Yet the new level of Artic Monkeys seemed perhaps a little too heave compared to what the audience had expected of the last concert of the festival. People had perhaps thought there would be a party, but the Monkeys were determined to boost with their newfound maturity and played one new and unknown wholesome rock song after the other. Unfortunate timing, it might be called.

By Tora Off. 

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