Country Profile: Denmark

Not as happy as Finland but happier than everywhere else – the two make up a Scandinavian 1-2 in Gallup’s 2022 World Happiness Report – Denmark’s live scene is not significantly less vigorous than that of its neighbour Sweden, and the corporate interests ranged behind its promoters include some familiar faces.

DTD Group (formerly Beatbox) is the largest independent promoter in Denmark and is behind two of the country’s largest festivals, NorthSide and Tinderbox, as well as around 200 headline shows a year by predominantly international artists, among them George Ezra, Tame Impala, Sigur Rós, and Dermot Kennedy in autumn-spring 2022/23.

In 2019, DTD entered into an investment and partnership agreement with Superstruct Entertainment on undisclosed financial terms. The FKP-backed smash!bang!pow! had perhaps the biggest single smash hit of the year when it sold 100,000 tickets to Ed Sheeran’s four Copenhagen shows in around 100 minutes, with the remaining 60,000 disappearing in another 48 hours.

The FKP-backed smash!bang!pow! had perhaps the biggest single smash hit of the year when it sold 100,000 tickets to Ed Sheeran’s four Copenhagen shows in around 100 minutes, with the remaining 60,000 disappearing in another 48 hours.

FKP took a 25% stake in smash!bang!pow! in 2018. “We’re only four years in, and that is including a long period with Covid-19,” FKP CEO Folkert Koopmans told IQ in August. “Nonetheless, smash!bang!pow! have more than doubled their office, and they’ve broken the Danish ticket record by far.”

Live Nation Denmark has brought Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo, Swedish House Mafia, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, and Editors through Copenhagen in recent weeks and plans major business for 2023, with Depeche Mode, Blink-182, Louis Tomlinson, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams, Peter Gabriel, and Sting among the names on the horizon. Live Nation bought Danish booking agency and management company PDH Music in 2019, and Live Nation’s Luger opened a Danish office in Copenhagen in 2018, led by Sarah Sølvsteen.

Live Nation Denmark has brought Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo, Swedish House Mafia, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, and Editors through Copenhagen in recent weeks and plans major business for 2023, with Depeche Mode, Blink-182, Louis Tomlinson, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams, Peter Gabriel, and Sting among the names on the horizon.

ICO Concerts was one of the founding partners in Waterland Private Equity-backed All Things Live when the group launched in 2018, and All Things Live Denmark CEO Pernille Møller Pedersen hails 2022 as “a solid year,” with more still expected of 2023.

“We promoted some great shows in 2022, like Rammstein at Ceres Arena, which sold out at 35,000 capacity; sold-out comedy shows with Jeff Dunham and Gabriel Iglesias at Royal Arena; a record- breaking tour with Danish comedian Heino Hansen that sold 90,000 tickets; and we are ending the year with a sold-out show at Royal Arena with Blackpink,” says Pedersen.

“2023 is going to be a great year for us, with Rammstein coming back to play two shows in Odense (total cap 90,000), and we have shows on sale with Céline Dion, Sam Smith, Michael Bublé, and many more – it finally feels like the live music business is back.”

“2023 is going to be a great year for us, with Rammstein coming back to play two shows in Odense (total cap 90,000), and we have shows on sale with Céline Dion, Sam Smith, Michael Bublé, and many more – it finally feels like the live music business is back.”All Things Live has strengthened its roster with the signing of Copenhagen-based international management firm Then We Take The World (TWTTW), home to clients including Danish pop band Lukas Graham.

“I think we have a healthy competition here in Denmark, and we enjoy the competition,” says Pedersen. “It keeps us on our toes and forces us to be creative. I trust there is enough business for all of us. At All Things Live we are proud to be independent and with that we can offer artists, agents, and managers something that our competitors might not be able to.”

“I think we have a healthy competition here in Denmark, and we enjoy the competition,”

Other promoters include veteran operator CSB Island, which has promoter Simply Red, Jethro Tull, Slade, and James Blunt in recent years, and has Disney on Ice, Paul Potts, and ABBA and Dire Straits tributes this winter. Danish festivals bounced back with vigour this summer, with giants such as Roskilde, Smukfest, and Copenhell among those selling out months ahead.

Denmark’s second-largest festival, the 66,000-capacity Smukfest, is owned by 20,000 members, three-quarters of whom volunteer at the event each summer. Gorillaz, Kraftwerk, Kygo, Limp Bizkit, and Justin Bieber were among the 200 artists that performed at Smukfest between 31 July and 7 August in ’22.