Day 20: Copenhagen
Welcome
Yesterday we played our first ever headline show in Copenhagen, Denmark.
We had a big travel day ahead of us, so we all rose early and fought our way into the hotel restaurant which was swarming with high school children gearing up for their big day in Berlin. I served myself a plate of bread, salami, cucumber, cheese, and an egg.
Our 440km journey started off with a slow Northerly crawl through Berlin’s sprawling neighbourhoods which were busy with rush hour traffic. Soon we struck Bundesautobahn 24 which took us Northwest towards Hamburg for an hour until we diverted North to Rostock on Bundesautobahn 19. We made it just in time for our ferry check-in and the boarding process was miraculously swift compared to some of our other experiences this tour.
Our vessel was the hybrid ferry M/V Berlin, a roll-on/roll-off design, 180 metres bow to stern with a beam of 25 metres, and powered by a hybrid powerplant generating close to 15000kW. The ride was smooth and comfortable and took us right across the entrance to the Baltic Sea. Within two hours we had covered the 48 kilometres (26 nautical miles for those who like to imagine their distances in a maritime mindset) between Rostock and Gedser, the Southernmost point of Denmark.
On the way out of Rostock Harbour.
We disembarked and were soon heading inland through the many farms and small settlements of the island of Falster. At the Northern tip of the island we reached Storstrømmen, the great strait that separates Falster from the island of Zealand, the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper. The Farø Bridges connect the two islands and these bridges we crossed with great enthusiasm, admiring the impressive cable-stayed design of the Southern bridge and marvelling at its 1,726 metre length and 290 metre main span.
Astride the Southern Farø bridge.
From there it was a pleasant drive along European Route 47 to get to Copenhagen and our venue, located in København V, now more commonly known as Vesterbro. This district was the location of the old Western Gate into the city and the name literally translates to Western Bridge.
This was our second time playing at Vega, the famous house of music that started its life as a gathering place for Social Democrats and trade unions. This time we weren’t supporting Deathcab For Cutie though and our show was in the Ideal Bar, the smallest of the three rooms in the building. It was an excellent turnout on the night and the room was completely packed and swelteringly hot. The set was heaps of fun and afterwards we talked to people who seemed to have converged from all corners of Europe – a concept that is deeply strange to those of us hailing from an isolated island nation.
Erected in 1956, Vega was designed by famed architect Vilhelm Lauritzen who also designed Copenhagen Airport.
Sadly we didn’t get a chance to properly explore the city but from the small walk I took it seemed extremely functional as well as quite charming. The streets are filled with cycleways and parked bicycles – a phenomenon that makes sense once you discover that 62% of the residents commute to work, school, or university by bicycle, and 68% of children learn to ride completely without training wheels.
The Shooting Range Wall. Located on the edge of Skydebanehaven (The Shooting Range Gardens) the wall was constructed to shield passing traffic from stray bullets.
Something that doesn’t happen often is that you play in the same venue as your friends’ band on the same night in a country on the other side of the world. Therefore we were thrilled to come across Chicago band Ratboys who are currently playing support on the Julian Baker tour and were playing upstairs in one of Vega’s larger rooms. At the end of the night we had a big catch up, eager to find out about their experience of touring during COVID and interested to see their van and compare packing styles.
