Month: October 2025

Gigs from Abroad Part 24 Copenhagen – Part 1

The history of Copenhagen in Denmark rolls back all the way to the 11th century with its initial wealth and expansion being built around the harbour and the herring fishing trade. In 1801, the forever pesky British fleet fought a major battle there, the Battle of Copenhagen, against the Danish navy. It was at this particular skirmish that Lord Nelson famously ‘put the telescope to the blind eye’ to ‘definitely maybe’ miss Admiral Parker’s signal to cease fire!

In the summer of 2000, the cities of Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden were connected up via a toll bridge/tunnel suitable for road and rail traffic. It is named Oresund Bridge and was famously used for the backdrop for ‘The Bridge’ Television series. The opening scene set its stall out in style by having a mysterious body positioned at the exact midpoint of the structure, thereby falling under the joint jurisdiction of both countries police forces.

Oresund Bridge. Image Credit livingnomads.com

I watch a lot of foreign dramas, always with subtitles as I personally believe they need to be viewed in their original format, and this remains my favourite. For the record the remainder of my Top 5 would be Gomorrah, Dark, The Killing and The Bureau.

In 2002 the city’s metro system opened for business and in 2015 they staged the worldwide COP15 climate convention with Barack Obama in attendance. Famous city residents include the actor Mads Mikkelsen, comedienne Sandi Toksvig, fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen, model Helena Christiansen, footballer Kasper Schmeichel and film director Lars Von Trier. On the musical front there is Aqua of ‘Barbie Girl’ fame, Iceage and the fabulous Raveonettes.

Copenhagen was named in 2025 as the happiest city in the world with the criteria based on elements such as economy, environment, education, healthcare and work-life balance, or alternatively as I personally rebadge the slogan for myself under the banner ‘gig-life-work balance’! The highest British entry in that list was London languishing down in 31st place. 

Aqua. Image Credit storage.googleapis.com

We made our debut visit to the city and in fact to Scandinavia as a whole in June 2023 and we were blessed with three days of wall-to-wall sunshine. It has got to be noted it is staggeringly expensive, and we literally could not swing a cat in our ‘compact’ hotel room! Aside from those grouses I found it to be a bonny and intriguing city with an abundance of rivers and waterways. Whilst we were there the locals were hunting any suitable spare spot by the water’s edge to bask in the sun.

On our first night we headed over to Vesterbro’s Kodbyen (known locally as the Meatpacking district). It is still a partially functioning meat packing area, but it has graduated away from its past life of butchers and porn shops into a now fashionable cornucopia of outdoor bars and restaurants.  

On day 2 we grabbed some breakfast at one of the local coffee shops before having a culture hit to follow the caffeine hit. Slotsholmen is a compact island in the city centre, but it is the seat of political power as it is houses the home of the prime minister, supreme court and the monarchy. The Royal Stables were particularly impressive and the Christianborg Palace (known as the ‘Castle’) was the location that was utilised for the excellent political drama Borgen.

To achieve a graduation in Denmark is a huge life event and one of the key traditional ways to celebrate is for the students to hire and then travel round in a decorated truck dressed in white sailor hats, and on the way visit all their parents and take a dip in Storkespringvandet.

As you navigate the city streets, they are a noisy presence with their honking and hollering and the first time Gill and I encountered them we exchanged a ‘WTF’ look. The first two or three sightings had a cultural novelty attached but as the number of occurrences was then ever increasing the viewings soon lost its lustre!

Borgen cast. Image Credit digital.tv

To take full advantage of the balmy weather we headed over the three adjacent green spaces in the Parkmuseerne district which was initially built in 1874. Contained there is the Ostre Anlaeg Park, The Kings Garden and the Botanical Gardens.

The latter contains the largest collection of living plants in the city totalling around 1300 and around 27 glass houses. There are also various museums dotted around the park. Whilst we were lounging there, we watched a local drama group setting up a temporary outdoor stage for a Shakespeare performance taking place the next day.   

Manchester Venues 184 to 185 – Piccadilly Gardens

Christmas markets are essentially street bazaars which are linked to the celebration of Yuletide and traditionally take place within the four-week Advent window. The initial concept of them evolved in the last knockings of the Middle Ages and mainly in the German speaking areas of Europe. Early mentions of December markets roll all the way back to Vienna in 1296 but the first recognised reference to a Christmas market was the Striezelmarkt which took place in Dresden in 1434.

They are large open-air gatherings with food, drink (traditionally mulled wine) and seasonal goods for sale. The food offerings can range from Nussknacker (candy toasted almonds) and Christstollen (stollen). The markets undertook a significant modern day revival in the 1990’s and spread their wings to a considerable number of European cities. The first occurrence in England was in Lincoln in 1982 before the larger cities caught the bug with the commencement in 1997 of the Manchester (Frankfurt) Christmas Markets,with the German city initially providing support.   

Manchester Albert Square Christmas market. Image Credit whatsonmcr.co.uk

I have attended a couple of actual markets in Germany including an excellent one in Stuttgart where the facilities now include additional elements such as ice rinks, funfair rides and my own favourite model railways which I am eternally fascinated by. The Manchester shindigs have always personally felt like a paler imitation of the originals. However, despite my reservations they have grown exponentially from the inaugural version which was based solely in St Anns Square into the hugely popular event it is nowadays with three hundred stalls now dotted across many parts of the city with a large footfall attending.

It used to create a considerable nuisance when attending December gigs and then encountering a plethora of inebriated punters on astoundingly busy trains back to Preston. Also, my commute back home after work requires me to devise a different route than normal to reach my destination of Piccadilly station.   

The central hub of the markets was always Albert Square but that has been closed for restoration for the last few years, but it is planned to be reopened for this year’s event. In the interim one of the main areas centralised around Manchester Christmas Market Piccadilly Gardens.

In the 18th century this particular location was donated to the city by Sir Oswald Mosley, Lord of the Manor of Manchester on one fundamental condition that the space be retained in public use in perpetuity.   

L S Lowry ‘Piccadilly Gardens’ picture. Image Credit King and McGaw.

The Gardens were initially designed as an ornamental sunken garden after World War I on the former location of Manchester Royal Infirmary, the Infirmary then moving to its current location down Oxford Road. Prior to building the gardens other schemes including building an Opera House or a new location for the Cathedral were proposed but then discounted. The local painter L S Lowry also utilised the backdrop for his 1954 painting titled ‘Piccadilly Gardens’.

It was subsequently flattened out in 2002 with a central water feature and a concrete pavilion designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando with a curved concrete wall to obscure the metrolink line, this all resulted in an overall cost of £20.7m. It is an extremely rare green space in the city centre and contains a transport hub with buses and trams running directly through and adjacent to it. For many years prior to its move to Oldham Street, the famous Piccadilly Records was also located nearby.

Within the village created, room was made for a stage for the purposes of providing musical entertainment. Within the auspices of the 2023 event, I saw an act called General Drummer play there.

Earlier this year another innovative shindig was initiated via the generation of the Manchester Piccadilly Gardens MCR Live Hub with a stage located in another corner of the Gardens. It was designed as a city centre gathering point taking place between early July until the end of September and was part of the wider MCR Live 25 event which deliberately coincided with the Burnage Boys comeback tour.

Manchester MCR Live Hub Stage area. Image Credit ihmanchester.com

Other attractions were the Music for the Senses trail containing murals, mosaics and Guitar Street (located in reality on King Street), where you could find 50 donated guitars, some from musicians including Doves, PINS and Pixies. Commendably at the curtailment of the trail the instruments were auctioned to raise funds for grassroots venues and music projects across Greater Manchester.

Manchester artist Lazerian also created a Cathedral of Sound, a sound installation built from hundreds of reclaimed acoustic guitars. The Live Hub area was staged fully outdoors to embrace the weather in the summer months and contained a bar, street food and a plethora of beer garden picnic tables. They had DJ sets and live musicians, and I saw a couple of local artists called Sabrina and Gordy performing there.