Summer has officially checked out, and we’re all back at work, school or just pretending to be some type of productive. All that means is that it’s the perfect time now to start sharing all my summer adventures. Starting with the AIASound Festival. I’ve enjoyed a few Danish music festivals – Hello Northside and Roskilde! – but nothing was calling to me…until AIASound popped up on my feed. What the @#5* is AIA Sound? No really, that was all over the signs at the festival. Intrigued!
AIA Sound Festival is a new kid on the CPH music festival block. Based in Amager, with the nearest Metro being Femøren (M2), it’s definitely a city festival and super easy to get to. It’s also a day festival, so no camping required, which is fantastic for me because I am too old for all that camping nonsense (No shade to the camping lovers, but it’s a hard pass for me!). Compared to Northside and Roskilde, AIA Sound is definitely on the smaller side. Small but mighty though. The space or the grounds for the fest were used extremely well and it didn’t feel cramped or chaotic. There were food and drinks stalls dotted around the perimeter of the grounds (I especially loved that there was a non-alcoholic drinks stand, though why it was close to the entrance and not the stages remains a mystery – fix that next year, please and thanks!). There was a decent variety of food overall but limited when comparing to other festivals, and certainly if you have dietary restrictions like I do, as a vegetarian. There was even a sauna section – Wait what??? OMG!!! – best believe that next year I will be sauna ready because this year I absolutely was NOT.
There were two main stages (and allegedly a third, though for the life of me, I couldn’t find it!). The lineup was the determining factor for me coming to the festival – once I saw Wizkid was headlining on Saturday, I was like “say less bruv”. Skepta (aka my future babydaddy – he just doesn’t know it yet!) was headlining on the Friday but I thought it was too much of a gamble to go for both days and ended up only picking Saturday. Mistake. Turns out that Friday was freaking awesome…at least according to all the IG stories I saw of people there. John Newman apparently blew the roof off the place so I already had FOMO before I even arrived on Saturday.
Craig David? Hello Nostalgia!
My friend made me promise we would get there early on Saturday or at least in time for Safri Duo, who I had never heard of before the festival so I was intrigued. Glad I listened to her, because they were easily the highlight of the day for me. Absolutely insane. Instant fan! Craig David was next and…well his performance was interesting. I was so hyped to see him (because hello nostalgia!) and then he decided to perform all his songs as remixes. NGL, it was not what I was expecting and not what I think most people wanted to hear. Maybe it was fun at first but I kept feeling disappointed waiting for the proper version of his song to start but it never did. After I got tired of constantly not hearing the version of the song I expected from him, we decided it was time for an exploratory break and to get some chow and drinks.
The weather really wanted to show its madness – when we arrived it was raining, only for the sun to come out and fry us and then we ended the evening singing Ojuelegba in the rain. I arrived wearing a rain poncho, took it off with my outfit starting off giving the impression of a denim jumpsuit and ended up transitioning to a crop top and baggy pants. There was a lot going on.
Wizkid as headliner – Naija no dey carry last!
Back to the artists, Wizkid as headliner did not disappoint. I mean, Naija no dey carry last. I was already blown away hearing so many people singing along in Yoruba to Asake in the DJ’s warm up set (they probably don’t know what they were singing but still, the energy was clearly there!). By the time Wizzy stepped on the stage, everyone was PUMPED. The performance itself was a solid one (I’m an old Wizkid fan though his newer stuff is also nice), a little chaotic in sections especially with the improptu invitation to the crowd to invade the stage. I’m still a little traumatised by the moshpits of Northside, so I was like HARD PASS.
Final thoughts on AIASound Festival? It was an banger of a day. I came in with little to no expectations, just wanting to tick the “music festival” entry off my Copenhagen Summer Bucket List – but it ended up being so much more than that. Easily, one of my best experiences this summer for sure. Already planning for next year’s experience. Will be bringing my swimwear for the sauna. Might even get a two day ticket, who knows?!
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