He studies the program thoroughly to put together his battle plan. You are simply wasting your time, if you just wander around without any plan, says the experienced music journalist, who sees several advantages in the SPOT-concept that presents younger, upcoming names.

As the sun stood low over stage and audience, more and more found their way to the stage and wrapped themselves in the catchy, poetic and very evocative tunes from the small, delicate singer Natalia LaFourcade. With her accompanying musician she had taken the trip from Madrid in Spain, where she had been playing in the time before SPOT, to play her first concert on Danish ground ever.
She presented her latest record La Mujer Divin, which is a tribute to the deceased composer and poet-crooner Augustín Lara. The songs’ textual universe was, in sonorous Mexican, a row of intriguing mood pictures delivered with charming pop rhythms, ukulele and careful calypso tones one moment, and long vocal phrases the next. Almost like small magical moments.

On this late afternoon the audience in Aarhus found themselves at a unique concert and the opportunity to see an artist who reflects some of the most popular music in Mexico right at this moment – an artist who with within her genre reminds somewhat of her colleague and fellow Mexican Julieta Venegas. The young singer finished her concert with some heartfelt words and the proclaimed wish to be able to perform before a Danish audience soon again. But when this chance may come can be hard to tell – her trip back to Mexico already starts in a few days with a layover in Madrid, and there is no immediate plans of an European tour in the nearest future.

(Photo: Niels Østergaard)

- It was really cool that people stayed even though the technology failed us in the middle of the show. I was actually pretty glad to see that, says Søren Corneliussen. The show was going quite good, and we played well together, Thomas Fagerlund explains.

According to schedule, Kissaway Trail’s new album “Breach” should already have been released, but they opted to push the Danish release until August, which means the record will come out in Scandinavia, England and America simultaneously.

American tour this summer

Even though the SPOT show was their first in three years, the group will have plenty of opportunities to become a tightly playing unit once they head out on a tour of America this summer.

- We made the decision to not play the Danish festivals this summer. Next summer we’d love to, since the album will have been out for a while and people will have become familiar with the songs, says Thomas Fagerlund.

- We also have a couple of meetings with industry people from Germany here at SPOT. We’ve never played in Germany, but it’s a market we’d love to tap into. Other than that, we’re mostly aiming for America and England.

What will you be checking out at SPOT?

- We’re going to see Christian Hjelm. He’s brilliant, and we have always liked Figurines. They are a bit like us. And our drummer Hasse Mydstskov used to play in Figurines and is Christian Hjelm’s drummer now. We’d like to see Folkeklubben as well.

About 350 music business representatives from 20 different countries were welcomed by Gunnar Madsen from the SPOT Festival and the mayor of Aarhus, Jakob Bundsgaard. The air was thick with expectation and the guests were eagerly making plans and discussing industry affairs over coffee and danishes.

- We’ve had fewer means for international marketing this year, yet the number of foreign press and music industry representatives is the same as last year. 1200 Danish representatives have received accreditation, and we have 350 visiting representatives from 20 countries, so it’s clearly a success, explains Christian Hald Buhl from MXD and SPOT Denmark.

Stephan Thancheidt – FKP Scorpio, Germany’s biggest booking agency

- I am doing a seminar about the German music industry. Besides that I am also here looking for bands to book for the German scene, and to meet up with business partners, among them, the Northside Festival.

Most of the line-up at SPOT is all pretty new to me, but I’m looking for bands and artists who could be interesting for the German market. After last year’s SPOT Festival, we booked Spleen United and The Eclectic Moniker.

Thomas Heher – Festival director at the Austrian Waves Vienna Festival

- I’m here mostly for the networking part, it is a great opportunity to meet people from the business and get new ideas, and see how the music scene in Denmark works. I’m also here for the conferences and to discover new things.

Klaus Plewa – Booker, Ink. Music, Austria                                           I want to discover new bands, meet new people, socialize and hang out.
I’m really looking forward to see the Danish duo Cancer play.

Daniela Rossi from the Spanish festival Dias Nordicos in Madrid

- Our festival is dedicated to Nordic culture and music, so I am here to listen to new upcoming music and also to present the Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade for the Danish audience. In that way we can exchange music. We have a collaboration with the SPOT Festival and last year we had the Danish band Turboweekend playing at Dias Nordicos.

Pablo Gil – Journalist at El Mundo – the biggest Spanish newspaper

- I am here to write about the festival and cover it in general for elmundo.es.
I want to discover originality and look for bands with identity, so I’m really looking forward to see some new Scandinavian bands.

Pablo Gonzalez Batista – Radio 3, Radio Nacional de Espana (the biggest Spanish radio station)

- It’s exciting to see how the music scene in Denmark is. I have listened to the Spotify list and heard every single band, so I have a very long list of bands I want to see, among them is MØ, Fallulah, Complexity, Tako Lako and many, many more. I hope I can get to see them all, and hopefully bring some new music home to play at Radio Nacional in Spain.

Tina Nägeli –  Moderator, SRF – Swiss Radio and television

- I am eager to discover new bands and to talk to people from the industry I’m definitely going to see Asgeir Trausti from Iceland.

Frank Lenggenhager – Manager at the PR agency Lautstark in Bern, Switzerland

- I have worked with a lot of Scandinavian artist such as Volbeat and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour actually sold 80.000 copies of their latest album in Schwitzerland. Swiss people love Scandinavian music, especially the more melancholic sound. Probably because the Swiss and the Scandinavian mentality are the same.

Maximilian Domma –  c/o Pop Festival, Köln, Germany

- I’m here to scout bands, we are partners with MXD, and we are looking for bands to play at SPOT On Denmark in Köln, in December. Last year we had I Got You On Tape, Linkoban and Cody playing.

Bastian Küllenberg – Music journalist at Intro Magazine, Germany

- I am also part of the jury that selects three Danish bands for SPOT On Denmark. Besides that I am here to write about the festival for Intro Magazine, I am also a part of the Musicbusiness-Twitter team, who is tweeting about SPOT.

Matthias Kurth – c/o Pop Festival, Köln, Tyskland

- I want to experience a lot of new Danish music. I am definitely going to see So-So Echo and Broken Twin – they are amazing.

Also, the title of the seminar ”Animated Rock: How the new kids on the block do it” has been changed to ”Animated Rock: How Sun Creature Studio did it”.

Launched from the onset to present less known high quality acts performing in a scaled-down and relaxed setting, the SPOT Beta Session will continue in this mold.

Friday May the 3rd three interesting acts will be presented through performances and on-stage interviews. Session host will be legendary MTV host Ray Cokes, who broke through to a big European television audience in the early nineties, masterminding and fronting groundbreaking live tv show MTV’s Most Wanted.

On the Beta Session bill we find Danish popsters NOAH, Alphabeat frontwoman Stine Bramsen in a solo setting, and Copenhagen new-folk melancholists The White Album – the latter stepping in as replacement for cancelled German-Swiss girl duo Boy.

All acts will perform acoustic sets after which Ray Cokes will ask them about everything you need to know – and probably some things you don’t. Get ready for a different kind of session with the audience playing as big a role as the artists, and featuring a host who is guaranteed to keep things very entertaining.

Beta Sessions Ray Cokes Edition kicks off Friday at 16.00 in Rytmisk Sal.