Christopher, Aura Dione and Veronica Maggio to SPOT – and Savage Rose!

Easter is approaching and instead of handing out chocolate eggs, the SPOT Festival adds 13 new acts to the festival line-up. However, like a kinder surprise egg there is more than one surprise inside.

The pop genre will have some fine ambassadors at SPOT – for instance Christopher who comes to Aarhus with his brand new release “Colours” and his energetic live band. “He is going to be huge” and similar predictions about Christopher are frequent in the Danish music press. It looks like a massive pop feast at SPOT, and the same goes for Aura Dione, who is currently riding high in the German charts. Everywhere she goes her fine pop songs make most people move their hips in time to the music.

Swedish Veronica Maggio

Nordic Acts
As usual SPOT also boasts an impressive list of strong Nordic acts. We have already announced a solid bunch, and here are some more: Swedish Veronica Maggio went to the very top of the Swedish pop world with her hit single “Jag kommer” from her upbeat album “Satan i Gatan”. Icelandig Sóley plays catchy, folk-like and fragile melodies carried by her voice and piano. In 2011 Soley released the album “We Sink” which made the reviewers compare her to Björk as well as Lykke Li.

The SPOT audience can also look forward to new material from none other than The Savage Rose. Annisette & co. will visit SPOT with seven musicians on the stage and a bunch of new songs from the forthcoming album. 45 years after the beginning of this institution in Danish rock, there is still plenty of ambition. Thus, The Savage Rose wants to strengthen their foothold in Germany, and the timing couldn’t be better as SPOT expects the biggest delegation ever of German music industry/media people. (Click here to read more)

A darker, more sombre kind of rock is what you get from I Got You On Tape. With Jakob Bellens’ grave voice at the centre the band will take the crowd through the highlights of their latest release “Church of the Real”. If you have a soft spot for Balkan and world music, Tako Lako is definitely worth checking out. With charismatic Ognjen Curcic as the band’s spearhead, a musical explosion is on the cards.

Big-band jazz and metal
And now for yet another surprise: can a jazz orchestra play metal? Well, that remains to be seen (and heard!) in any case Aarhus Jazz Orchestra – until recently known as Klüvers Big Band – will fuse jazz and hard-hitting metal when they present Slayer Big Band Project and show that technical excellence, hard-hitting riffs and monumental sound are things that both jazz and heavy fans can appreciate. (Click here to read more!)

InterSPOT – someone to play with
InterSPOT has become an integral part of the SPOT Festival, and this year too there will be special concerts with Danish and international acts on the stage at the same time. The interSPOT concept is that five Danish acts are paired with five foreign ones. The five constellations are then to play a set with four to five songs from each of the two bands’ back catalogue – and play them together mind you. This year the InterSPOT line-up is Marybell Katastrophy & Niels Frahm, Garish & Il Tempo Gigante, The Luna Boots & Esther Maria, Masha Qrella & Dangers of the Sea, Sóley & Darkness Falls. (Read more here)

Johan Olsen of Magtens Korridorer will go on stage with only a grand piano to back him up at the NAKED gig.

Stripped to the core
SPOT is also going to repeat last year’s successful new initiative with the NAKED project and will once again strip the music to the core. Four artists from very diverse genres have been invited to present four songs from their respective back catalogues – but in new, stripped versions. The Swedish pianist Gustaf Ljunggren will be in charge artistically and on his grand piano he will accompany Ane Trolle, Johan Olsen (Magtens Korridorer) and Silas Bjerregaard from Turboweekend in an unmistakable crooner setup to give room for the vocals. The fourth and final soloist will be announced shortly.

The Career Canon at SPOT
Last but not least Danish radio channel P3 will present the three winners of the Career Canon at the SPOT Festival on Friday the 4th of May in the afternoon.