“Denmark’s most beautiful festival” is an event dedicated to the music and beauty of the city of Skanderborg in East Jutland. The longest-running open-air music festival and the second largest event in the country, Skanderborg Festival or Smukfest takes place in a beech forest near the city.
Here, the crowd can sit on the grass and enjoy the beautiful surroundings while listening to music performed by some of the best Danish and international artists. When it started, it was only held for one day in the summer, but the event became so large that it was stretched over several days. This year’s festival will take place from August 8 to 12. What’s especially nice about the music festival is that it features a wide range of music genres: from rock, pop, heavy metal, hip-hop, folk, indie, blues, and electronica.
When it first took place in 1980, there were only seven bands and only about 600 visitors. In 1989, the music festival included performances by the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra for the first time and was well received by the crowd. Since then, it has become a tradition to close the festival with a classical performance. Today, Smukfest attracts crowds of around 40-45,000 people with a crew of around 8,500 employees.
This year’s headliners include international acts such as Bryan Adams, Backstreet Boys, Fallulah, Uriah Heep, BLUR, The Blues Overdrive, The Corrs and many more. Among the well-known Danish performers are Malk de Koijn, Stand Up for Skanderborg, A Friend in London, Alphabeat and Boho Dancer. In total, about 108 performers will perform on five stages during the five nights of the festival.