Distortion

Two weeks ago, Copenhagen’s biggest street party took place. Four nights in a row, there were parties in different parts of Copenhagen. The first two nights there were outdoor parties in two neighborhoods that went from 4-10 pm. After 10, the parties moved inside. On Friday and Saturday night, there were bigger parties on the outskirts of the city where thousands of people partying wouldn’t bother the neighbors too much. 

There was a lot of controversy about Distortion this year because they were moving it out of the city center into different neighborhoods. A lot of this was for safety reasons: the streets in central Copenhagen are really old and small and they got too packed with people. As it was, there were points on some of Copenhagen’s widest streets that were filled wall-to-wall with people. Moving the parties seemed like a wise choice:

I had heard that Distortion is worth experiencing, so even though I wasn’t going to party, I went to the parties on the first two nights to walk around and see what was happening. The streets were blocked off for large parts of the city. There was music at various points around the neighborhoods where people were gathered to dance. There were also lots of people just sitting out in the street eating and drinking.

Here, on one of the main streets in Copenhagen, the street was blocked off and a huge line of tables had been set up:

One of the things that I had been told was interesting about distortion is how people take over the city space. I saw lots of people climbing, sitting, and standing on things that they normally wouldn’t:

There was even a disco ball on a crane hanging over a bridge in Copenhagen.

Distortion was very Danish in a lot of ways. People were drinking a lot. And by a lot, I mean a lot. Still, I was impressed that there was a good atmosphere and that people were out enjoying the long evening and the company of thousands of other people. It was also interesting to see a picture of the streets cleaned up the next day. Distortion organized the clean-up and you couldn't tell that there had been a party. I don’t think that people putting on a street party would clean things up like this themselves in the US.