Grand atmosphere on Nørrebro during this year’s Distortion festival. This year’s Distortion festival, especially the festivities on Nørrebro, was an unforgettable experience according to the festival’s founder, Thomas Fleurquin. He highlights the unique atmosphere as one of the most memorable aspects of this year’s event. This year, Distortion has focused on creating a more mature and culturally oriented street festival, and according to Fleurquin, the plan has succeeded beyond expectations. Particularly, Thursday’s event on Nørrebro made a huge impression on the founder. “The whole team, which we have been with for many years, said it was amazing. Everyone thought it was magical,” Fleurquin says. The festival started on Wednesday at City Hall Square and continued on Friday and Saturday at Refshaleøen with festivities lasting until the early morning. On Sunday, the festival ended with an afterparty. It was the first time in five years that the street festival was held on Nørrebro, and according to Fleurquin, there was a fantastic party on Nørrebrogade and in every side street from Dronning Louises Bro to Nørrebros Runddel.
The secret to the success, according to the founder, lay in a local spirit and smaller sound systems that ensured the intense party atmosphere did not become overwhelming. “The smaller sound systems meant that the intense party atmosphere did not take over,” explains Fleurquin. He adds that he has not received any complaints yet, and the police have been very satisfied with the festival’s execution. Before the pandemic, up to 10,000 people attended the open street parties daily, which led to many complaints and made the parties less charming, according to Distortion itself. Now the festival has become a tribute to small subcultures without too much wildness. “When you come from the outside, you think it’s just a street party. But we delve into the cultural life,” says Fleurquin.
Wednesday’s event at City Hall Square featured a surprise performance by Suspekt and Benjamin Hav together with TooManyLeftHands, which took place in one of the festival’s paid zones. These zones also helped to dampen the wild atmosphere in the streets. Thursday’s concert on Nørrebro in the payment zone “Distortion X” also attracted a large crowd with Artigeardit as the headliner. However, the event was so popular that a preceding concert with DJ Pooyandeh had to be interrupted for 20 minutes to ensure that people did not knock down the fence. All 12,000 tickets were sold out, and many people stood outside the zone asking if they could come in. Distortion plans to return to Nørrebro next year before the festival likely moves back to Vesterbro. 365nyt.dk