With the first festival since lockdown coming to an end yesterday (Saturday), and the last one for the foreseeable future as things stand, this performance from Denmark’s Tina Disco has a distinct poignancy about it. In fact all the performances I’ve watched over the last few days have had something a bit extra about them as the artists clearly relish this brief opportunity to play before a live audience again. At times the emotion is palpable.
We really ought to feature a Danish artist (although she is now a resident of Reykjavik) because Denmark is the focus country for the Reeperbahn Festival this year even though the number of artists was pared down. ‘The face of Danish folk pop’ as she is known is a perfect choice.
Tina Dico was raised on the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and it shows in this performance. Indeed there is a cover of Dylan’s ‘The times they are a-changing’ at the 33-minute mark. When I wrote the previous article about this festival I forget to mention just how appropriate Linda Perry’s performance in 2018 of ‘What’s Up’ would have been this year. Just what is going on? And it’s the same for Dylan’s timeless song too, as Tina Dico points out.
But probably the most appropriate lyric of them all comes right at the end. “This ain’t no time to go to sleep.”
Stream the performance here.
And you can also watch a performance from Copenhagen earlier this year below.
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