The British like to see things from hills.
There is an example of the 1775 skirmish in the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bunker Hill, where British troops decided that the best way to defend Boston was to take command of two nearby hills. They won the battle but lost the war.
And then there is Henman’s Hill, renamed Murray’s Mount and more recently Raducanu Rise, where thousands of Wimbledon fans take the ‘cheap seats’ to watch the show court matches when the action has stopped on the peripheral courts.
So it was no surprise when British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, playing the first of four sold-out concerts at Øresundparken in the capital Amager last night, kept asking the audience on the hill if they enjoyed his performance.
None of them had paid anything for the privilege of enjoying his singing, big screen coverage and pyrotechnics – and they were also well catered for with plenty of outlets selling beer, hotdogs and ice cream.
Record for a single performer
An audience of 40,000, mainly seated in five gigantic stands facing the stage in Øresundsparken – it sounds like it’s a proper park, but really it’s just nondescript industrial grassland waiting for a housing development, a few hundred meters from the border between Tårnby and the municipalities . Copenhagen – saw last night along with an estimated 5,000 from the nearby furrows and hills.
The hills that in a way protect that part of Amager from the encroaching sea – the curious building Kastrup Søbad, which mainly caters to nudist bathers, is right nearby – has no name, but last night it was provided with plenty of voice. , as many gathered with picnics and disposable barbecues for a glorious sunset followed by Sheeran on tap.
In total, closer to 200,000 may end up seeing the Brit during the four nights he is here – as opposed to the 160,000 who bought tickets, which is a Danish record for a performer – although Wednesday was clearly the best night to go, as rain is in the forecast tonight and temperatures are expected to drop considerably (it’s 31 degrees today!) on friday and saturday.
Whether or not the writer of this article was among the cheapskates in attendance, we couldn’t possibly comment, but ‘we heard’ the performance was five-star quality – one where the singer gushed about how much he loved Copenhagen and how he and his wife has agreed that it would be a good place to raise their babies.
A decade later, he’s still top drawer
Ed also recalled his first visit to Copenhagen in March 2012 when he played Store Vega and how his manager at the time wasn’t entirely convinced that the Danes really liked him…but as our feature from the time seems to suggest (see below ) ), he was already well on his way to stardom.
Funnily enough, his brother Jethro told DR this week that Ed recently found out that he is 10 percent Danish (also Jethro!), although the singer himself told fans in 2019 that he is 6 percent Norwegian, 50 percent Gaelic (the ginger hair is a giveaway) and 44 percent North West European, English and Welsh.
Denmark and Norway had the same nationality until 1814, so maybe they are both right.
Source: The Nordic Page