The Minds of 99 – Northside festival 2019

This day was just madness all day long in the worst and best of ways. I arrived at Aarhus train station about 3pm and started walking to the festival site. During that 40 minute walk, rain, hail, storm and end of the world weather hit me. When I finally arrived at the festival site I was forwarded around to many different places to pick up my credentials, everyone was helpful but no one really knew where I was supposed to go. Finally armed with an artist armband and a press badge as well I went searching for the artist camp which no one could tell me where was either. Baffling. BUT finally found the artist camp, found band and crew from The Minds of 99 and downed 4 shots of coffee and got proper psyched. Something out of the ordinary was happening. Niels Brandt, lead singer, was to start the show singing the first song “Solkongen” (sun king) on top of a 15 meter tall scissor lift next to the front-of-house tent.

The weather cleared up just in time for the concert! Even the weather gods like Minds! Niels was smuggled all the way to the front-of-house tent completely unrecognisable safe for those cool boots! I stood at the front of the tent and the rest of the press photographers were 10 meters away in a group. No one knew Niels was in the tent, no one knew what was about to happen and you could feel the excitement in the pit, and the nervousness in the tent. Was this going to work? At some point I hear “front of house is ready” over the walkie talkie system and I know it is happening, my Spiderman senses kick in to the max, it is game time. The band walks onto the stage, which is really far away from where we are. The intro is playing. Niels emerges from the tent and climbs onto the scissor lift which raises him 15 meters above the crowd! Crowd goes wild! Tour manager Søren has some insane iphone shots from inside the lift. If we ever do this again, I so need to be on the actual lift!

After this insane opening, Niels is lowered back to Earth and he explodes into Ung Kniv! This is mad energy level, Niels is singing into the crowd, stalked by 10+ photographers and security and it culminates in an epic dive into the crowd and then a crowd surf! What an opening! The danger is of course, opening at 100% where do you go? Well you just play the rest of the show at 100% as well! Every time I photograph The Minds of 99 I wonder, how will it ever be topped, how can it get any wilder and better? Well, not even the Sky is the limit. Niels was in the sky, well sorta. I cannot wait for the next gig. I friggin love this band and photographing them and I am honoured they now trust me to hang out with them backstage right up to the show. All of these backstage shots I feel are private and not for me to post but for the band. I will however leave you with a 40 picture gallery of one insane Saturday at Northside festival with The Minds of 99.

(click thumbnail for a gallery that you can scroll or swipe through)

Watch the concert online

DR live broadcasted the entire show and you can still watch it online here. I am in the video more than a few times, those mad ass mega TV zoom lenses catch everything that happens on stage 🙂