Links to useful open mic guides to Copenhagen:
Unfortunately I did not find any lists of open mics in Copenhagen on the internet, although I did receive by email a gold mine of a list from Martin Tomlinson, who runs the first open mic on this list. His list has on it all of the open mics that I attended, and for those on his list that I did not attend, I have added them at the bottom of this page.
Brad Spurgeon’s findings on Open Mics in Copenhagen:
I had one of the richest experiences in a single week of any city in the world for open mic attendance in Copenhagen, and here are the results of my finds:
Sunday – CPH Listening Room, Råhuset, Onkel Dannys Plads 7, Vesterbro, Copenhagen, Hours: 19.30-23.00. Sign-up for open stage spots 19.15, martintomlinsonmusic@gmail.com Run by Martin Tomlinson, and Englishman, this is a classic open mic run in a fabulous venue, which Tomlinson describes as a music venue with a bar, rather than a bar that has a stage for music. It is a fabulous stage, wonderful sound system, people recording your act with video cameras and then offering for a small fee the video if you should want it. But the salient points of this open mic are that, as the name suggests, people are there to listen. Expect to be heard. It is also a singer songwriter open mic, so you are expected to perform your own material. Also, you must show up early enough to stand in the line and be amongst the first 14 people to sign the list, as the number of acts is limited, and sign-up takes place precisely at 19:15. There is also a feature act at each open mic, and the evening is split in two, with the first part of the open mic starting at 19:30. Then the feature act, then the second part of the open mic. I was hugely impressed when I took part in the open mic the CPH Listening Room in March 2017.
Monday – Mojo Blues Bar, Løngangsstræde 21C, Copenhagen. Although the evening starts at 21.30, the first part is a feature act. The open mic does not start until 23:00. The good thing is that you can sign up for the open mic up to that time, and even after – if there are not too many acts. It goes until about 1 a.m. There are three different hosts, but the night I took part in the Mojo Blues Bar open mic, it was run by the genial Kira Martini. The bar feels a little like a cowboy saloon, but a very comfortable size for an open mic – not too big and not to small. Although not quite as silent as the Listening Room open mic mentioned above, it was a good fairly quiet audience the night I played. And like the CPH Listening Room, this is another singer songwriter open mic where you are expected to perform your own material. It was a very intimate evening, with mostly fairly quiet and sensitive performances, as with the CPH Listening Room. The same bar, reputed for its blues, has a blues jam later in the week, in fact, on Thursdays.
Wednesday – Tjili Pop, Rantzausgade 28, Nørrebro, Copenhagen. Hours: 20.30-23.00 Contact: jacobspeake@hotmail.com When you arrive at the strangely named Chili Pop – sorry, Tjili Pop – you feel you have just walked into some kind of 1970s hippie-like coffee house. Of course, fortunately, it’s not a coffee house, but a very cool bar, with several levels, different rooms, and a young and hip clientele. The stage is very small, overlooking the main room, near the entrance. The tables beneath the stage are lined up in rows, and they are so packed that if you go alone, you will find yourself sitting at any free chair or table with people you don’t know. No problem. It’s part of the charm of Tjili Pop. The slightly less charming thing is that although the musical evening – which consists first of several feature acts – starts at 20:30, the open mic is supposed to start at around 22:30, and end at between 23:00 to midnight maximum. But it’s good to be there to sign up because the places for the open mic are very limited. I say it’s “less charming” because the night I performed in the open mic of Tjili Pop, I arrived at 20:30, but did not play until almost 23:30, and because the first part of the night went on so long and the open mic did not begin until well after 23:00, I was told that we all got to do just one song. So it basically ended up being a three hour wait in order to play one song! Fortunately, I used the three hours as a way to drink some good beer and eat a nice fish and chips meal….
Thursday – Café Retro open mic, open jam, open anything, Knabrostræde 26, Copenhagen. Closed over Christmas/New Year and from the end of July to first week of September. Starts at 20.30 and goes to about 23.00. The host opens the show – the night I played at this Café Retro the host was Henrik Berg – and then there is the feature act until about 21:30, at which point the open mic starts. Best to arrive at 20:30 and speak with the host. This was one of the coolest of the open mics I did in Copenhagen, with a concept bar where the people who work there are working free and the proceeds go to projects in Africa. The room is another multiple space area, with couches, chairs, tables, and the stage on a mezzanine overlooking the whole. The sound system is fabulous, the feeling of playing to the whole bar from on high is glorious. And just generally, I could not have felt more at home or better treated. The charitable goal of this place seems passed over into the reception of the musicians in the open mic – at least the night I played there!
– Mojo Blues Bar, Løngangsstræde 21C, Copenhagen. Thursdays is the blues jam night. I did not attend this, but since I did attend the open mic, listed with details above on the Monday night, I thought I would add this here.
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Above are all of the open mics I attended in Copenhagen. My Thumbnail Guides to open mics are exclusively about the places that I have attended so that I can give firsthand reports and information. However, occasionally I do receive information from locals, others, about open mics that I have not attended, and I will list that information in a separate section. While in Copenhagen I received an absolutely fabulous list of open mics that is not published on the internet, so I have decided to include the information here, below, as a way to help find places I have not performed in and give as much information as possible to my readers. This list was provided to me by Martin Tomlinson, who runs the CPH Listening Room open mic on Sundays, listed above. I’ve decided that for the moment I will simply cut and paste exactly what he sent, so the format will be different from above too, thus separating it from the places that I have played in myself. Here are the places on Martin’s list that I did not attend:
Wednesday:
Café Blågårds Apotek.
Blågårds Plads 2, Nørrebro, Copenhagen.
Open: Every Wednesday, closed over Xmas/New Year and from end of July to first week of September.
Hours: 20.30 – about 23.00.
(Feature acts play first, open stage after. Talk to Benjamin on arrival. Best to arrive early.)
Website: http://www.kroteket.dk/
Entré: Free.
Host/Booking for feature acts: Benjamin Aggerbæk.
Contact: benjaminaggerbæk@gmail.com
Thursday:
Kalle Bodega. (mostly booked acts, some open stage)
Studiestræde 39, Kbh K
Open: In uneven weeks.
Hours: 20.30 – about 23.00.
Entré: Free.
Host/Booking: Morten Bjerregaard.
Contact: mb@badv.dk
PERIODICAL VENUES AND VENUES WITH BOOKED ACTS ONLY.
Thursday:
Drop Inn. (Booked acts only, mostly bands)
Kompagnistræde 34, Central Copenhagen.
Open: Every Thursday. https://www.facebook.com/groups/642092875803338/?fref=ts
Hours: From 21.00.
Website: http://drop-inn.dk/site/?tribe_events=songsurfing
Entré: Free.
Host/Booking: Nanna Larsen.
Contact: info@drop-inn.dk
Thursday, Friday or Saturday:
Klub Geyser. (Booked acts only.)
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge, Islands Brygge 18, South Copenhagen.
Open: August-May. http://www.facebook.com/klubgeyser
Hours: Starts 20.00.
Entré: 50kr, students/pensioners 30kr.
Host/Booking for feature acts: Jacob Speake. (Most acts recieve a small payment.)
Contact: jacobspeake@hotmail.com
Friday:
Geyser By The Sea. (Booked acts only.)
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge, Islands Brygge 18, South Copenhagen.
Open: May-August. http://www.facebook.com/klubgeyser
Hours: 16.30-18.30.
Entré: Free.
Host/Booking for feature acts: Jacob Speake. (Acts recieve a small payment.)
Contact: jacobspeake@hotmail.com
Saturday:
Sangbar Æ, Ø & Å. (Songs in Danish and Nordic languages.)
Christianhavns Beboerhus,
Open: One Saturday each month.
https://www.facebook.com/sangbaraeoeaa/?fref=ts
Hours: 20.00-
Entré: 20kr (performers free, meet early and talk with the host.)
Host: Peter Zapffe
Booking: Morten Marcussen.
Contact: sangbaraeoeaa@gmail.com