Artrebels and Trailerpark logo – by Charlene Winfred
Words and pictures by Flemming Bo Jensen and Charlene Winfred | originally posted in the Trailerpark blog and Artrebels blog, 9 August 2013
Trailerpark 2013 by Charlene Winfred and Flemming Bo Jensen
Trailerpark Festival 2013 was rich in every way an art and music celebration should be: visually, aurally, and atmospherically. For a photographer, this provoked the pleasurable dilemma: do I shoot, or do I put the camera down to lose myself in the music?
Even beyond that, watching technicians running amok with performers backstage, awash in cables, microphones and lighting gear, making a swathe of last minute adjustments and checks before the stage lights dimmed for the MC to announce another act, the question we often asked ourselves was: how do I reconcile the human ordinariness of what happens backstage with what happens on stage – the lights and sea of sound and the adulation that made men and women temporary gods, creating a world made tangible only by the fervent will of the audience?
Small stages meant that there was almost no separation between audience and performer. The intimacy did nothing to diminish the power that the music had over the crowd; if anything, it delivered a connection between the performers and their audiences that would not otherwise have existed.
“It was the first time I couldn’t hear myself singing” said Rangleklods frontman Esben Anderson of the crowd singing along to Clouds at a volume that overwhelmed their monitors, thanking them for what would have been a tremendous experience for any performer.
Getting to see for ourselves, how an artist prepares for the spotlight, was invaluable insight into what it takes to be a star: MØ finding a quiet moment in the folds of the very curtain that separated her from the masses that would scream louder and louder for her as her performance wore on. Nikolaj Vonsild of When Saints Go Machine stretching his vocals to his headphones as the band set their lighting and equipment up, escaping into the zone with the efficiency of an established performer about to deliver his fans a mesmerizing hour of gratification. Hans Philip of Ukendt Kunstner owning the very air around him from the moment he hit the backstage, exuding the incredible power and energy that never flagged for a second during the pair’s first proper concert act, which was a wild success by any measure: “who are these guys?” people on the floor were heard asking in awe, over and over again.
While the separation between what happens on stage, and the rest of life is a common experience among all who do their work in the spotlight, getting to be a part of each individual story, makes the festival experience so much richer than just three days of musical goodness. It allows an outsider a rare glimpse into what is at stake, for those to whom performance is as much a part of the creation of art, as the art itself.
Phantom. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Phantom. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Festival crowd. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Rangleklods. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Rangleklods. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Rangleklods. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Rangleklods. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Rangleklods. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Rangleklods crowd. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
MØ having a quiet moment backstage, pre-show. Photo: Charlene Winfred
MØ. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
MØ. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
MØ. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
MØ. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Rebel Stage. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Hans Philip of Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Festival Attendees. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Audience at Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Ukendt Kunstner. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Ukendt Kunstner, post show. Photo: Charlene Winfred
When Saints Go Machine pre show prep. Photo: Charlene Winfred
When Saints Go Machine pre show backstage. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
When Saints Go Machine. Photo: Charlene Winfred
When Saints Go Machine. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
When Saints Go Machine. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
When Saints Go Machine. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Festival crowd. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Turboweekend. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Rumpistol. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Rumpistol. Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Festival End. Photo: Charlene Winfred
Thank you so much to Scott Cooper from ArtRebels.com for giving us free hands and access to create this essay and all the wonderful crew and volunteers and artists at Trailerpark Festival 2013.
