As those of you receiving the newsletter and/or follow my more or less coherent blurbs on Twitter know, Start! Festival went down in Copenhagen this weekend, presenting the biggest lineup yet with 110 bands (chosen from around 1200 applicants) playing the six stages in the Danish capital’s old meat district between Thursday and Saturday.

Formerly known as Vesterbro Festival this seventh installment marked a few changes on and around the festival – the new name being one – which began in 2003 as a grassroots protest event to raise awareness on the lack of decent and not least affordable rehearsal rooms in the Vesterbro quarter of town. Which they got the following year.

Back then acts like Efterklang and The Blue Van, now household names in Denmark and certain circles outside, were headlining the festival which has always been about supporting the Danish upcoming scene. A purpose that seems to be if not wholly changing then getting at least a little blurred when looking at this year’s lineup featuring very established local artists like rapper Jokeren, Outlandish, Sys Bjerre (who’ve sold 60.000 copies of her 2008 debut), the biggest rock act in Denmark these years, Nephew – although they did do a sorta secret gig under the moniker The Descendants of King Cante – and the first ever foreign artist on the festival, American singer NICOL aka Nicole Davis.

This is something the people behind Start! Festival need to consider, because right now they sit between two chairs, one representing their original purpose, the other their increasing ambition. Ambition is good, but they are dangerously close to becoming another SPOT Festival instead of keeping their unique position as a great supplement and/or alternative. A festival where audiences and music professionals can actually discover new (unsigned) talent – and that really should be their continued selling point.

I understand why the above Danish acts are booked – to sell tickets – but it will inevitably take slots that could otherwise have been filled with bands needing and deserving the exposure. And with the healthy state of the Danish upcoming scenes and the more than reasonable ticket prizes (55USD, 40EUR for all three days) I’m not sure they’re really needed. Acts like Turboweekend, Mike Sheridan, SMALL and Kellermensch – all one or two albums in, but still coming up – are more than capable headliners in every sense and will also be able to draw the international music business Start! Festival are beginning to aim for.

That said, it really is a nice festival, logistically flawless, peaceful and beer at (again) reasonable prizes, and the surroundings in meat district turned nouveau cool art and office center couldn’t be better. With that I’ll let you in on the gigs that shaped my festival Friday and Saturday (Thursday I was unfortunately elsewhere):

ANNASAID: Uptempo angular Brit-style indierock with nods to Foals and Bloc Party, delivered by the tight early twenties quartet from Aarhus and driven forward by the immensely energetic singer/guitarist Martin Sahlertz. They really are a great live band and they’re slowly getting the variation needed to make a gig interesting all the way.

VOMIT SUPREME: According to my program they were supposed to be Giana Factory, but absolutely no harm done, as Vomit Supreme is one of this blog’s favorites. This – their just third – gig was an engagingly aggressive combo of their catchy punk-pop and quite a lot of lead singer ‘n guitarist Frederik Valentin’s spit.

W’AFANDE: One of the chance encounters that makes festivals so enjoyable, French/Danish W’afande aka Fantabis – the happiest MC I think I’ve ever seen backed by the whitest band in reggae history – had Club 55 dance and not least smile along to his infectious blend of reggae, hip hop and soul.

KELLERMENSCH: It should come as no surprise to regular readers that we’re rather excited by Esbjerg-based six-piece Kellermensch – and they’ve done nothing to change that with their concerts at the SPOT and Start! festivals the past weeks. Au contraire. Rock has never been more delightfully demonic and live frontman Sebastian Wolff lets them all out…

DÁNJAL: The Faroese actor gone musician impressed with a sweaty round of his enticing mix of tango, Scandinavian folk and the popular Balkan beats. His background in acting doesn’t deny itself as he reenacts his storytelling lyrics with every fiber of his body and the theatrical soundtrack have a way of getting people to dance.

SMALL: Even though some people found it necessary to tip a trash can into my manjigglys (twice) I managed to enjoy most of robot space-popsters SMALL’s set. Live their minimalist, yet pompous electropop has a pleasing oomph added which elegantly contrasts Andreas Asingh’s falsetto.

TURBOWEEKEND: New wave electropop trio fronted by Michael McDonald/Robert Palmer soundalike Silas Bjerregaard destined for greatness! Just two albums in they already have enough hits to last a full concert – and as SMALL above they really make it move live. Brilliant!