Sensation: Denmark Review/Full DJ-Sets

Posted by CHAZZZ on November 12, 2012

Please, please, please, do yourself a huge favor and pull out your bucket list, to-do list, or whatever you have. Cross out all the other items and write this on the top row, in big, bold letters: See a Sensation concert.

I love live music, so I’ve been to many concerts and festivals over the years in the United States. Many of them have been amazing, but Sensation in Copenhagen, Denmark just blew all my past concert experiences out of the water. If you’re not familiar with Sensation, it is a massive all-night electro/house event where everyone is required to wear white.

Last Weekend, I arrived to Parken Stadium a bit early to make sure to be able to catch all five DJs on the lineup for the night (Mr. White, Riva Starr, Man With No Shadow, Sharam and Sander Van Doorn). Despite the near-freezing weather, two hours before the doors had even opened the streets were completely packed with people creatively dressed head-to-toe in all white.

All of the friendly Danish people seemed to know the routine: pregame early, and get ready to rage until 3am. I’ve learned a lot while I’ve been abroad, but one of the main things that sticks out no matter what country I’m in is this: Europeans can party. I’ve never seen anything like it. Europeans have the ability to make us (Americans) look like 60 year olds ready for a jazz festival in the local park…

More review and full sets after the jump

We made our way inside the massive Parken Stadium and I was immediately blown away. Mr. White had already started when we entered and it was immediately beyond anything I’d ever seen in my life. Yes, I’ve seen fireworks and huge explosions at shows, I’ve seen the coolest light shows at massive festivals—but this was more than that. It wasn’t just the huge structures they had built, or the wild graphics projected on a massive face towering above the crowd. It was the whole atmosphere, down to the 100% committed audience. If you searched for hours you would not be able to find anyone wearing anything but white…even down to their shoes. The amount of white was almost blinding, and a little disorienting.

After we found a place to stand in the crowd, we settled in for what turned out to be a nine-hour dance party. The first four DJs laid down sets dirty enough to be headline sets at any major festival. By the end of the night, the crowd was absolutely crazy for one of the top DJs in the world, Sander Van Doorn. Sander Van Doorn took the stage and the crowd reacted as if everyone in the room just won the lottery. The venue was just about full (minus the upper sections of the stadium), and it was clear that no energy had been lost since the start of the show nearly 7 hours ago. My favorite part of Sander Van Doorn’s set was his insane mix of Kangaroo. Another clear crowd favorite was when Sander Van Doorn dropped a remix of Swedish House Mafia´s “Don’t You Worry Child”—the crowd was so into it, I thought the stadium might collapse.

I was lucky enough to have seen Sander Van Doorn in Barcelona a few weeks prior but he turned up his energy level about 100 percent more for Sensation. From aerial acts, fire, flare and streamer explosions, and enough confetti to make it feel like we had all just won the Super Bowl, Sensation just kept dropping surprises on the crowd. Massive white balloons were released in the middle of Man With No Shadow’s set, and in the middle of Sharam’s set, the words “ALL IS ONE” were lit up. I was in seventh heaven, more and more amazed each second about what Sensation had in store for the crowd.

As the night ended, the energy didn’t decrease one bit until the speakers fell silent. With my ears still ringing, I was absolutely exhausted, but our new Danish friends kept asking if we wanted to go out with them in downtown Copenhagen. At first I thought it was a joke—but these Danish people truly refuse to stop.

My mind is still boggled by the production of Sensation and I can’t wait until American festivals begin to adapt its culture. I’ve seen and heard of some crazy things at shows in America, like skydivers on fire during KASKADE at EDC in Las Vegas, but Sensation was more than that. Luckily for us, they have started to host events in America and recently just had two White Out nights in New York City. Keep an eye out for more North American dates, or if you are heading for Europe anytime soon, be sure to plan it around a Sensation show. Remember: it’s on your bucket list now.

Here are upcoming dates in Europe, and we will make sure to let you guys know as Sensation continues to announce new shows.