Far from draught beer and Funen folk songs, Tinderbox hides a scene that feels like a secret EDM world for the dedicated — and it does so on an international level.
One star
Two stars
Three stars
Fours stars
Five stars
Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
Six stars
Tinderbox at first glance looks like a festival like so many others. There are the classic food stalls with halloumi and noodle boxes, a line-up of solid Danish and international names and an audience of all ages enjoying themselves. It is difficult to find out who the target audience really is — besides the fact that “people from Funen” seems like an obvious common denominator.
But then there's MagicBox.
The stage is physically and atmospherically far away from the rest of the festival. You have to cross a bridge, past an inflatable swimming pool and into something that most of all resembles a techno temple built by Universal Studios in collaboration with Minecraft. It sounds like an insult, but it's not. It looks wild.
Visuals aren't just something that gets projected up -- they're part of the scene itself. There's more fire, laser and fireworks than in any other Danish set-up, and it's all wound up with a timing that would make Berghain envious. You get the feeling of being in the middle of a mini-Summerburst, where the pace never dies and where a roadie basically just needs to replace a USB connector before the next giant name goes on. Momentum is everything -- and they've understood it.
There's plenty of space once you're in, but it takes a bit of struggle to get there. And it makes something fun: If you've come for MagicBox, then the rest of Tinderbox becomes almost a relaxation area — a kind of chillout lounge where you can eat pork roast sandwiches and get healthy before the next drop.
MagicBox feels like its own festival. And it works surprisingly well.
ToomanyLefthands are still sort of the spiritual fathers of the project. They are to MagicBox what Corey Taylor is to Copenhell -- not just names on the poster, but living icons that carry the entire identity. When they go on, it's not just another set. It's a ceremony.
And this is perhaps the most interesting: MagicBox is such a powerful element that, in principle, it could exist completely without Tinderbox. It's the kind of EDM experience you usually have to go to Tomorrowland to find. It is bulky, tight, hard-hitting and surprisingly professionally executed. And it feels a bit like a secret party — in the middle of a forest in Odense.
You could feel like a soldier in The Firecrackerwho, after a semi-arduous journey through a dark forest and down a hole, finally meets the magic. There were guests with eyes as big as teacups -- and that makes sense. Because MagicBox does something to you, even if you thought you didn't care about EDM. It convinces you. It lures you in with lights and smoke -- and you don't come out voluntarily again.
Let's just put it like this...
MagicBox is not part of Tinderbox. It's something completely different. And that's what makes it great.
