This past weekend saw the inaugural Denmark Street Festival, promoting the culture and heritage of the spiritual home of London pop music and vintage music gear. The event, launched by Dom Alari of Regent Sounds and Harry Napier and Jan Smosarski of Sixty Sixty Sounds, was a great success.
Though the depths of London’s winter are perhaps a strange time to launch a street festival, even cold hands and icy breath couldn’t chill the excited chatter and jovial energy.
Our aim is to raise the awareness of the street and kickstart a feeling of a new community spirit emerging from Denmark Street." - Dom Alari, Regent Sounds
Ahead of the event, Dom from Regent Sounds told Reverb, "Our aim is to raise the awareness of the street and kickstart a feeling of a new community spirit emerging from Denmark Street." To this end, the organizers brought together local restaurants, brewers, and other shop owners to celebrate Denmark Street and the West End.
After wandering through the many stands of international food on offer, many punters found themselves huddling in Regent Sounds for warmth and for beer from the Yeastie Boys, a UK craft beer brewer. While down the other end of the street, Sixty Sixty Sounds hosted British fashion label Nigel Cabourn in-store.
There was also live music throughout the day from flamenco/fingerstyle guitarist Billy Watman and Chilean rock guitarist Miguel Montalban, who drew a crowd with covers of British '70s rock classics. Finally, an intimate gig in the evening from soulful pop singer-songwriter Rhys Lewis rounded off the day’s festivities.
Even the freak cold snap didn’t dull the electric atmosphere, and we can’t wait to do it all again next year, with a somewhat more outdoor-friendly date of mid summer. Check out our photos from the inaugural event below.
