You don't dance because you're happy.
You're happy because you dance.

Music, celebration, community and loving chaos as Hess Is More: Apollonian Circles transforms Store VEGA on 4 and 5 September into an ecstatic, sensory celebration of VEGA’s 30th birthday.

A birthday party like no other

As VEGA turns 30, we invite you to Hess Is More: Apollonian Circles – VEGA 30th Birthday Celebration: a concert experience where music, stage design and the audience merge into one huge, collective party. There are no spectators here, only guests at a birthday party.

In the middle of the hall stands a long table; a gathering point and the heart of the party. The instruments are part of the table setting, the musicians sit around the table, and the audience stands close by. There is no separation between stage and hall. The music emerges from the community, first as a subdued, expectant whisper, then more insistently, until it all tips over into dance, ecstasy and loving chaos.

You step into a room bearing traces of a party that has already taken place: empty bottles, crumpled tablecloths, the light from the set design casting shadows on the walls. Through light, costumes and performative elements, the birthday comes to life again alongside you. The music swells, the bodies move, and suddenly you are in the midst of a sensory, collective movement where no one can stand still.

Tonight’s programme

Drum duo featuring Mikkel Hess and Henrik Vibskov. The beating heart of rhythm that sets the tone for the evening.

Piano Chronicles with Nikolaj Hess and Daniel Nentwig (The Whitest Boy Alive) – a four-handed piano duo exploring the piano’s deep depths and airy peaks

Apollonian Circles at Store VEGA: an ecstatic, collective journey through orchestral experimental pop, improvisation and trance.

Guest soloists on Friday 4 September:

Smag På Dig Selv, Mette Lindberg, Henrik Vibskov, Daniel Nentwig, Jeuru, Michala Petri

Guest soloists on Saturday 5 September:

Carl Knast, Oilly Wallace, Mette Lindberg, Henrik Vibskov, Daniel Nentwig, Jeuru, Michala Petri

This evening is a concert celebration honouring VEGA as a concert venue over three decades, music as a meeting place, and the special magic that arises when we let go together. An invitation to celebrate history, the present and community – and to lose yourself in a party unlike any other.

What are Apollonian Circles?

Apollonian Circles is Hess Is More’s circular concert format, where the audience is invited right up close to the musicians and becomes an active part of the musical cycle. The music moves between orchestral experimental pop, collective improvisation and rhythmic trance, where repetitions slowly build intensity. The musicians react to one another – and to you. The music emerges in the moment as a shared, physical experience.

For, as they say in the Apollonian universe: You don’t dance because you’re happy. You’re happy because you dance