Smukfest says about 10 people had to be helped over a barrier during The Minds of 99’s concert on Saturday, August 8, 2026, after heavy crowd pressure in front of the Bøgescenen stage.
DR reports that Sydøstjyllands Politi will evaluate the incident together with the festival in Skanderborg. According to the same reporting, police were not directly involved while the crowd pressure was building.
The concert was one of the main events of this year’s festival. Smukfest has said that no one was known to have been injured, and that the area in front of the stage will be reviewed to prevent a repeat.
Midtjyllands Avis reports that the pressure occurred at the very start of the concert. Per the same paper, an estimated 38,000 people were gathered in front of the Bøgescenen, making it the festival’s biggest concert of 2026.
Midtjyllands Avis also notes that singer Niels Brandt addressed the audience after the third song and asked people to look after one another. Smukfest has described the crowd size as the reason the situation developed so quickly.
Police back the festival’s handling
B.T. reports that Sydøstjyllands Politi did not have to step in, because Smukfest staff handled the situation themselves. According to B.T., police described the course of events as completely as expected under the festival’s own safety responsibility.
Police told the same outlet that they had no knowledge of injuries, but that later reports could still come in. Smukfest and its volunteers were described by police as having the situation under control.
Ekstra Bladet reports that two attendees fainted, and that several others needed help getting out of the crowd. The same outlet reports that Smukfest itself stated around 10 people were lifted over a barrier by staff.
Ekstra Bladet adds that the festival said it would evaluate the concert area after the incident. The figures reported so far differ slightly, with the roughly 10 people helped over the barrier counted separately from those who fainted.
The concert was part of the band’s 2026 activity, following the tour The Minds of 99 announced for this year. Smukfest runs annually in the beech forest above Skanderborg in East Jutland.
Crowd management at the festival has drawn attention before, including when traffic problems around Smukfest prompted a review by the local mayor. The evaluation now announced concerns the concert area itself, according to the festival’s own statement reported by Ekstra Bladet.
Neither Smukfest nor Sydøstjyllands Politi has given a date for when the joint evaluation will be completed, according to DR.
