Where the Bands Are (Jason Isbell, 18 June 2026, Heartland Festival, DK)

Thursday, June 18th was the very first day of my summer vacation. I kicked it off early by taking a 7:00 AM FlixBus from Gothenburg to Copenhagen, as I was on my way to see Jason Isbell at the Heartland Festival. This was going to be my second show of his in less than a week, following the club gig in Tilburg the previous Saturday. This time I was travelling on my own. After arriving in Copenhagen, I caught a train to Odense to check into my hotel, the Cabinn. It’s a basic hotel just around the corner from the main station. Coincidentally, it was the same hotel, where Jennifer and I had stayed for the Springsteen concert in Odense in 2024.

I checked in quickly and dropped off my backpack before starting the final leg of the trip. This involved a thirty-minute train ride to a town called Kværndrup, where free shuttle buses were supposed to take everyone to the festival. On the train, I met two women who started talking to me because I was wearing a Jason Isbell T-shirt. It turned out that one of them was a bit of a superfan who had travelled to the United States many times just to see him play. Both of them had been to his concert in Hamburg the night before and they had even managed to take a photo with Isbell after the show. We chatted for a bit and agreed that we would meet up front for the concert later on. The line for the shuttle buses at the station turned out to be huge, so I decided to skip the wait and just walk. After about thirty minutes on foot, I finally arrived at Egeskov Castle and could enter the festival area.

When I finally arrived at the grounds, it was about 4:00 PM. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and even though I had brought my rain poncho (the pouch tied to my belt), it was clear I certainly wasn’t going to need it. However, as the night progressed, it got a bit chilly and I was very glad I had also brought a light jacket. Jason Isbell and the band were scheduled to play on the “Highland” stage at 6:05 PM, which gave me just over two hours to kill. I decided to use that time to get acquainted with the festival grounds and grab something to eat and drink. There was an extensive selection of food and alcohol available and I ended up choosing some sort of Asian baguette and grabbed a beer to go with it.

Heartland is a relatively young boutique festival, that started back in 2016. It is a mid-sized event that attracts around 15,000 people. The setting itself is beautiful, as everything takes place right in the historic gardens surrounding Egeskov Castle. The audience was quite different from the Way Out West festival in my hometown, Gothenburg. I saw many older couples and families with young children, but I did not see many young people in the 20 to 30 age group. It had a relaxed, mature atmosphere compared to typical large rock festivals.

As I walked around, I also checked out where the main “Greenfield” stage was. That was where Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were set to play at 10:00 PM and my plan was to check them out later in the evening before heading back to the hotel.

When I made my way over to the Highland stage, the field in front of it was almost completely empty because a concert had just finished there. The crowd had cleared out, with people either heading over to see the next act on the other stage or going to get something to eat. It was clear right away that I would have no problem getting a spot at the rails later on. About half an hour before the show was scheduled to start, the two Danish women from the train showed up again. We ended up standing right next to each other at the rails for the entire concert.

Exactly at 6:05 PM, Jason Isbell and the band walked onto the stage. They opened with Decoration Day and followed it up with Gravelweed, which are two low-key songs to start a set, and it might have been a mistake to start a festival slot with them. Because it was a festival, the set was scheduled to be short. Isbell was only allocated about an hour, which in my opinion was way too little time. The entire setup also felt a bit smaller compared to the club show in Tilburg. For instance, multi-instrumentalist Will Johnson’s extra drum kit wasn’t even set up on stage this time, and that changed the dynamic a bit. Standing so close to the rails was a great and unique experience because it allowed me to see all the small details going on on stage. I even saw Isbell talking directly into a microphone to the soundboard technicians about a few technical adjustments.

From where I was standing, the field behind me never felt particularly engaged. The audience seemed slow to warm up, and there wasn’t much energy coming back toward the stage until well into the set. A little more interaction from Isbell could probably have changed that. He rarely addressed the crowd and a few more attempts to draw people in might helped create more of a connection. Right up at the rails, though, the atmosphere was different. It was packed with dedicated fans who knew every song and clearly loved his music. Looking toward the wings, I spotted Isbell’s daughter backstage, listening to the concert while wearing a pair of protective earmuffs. We were still rewarded with a very good show overall, even if I’ve seen him deliver much stronger performances. It made me wonder whether the festival format simply doesn’t suit Isbell and his music as well as a proper club gig.

After the concert, I said goodbye to the ladies. With three hours still to go until Nick Cave, I took another lap around the festival grounds, grabbed something else to eat and found a spot on a grassy slope. I passed the time relaxing and listening to the music drifting over from the different stages. By 10:00 PM, when it was time for Nick Cave, the long day had caught up with me. I was tired and had already started looking up train schedules back to Odense. I decided I would give his set about half an hour and then head straight for the shuttle bus back to Kværndrup station.

The large field in front of the Greenfield stage was now completely full. As soon as the band started playing, I noticed that the volume was incredibly high, hitting hard even through my Loop earplugs. Nick Cave attacked the stage with the same level of intensity, giving everything from the very first note. Nick Cave can be a lot of fun if you’re in the right mood, but I just wasn’t feeling it that evening. After about thirty minutes, I decided to head out.

I made my way to the exit and managed to squeeze onto one of the shuttle buses. When I arrived at the almost empty train station, I unexpectedly ran right into the two Danish women from earlier. As we stood on the platform waiting for our train, we could still hear Nick Cave’s set playing in the distance.

Setlist