Danish venue Tobakken hires new booker

Immediately after Esbjerg Municipality and Musikhuset Esbjerg reached an agreement at the end of May for Musikhuset to take over the Danish venue Tobakken, the search for a booker for the venue began. Musikhuset Esbjerg can now announce that a unanimous hiring committee has chosen 34-year-old Sune Rasmussen, who will start the position after the summer break. 34-year-old Sune Rasmussen will set the artistic direction for Tobakken and make the Esbjerg venue one of the country`s largest and most influential. Sune Rasmussen, who comes to Tobakken after six successful years as venue manager at Tøjhuset in Fredericia, will start on September 1st. “Sune Rasmussen has, despite his age, extensive experience in the music industry and a large and solid network, both nationally and locally. He is well-liked and respected, strategic, and development-oriented, and he has delivered excellent results at Tøjhuset. There is no doubt that he is the right person to set the artistic direction for Tobakken,” says director of Musikhuset Esbjerg and Tobakken, Torben Seldrup. Sune Rasmussen started in 2018 at the age of 28 as the daily manager and booker at the Tøjhuset venue in Fredericia. There, he developed good cooperation with volunteer organizers and local music associations, ensuring that the venue`s annual visitor numbers increased from about 14,000 to three times that today, partly thanks to the opening of the Eksercerhuset venue, which Sune Rasmussen has also led since 2021. Now, Sune Rasmussen will move to Tobakken, aiming to make it one of the country`s most visited and influential venues. The goal is for Tobakken to present both the biggest Danish artists and international names, while also fostering niche, quirky, and new acts. It is crucial that the venue has strong local roots. “My main focus initially will be on establishing good contact with local associations. Many in Esbjerg have strong opinions and great love for Tobakken, and we need to engage with them. The starting point will be local, and then we can look at booking national and international artists,” says Sune Rasmussen. For Sune Rasmussen, taking the new job at Tobakken feels like coming home. He has been involved with the venue his entire life, first as a performer when he was part of the Ribe Rock Choir as a child, later as an audience member, and from 2009 to 2017 as an employee. He began as an apprentice event coordinator and, during his eight years at Tobakken, planned and executed numerous concerts, worked with fundraising and marketing, and led De Studerendes Hus, now known as Kanten. “I applied for the booker position and accepted it because it`s fantastic to have the opportunity to help get Tobakken back on its feet. To continue its good traditions and create new, exciting things at the venue. Esbjerg is a city with a great love for rhythmic music, and there is a large audience eager to enjoy fantastic concert experiences again. Tobakken is a place that brings joy to everyone involved – both the artists and the audience. That’s why I’m really looking forward to starting at the new Tobakken,” says Sune Rasmussen. Sune Rasmussen will start his position as booker at Tobakken on September 1, 2024. However, he has been on director Torben Seldrup`s radar for many years. “I really noticed Sune when Musikhuset and the former Tobakken together organized Slipknot in Blue Water Dokken in 2016. This young man was running around the venue pulling the strings, and I thought, ‘Okay, here’s a young man who has his act together and is going to go far,’” says Torben Seldrup. Now the circle is complete. After the summer break, Sune Rasmussen will return to the new Tobakken, now as booker and responsible for the venue`s artistic direction. Sune Rasmussen is 34 years old and lives in Esbjerg. He is trained as an event coordinator from Tobakken and also holds a marketing economist degree from IBC Kolding.