Friday 25 September 2026. I was stressed, tired and dehydrated. On the way into town I thought: I'll stand by Rundetårn today. I genuinely don't know if I'm alive tomorrow, so do it to live in the moment.
I set up and started my first song. Almost immediately a small group of tourist men came over. They were happy, and they pulled out notes. Three of them tipped me while I was still playing — during that first song. Mostly notes and few coins. I couldn't see how much it was while I played.
It turned out to be dollar bills, euro coins and a pound note. Three currencies, that was also a first time. Standing there doing the maths in my head I guessed maybe 100 kroner. When I counted it properly at the library afterwards it came to 140 DKK — earned in the first song of a session that lasted under ten minutes.
My previous record was 72 crowns, back in May.
That is a real meal for me and my son Angelo in Malmö, earned by playing. It's a signal about the future: what I do has value.
And the currencies say something too. Dollars, euros, a pound. I'm a world citizen. It happens often that the money comes from tourists, and Americans in particular seem to like what I do. That suits me — I write my songs in English and I want to reach the whole world, not only Denmark.
For the record: I started busking in late April 2026. My first money ever was 20 crowns on 6 May 2026, on Frue Plads, after about a week and a half of turning up every day and playing "Now the War Is Over" to nobody in particular. That is five months ago. I have played almost five days a week through the whole summer, while I was also writing the code that migrated LasseCash to MAGI.
Tired, end of the month, expecting nothing. Best day I have ever had.
I keep every coin and every note in small bags. One day I am going to show my son all of it and tell him: this was made playing music in the streets of Copenhagen.
you heard it here first.
Lasse Ehlers