And just like that another amazing Roskilde week (June 29-July 6) in Roskilde, Denmark is over.
The week was filled with countless and incredible performances by various musicians ranging from smaller local artists to veteran Roskilde performers like legendary The Rolling Stones, and even a few newcomers to the festival like the iconic Jack White.
This was not only my first time at the music festival, but also my first camping experience. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about the idea of living on a plot of grass just big enough to fit a one-man tent for a whole week but it was totally worth it. My site was only a couple minutes walk from the entrance to the festival, which allowed me to enjoy Roskilde to the fullest.
The first four days are called “warm up days,” and the last four days are called “music days” when the orange stage opens. The entire week showcased music on the smaller stages.
It is close to impossible to describe the perfect combination of joy and misery that is Roskilde. When you are asked about Roskilde, you can only say it is an amazing experience. It is so amazing in fact that you forget about the 25+ degree weather, the dry dust that gets kicked in your face, the pouring rain that ruins your shoes, the smell of urine throughout the camp sites, the garbage everywhere, the drunk zombie-like crowd trampling you all hours of the day, the inability to run from stage to stage due to that crowd, and the pure exhaustion that comes from 6-24 hour days of pure musical and partying bliss.
All of this combined makes Roskilde Festival a painful yet wonderful experience—bittersweet is the only way to describe it. It is set in a campsite of dirt surrounded by a breathtaking sky, which brings heat and dust. In some zones there is grass and trees, which provides some salvation of shade.
The zombie-like crowd that’s trampling you also dance and sing alongside you all day (some provide added entertainment through their brave fashion choices, which they implement as a team within their camps).
The “warm up days” are filled with pure hedonism of alcohol, drugs and sex, in the various campsites, which is followed by four days of concerts from some incredible artists. You will be smothered by the excitement you feel from seeing so many of your favorite bands in one huge communal space! Best of all, there’s a feeling of oneness with the crowd and an energy you feel from the performers as they feed off of the excitement from the fans that you won’t experience at a regular concert.
A few tips I wish someone would’ve told me before I got there: Make sure to bring rain boots—your shoes will get wrecked in the rain, and it will rain. Bring a tarp to put over your tent to protect it from the rain, night cold and morning heat. No matter what time you decide to go to bed, you will awaken early in the morning by the blistering sun. You won’t get much sleep for the week. Bring a blow up pad to put under your sleeping bag. Make sure you have a warm sleeping bag—it’s freezing at nights. Your tent will most likely be moved a tad by other tents setting up around you, but no one will take things from inside your tent. It’s really easy to plan your lineup and pick back-to-back sets but give yourself some time to rest, eat and see the rest of the Roskilde attractions, like the skate park. The charging stations are horrible, so take your own battery back up. Roskilde allows you bring in your own food and drinks, but the food there is exceptional so I would suggest just buying it there to avoid bugs and stink in your inevitably overheated tent. Bring a collapsible water container to fill with water once you’re inside. And lastly, expect to feel complete exhaustion at the end of the multi-day festival, so give yourself a few days to recover after the festival ends.
Burning Man and Coachella are comparable festivals, however those are all about taking a chance to wear that outfit you wouldn’t dare wear anywhere else in the world. But Roskilde seems a bit tamer, so wear what you want, but take it down a few notches here, I’d say.
I started off each morning with breakfast/lunch from the wide array of food vendors with organic and vegan choices on the campgrounds then headed to the skate park to watch contests.
Then it was time to head over to the campsites. The first day everyone set up camp and started the insanity. The music was played from the camps, all day and night. There were campsites in the east and west sections. The east was filled with teens and the west with a college age crowd. Each campsite was filled with their own specific flavor of music, alcohol, drugs, and promiscuous sex.
Nightly, the campsites became an after-hours dance party with DJs. One campground even had a hair salon where you can get your hair done however you like by stylists–free! I definitely recommend checking this out, especially for girls who decide to camp!
I’d have to say that Day 2 was my favorite day of the “warm up days”. Sloa knivar, a hardcore punk band from Sweden, was one of my favorite bands. They put on a show that went above and beyond what I was expecting. All members of the band were constantly dancing and jumping around the stage, which really got the crowd going even in the mid-day pouring rain. After that, I walked around to other campsites and danced around to music that each camp had, talking with the campers.
I began Day 3 with a Swedish electronic pop band Say Lou Lou. I also got the chance to see an awesome show by the Danish hard rock band, Fortress that I had never listened to before but definitely enjoyed. We had tons of fun jumping around with the gigantic crowd
The night of day 3, I took the 30-minute train back to Copenhagen and rested in a real bed, feeling sick from the combination of the heat, pouring rain, stress from an x-bf stalker, and poor sleep.
I took the train back to Roskilde the night of day 4 just in time to use my laminate passes backstage and watch The Rolling Stones from side stage. This was the easily the best overall performance of the festival. They put on a show like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The energy and the passion behind their lyrics and melody were so obvious and the crowd was the biggest I had seen at Roskilde. Backstage was filled with celebrities and royalty including the prince and crown princess of Denmark.
The 4th night I was lucky to dance around to Deftones. I then rocked out to Rob Zombie who drew a faithful audience of devil-horn-hoisting head bangers to their set on the orange stage. I ended my evening by chilling out to Mogwai.
The 5th night I got to see Icona Pop, Tokimonsta, Interpol, and Major Lazer—they were all incredible performances! Major Lazer put on a hugely enjoyable parody of itself. The crowd went insane jumping around to ‘Watch Out For This’, ‘Bubble Butt’, ‘Get Free’ some covers and original dancehall ting while Diplo crowd surfed in a plastic ball and girls’ twerked on stage. Their bereted mascot made an appearance.
The 6th and final night showcased diverse bands ranging The Black Dahlia Murder to the legendary Stevie Wonder. I was extremely excited to see one of the most iconic guitarists of our generation, Jack White. The lengthy set list and multiple indulgent extended jams led to a ceiling-shaking, crowd-driven version of “Seven Nation Army” to close out the night and end the festival.
It was an amazing week complete with great music, happy people and mostly good vibes. Already counting down the days until I will return for Roskilde 2015! – See more at: http://roskilde-festival.dk/
By Roya Butler, WH’12
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