Which is the first thing that strikes me as I arrive in the town of Roskilde, 30km from Copenhagen; though these Scandinavian kids might have glowing skin, razor sharp cheekbones, golden locks and speak in a funny language, they are just the same as us really – they like to get smashed. Really, really smashed.
It always occurs to me at festivals how little it takes for people to completely let go of their inhibitions. Step into the camping grounds and suddenly everyone is wearing outrageous clothing (if any), pissing all over the place, screaming and laughing with total strangers, and most importantly, everyone is drinking copiously. Makes you wonder what would happen if the youth were allowed to take over the world. Scary. But it seems all to be in relatively good fun, even if it is somewhat intimidating when you are by yourself and you don’t speak the language.
The idea of the Roskilde Festival is truly alternative by modern standards. It is an independent, not-for-profit festival with a social conscience and a humanitarian focus, which is incredibly refreshing in the age of corporate sponsored music. Though a cynic would point out that the festival’s main sponsor is beer company Tuborg, you have to allow an endeavour of such incredible scope some leeway. Think about it, there are over 15,000 volunteers alone involved in the festival. This year’s theme is ‘Act Against Slavery’, and through an ingenious system of bottle collection where audience members can donate their refund, they hope to raise approx AUD$93,000. The refund system is great because it encourages recycling, but in a roundabout you could argue it also encourages more rapid drinking. Not that I think these kids need any more encouraging. Lord knows I hope everyone has a great time, but it would be nice to hope that the ‘humanitarian focus’ sinks in on some level as well.
As for the music, this year’s line-up has been called the best in a decade and who can argue when the schedule sees such high profile clashes as Happy Mondays and Bob Dylan, Wolfmother and Arctic Monkeys, and the gut-wrenching scheduling of Goldfrapp, The Raconteurs AND Kaiser Chiefs.
Let’s not forget appearances by legendary dinosaurs like Morrissey and Roger Waters, metal gods like Tool, Deftones and Opeth, indie favourites Placebo and Franz Ferdinand and something for every hip-hop, jazz and ‘other’ fan in between. To walk around the site now is awe inspiring, there are hundreds of unfinished constructions taking place and moving trucks everywhere – to think that in less than 24 hours this place will be a buzzing and seething mass of sheer life-force is hard to believe. However when strolling about before I happened across the famous Orange stage and my heart stopped. The unconscious memory of footage of Radiohead playing live on that very stage came back to me and I got tingles. Goddamn this festival’s is going to be good. Bring on tomorrow.
