Roskilde Festival, the week long rock festival featuring 150 top bands was about to commence. 60,000 people camp out 4 days in advance, creating their own party before the stages open. The stages are ORANGE, ARENA, COSMOPOL, PAVILION and ODEON and bands are placed in order of their popularity. This year, 2 of my fav stages ASTORIA and LOUNGE, were closed dude to financial crisis. The festival is officially open on thursday while a neat 100,000 guests and staff rock this little town called Roskilde half an hour from central Copenhagen.

Day 1 (Thursday 1 July)

We started out exploring the scenes by visiting Arena stage where PARAMORE was playing to a houseful. It took just 2 songs for us to realize that it was some kind of a teenage fad. And later did i realize that the hype came along with their soundtrack to another hyped teen-flick – TWILIGHT. We then move further to LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. The financial crunch had shown its signs at Cosmopol stage which usually house electronic music, had cut down on their extravagant light shows. Even the big screen display was half the size. So, there was not much other option but to edge in as close to the stage as possible. But the hype had hit LCD SS as well, and was soon getting overcrowded, and we decided to bail out. Next stop, GORILLAZ. Damon Albarn was not who i wanted to see on the huge screen. But we like their creativity about that band and the new music they created. We therefor decided to stay until they belt out the more known hits.

Day 2 (Friday 2 July)

A long rest and a long train ride later we just manage to miss FLORENCE + THE MACHINE. We entered the stages hungry and to a bite of a pizza, we watched DIZZY MISS LIZZY who were belting out their classics. We later agreed that there is nothing better than classic rock, and DML was got at it. We walked into a much happier scenario at Odeon stage, where CASIOKIDS were playing to their faithful fans. Happy teens in chicken suits were jumping around happy. We decided to watch the fun for a while. We than edged towards the pit at the Orange Stage to ALICE IN CHAINS. I was never a big fan of theirs, but they performed without bells and whistles to a faithful 60,000 fans. We had spotted a falafel stall while at Odeon stage, and as we were waiting that long queue to the counter, we heard BOBAN I MARKO MARKOVIC ORKESTAR perform their gipsy samba music. We chanced upon BIFFY CLYRO at Arena scene and the sound felt good, but we were in a hurry to find a good spot to THEM CROOKED VULTURES. Yet another good rock from a band formed of Dave Grohl (Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens of Stone Age) and John paul Jones (Led Zepplin). We wade further to watch NOFX deliver humorous Ska-Punk. We decided to hit the bus as we heard the mediocre sound of NEPHEW.

Day 3 (Saturday 3 July)

The days session started with a fun band at Pavilion stage by the name MEXICAN INSTITUTE OF SOUND. We managed to hop to the synthed beats and a chubby front man. Once again at the pits at the Orange Scene, we watch KASHMIR perform their classics. One of the best bands of Denmark was worth the time we spent there. We had decided to queue up for the pits to watch MUSE up front, but the long queue bent our plans for the better. I ran into PENDULUM which sounded pretty much like  THE PRODIGY. I stayed a while watching the amazing visuals and the mad crowd hopping to the synth stabs. The MUSE was a delight. We found a good spot on the far end where the sound and the view balanced both ears and eyes. We stood transfixed to the Lazer lights shooting out from the Orange Stage. We managed to hit the pits to THE PRODIGY, to which i was a bit disappointed. I have earlier seen them perform at underground venues where they belonged best. But it seemed that many more liked their performance than this hardcore fan called ME. I spent a few 10 minutes to MODERAT, a four piece electro band. i finished my session at 4 am to KELLERMENSCH. I was clearly influenced by MUSE, that any other performance was hard to match them the rest of the day.

Final Day (Sunday 4 July)

We walked into the stage to a much overcrowded Arena Stage where THE NATIONAL were playing. Hype monkies were hanging of the trees in front of Arena Scene. KASABIAN was on their day job routing at the Orange Scene. The girls decided to queue up for PRINCE and i decided to explore further. I chanced upon JULIAN MARLEY giving the people the spirit of his much famous father Bob Marley. Get up, stand up… you know what i mean. I decided to empty my bladder before PRINCE took over the 80,000 people, and on the way to the toilets i got to listen to THE TEMPER TRAP perform their radio hit. PRINCE… what can i say. I updated my facebook status “i found god, and his name is PRINCE”, need i say more. We closed the big festival to ARRIBA LA CUMBIA SYSTEMA SOLAR CHICO TRUJILLO which was one big happy party. People were clearly enjoying the last moment of the greatest music festival of the year, everyone promising to return next year.

I had my first visit to Roskilde Festival in 2000, as i got the tickets as a gift from one of the close friend of my girlfriend then. Thank you Eskil, i have never stopped since then (except one year!). So this makes it my 9th Roskilde Festival. 150 top band per year, times 9….. yes, I have pretty much experienced the Roskilde feeling out to the max, The sex, drug and rock n’ Roll bit. Its not much of sex and drugs anymore as years went by. I started focussing on other things that Roskilde festival offers. Stuff like art and creativity. I started absorbing inspirations from this festival vibe. To think differently, with no boundaries, bravely, colorfully, rebelliously, senselessly. I had been busy  spanning one end of the camping to the other seeking interesting stuff, The last few years at the Roskilde.

Unfortunatelty, i wont be able to do much of running around this time around, as i sprained my ankle. I guess i am going to be this guy who i shot last year.

i will most definitely listen to some good bands and give you the feedback.

Meanwhile, check some of the Roskilde moments i have captured thru the years.

Today, i let iTunes genius pick my songs on my way to the work. Electronic was the genre, Moby, Tricky, Thievery Corporation, Royksöpp and Fatboy slim was among the selected. While listening to Fatboy Slim, i recollected that his music videos were unique. While the track “Weapon of Choice” was playing, i remembered how Christopher Walken, who is otherwise known for acting powerful characters, was dancing to it. We enjoyed it more, specially because he took us by surprise. A sure classic music video.