How a balancing act between great pop and a very political touch worked.
One of the largest non-profit festivals in Europe has been taking place in Roskilde, Denmark, since 1971. As in previous years, a balancing act between great pop and a very political note was also achieved this time, which was reflected more than ever in the choice of headline acts.
In the mid-90s and early noughties, it was even more common to hear that German festival fans went to Roskilde. Especially from northern Germany, the journey was already quite unproblematic at that time, thanks to the good ferry connections, which were quite cheap if you booked early. The reason for the journey was obvious: Roskilde, which premiered in 1971, has always had the really big numbers on stage. So the price-performance ratio was right – even if it was never a particularly cheap festival. But: Anyone who has only visited the Roskilde Festival once has always learned something else along the way: that a festival of the largest size that Europe has to offer can also be staged as a political event, or rather as a political statement.
Unfortunately, these travel groups became smaller and smaller over the years, which of course was due to the fact that the Hurricane, for example, started in Germany. In addition, Roskilde itself was a victim of its success: for many Danish senior classes and cliques, it has become a fixed summer ritual. If you want to go, you have to be quick when buying tickets. Nevertheless: one would wish that the Roskilde spirit would spread a little more. Because this festival naturally manages to put a really diverse line-up on stage, to inspire and disturb its audience – and still be a unique party at the same time.
While spring break vibes prevail at the campsites (which open a week before the start of the main concert days), at lunchtime you can also watch talks with Luisa Neubauer on one of the main stages or just watch the fat headliners. The basic mood at Roskilde is also different: This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of the work – such as checking the wristbands – is often done by very young volunteers, who can still immerse themselves in the festival after their shifts and are therefore in a good mood. Many food stalls, on the other hand, are run by clubs or youth organizations, which use them to make money into their coffers and are motivated accordingly.
A festival that would not be possible in this country
Excuse the long introduction, but anyone who writes a review inspired by the Roskilde vibe simply thinks every few sentences: Another festival world is possible! Although it might be unfair to compare the big players on the domestic market with a festival construct that would probably not be possible in this form in this country and that has its roots expressly in political youth work.
But enough of the preamble: Let’s face the challenge of somehow capturing these four days of concerts and admit that this project is doomed to failure. Whoever visits Roskilde cannot see all the important gigs. So, with 205 acts, you should leave the FOMO at home from the start. There is just too much happening on the six music stages for that and even if you save all your favorites in advance and work out a schedule, it happens again and again that you get stuck on a stage while walking past and maybe see the concert of the year.
So let’s concentrate on the headliners first: On Thursday, Kendrick Lamar did the honors and although he rapped out of this world as usual, his gig divided minds. Because Kendrick really only rapped, accompanied by a few dancers, held back with announcements and above all let his art work. Which of course, as always, was a hit with the festival crowd, who wanted to celebrate the first evening in front of the main stage, but didn’t really get it.
On Friday there were two highlights on the Orange Stage: On the one hand, Lil Nas X landed on the stage with his colorful dancers, fantasy animals and ultra-gay outfits and delivered an extraterrestrially colorful performance. Only unfortunately mostly for playback – which is not surprising when you saw how he danced across the stage, but still. A little more live would have been awesome. But thoughts of this kind were somehow wiped away after a few songs, because his gig was just a hell of a lot of fun and in the end both men and women fell in love with his outfit as a gay legionnaire with breastplates.
Later in the night and unfortunately with annoying constant rain, Burna Boy entered the stage. And here one wondered briefly whether one could imagine that at a German festival: that a world star from Nigeria, who is also heard a lot here, naturally gets the stage at a pop and rock festival that he earned. Anyone who knows the Nigerian’s very checked out and commercially produced Afrobeat might have been surprised at how warm and organic his live performance sounds: With a good dozen musicians on stage, his performance was one of the highlights of the weekend.
Blur or Rosalia?
On Friday, when it came to headline acts, the nasty question was: Blur on the Orange Stage or Rosalía in the huge tent of the Arena Stage? After all, for Damon Albarn, Roskilde is an affair of the heart. The festival’s head of music even said that Damon once stayed at the campsite. He also has fond memories of the big shows with the Africa Express, which once ran for over four hours. Blur start the concert confidently with the new single “St. Charles Square”, followed a little later by “Beetlebum”, appear relaxed and tight – and yet: You somehow feel that you should be with Rosalía. And that’s how it is: Thousands of people who no longer fit into the tent, which is open on the sides, gather around the Arena Stage. What then happens on stage is the perfect combination of live concert and choreography that is precise to the second. Even the water break is staged: Rosalía is sitting on a chair, a dancer is approaching with long strides and slowly pours water into her mouth like a queen. A few seconds later, Rosalía is singing and twirling across the stage again, in a wide dress that is unpretentious and chic at the same time. There is a very nice moment when she wants to play “Hentai” on the piano, but Blur is just banging on from the main stage. She admits that it bothers her, but that she loves Blur and would have liked to see her.
Later that evening, the Orange Stage belonged to Christine And The Queens, who came out as genderqueer in an interview in 2019 and announced last year that he identifies as a man. His performance was a one-man show in the truest sense of the word: Chris only shared the stage with a dozen costumes, which he took down from a clothes rail himself for each song, and a row of antique-looking statues. He also only played songs from his latest album — and he did it shirtless for much of the time, his nipples taped with flesh-colored bandages, and strutted the stage with swag that transcended gender. Even if you would have liked to hear earlier songs from him, it remained a big statement. This also applied to the finale on the Orange Stage with Lizzo, who sent wholesome vibes into the world with her vibe, her queer flute, her voice and her dancers.
Incidentally, the festival organizers said in advance that they had deliberately opted for “agenda setting headliners” – in line with the current motto: “Utopia”. Here again the political note was evident, because the festival, which celebrated its 50th birthday last year, officially declared itself looking to the future. Signe Lopdrup, CEO of Roskilde Festival said: “This year we have put a special focus on ensuring that Roskilde Festival remains the strong platform for youth culture that we have been for the past 50 years. Not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of the new generations. We live in a time marked by severe crises, and this also affects the new generations. During the development of this year’s festival, we were told again and again that young people find it difficult to imagine a positive future.” That’s why they try to spread a kind of constructive optimism with the talks and performances. Here are goals – which you can easily buy from this festival.
Rock pathos is not a man’s thing
Meters of text have already been written and yet only the headliners have been discussed so far. What is left to say? Way too much. Ethel Cain’s performance, for example, was a single mass, Fever Ray’s was a wonderfully crazy costume part, and Rina Sawayama’s was perfect proof that rock pathos is not a man’s thing. The Danish acts were also convincing, above all Brimheim, who enchanted the audience on Thursday evening on the Avalon Stage with well-used pathos and a wonderful stage design. Japanese Breakfast Throwing chilled vibes and reaped lots of love, 070 Shake would have been better seen later at night than during the day, but she was obviously having a good time, while on the sidelines current girlfriend Lily-Rose Depp lent a chill vibe along. For many, the winner on Saturday was Loyle Carner, who was visibly touched by the audience’s enthusiasm and had a hard time holding back his tears of emotion.
Equally exciting were the excursions to countries and musical genres that had not yet been considered and that always work surprisingly well at Roskilde. The rousing Frafra-Gospel by the Ghanaian Florence Adooni, for example, or the Iranian-Israeli pop music by Liraz, who recorded parts of her last albums with Iranian musicians who risked their freedom to do so.
The Roskilde is also good at bringing exciting screams to the stage: Here you could let acts like Ithaca, Chat Pile or the Danes Eyes yell at you, which always has a liberating effect and helps to reduce the overkill of the influences a little .
One could go on writing for hours – but who is going to read all this? In any case, Roskilde has once again managed to preserve its unique spirit and even though the German festival market has flourished in recent decades, you should only give yourself this experience once in a lifetime. If only to remember what the article in the headline promises: a different festival world is possible.