First thing is first - This was the rainest Roskilde Festival ever. This meant mud in quantites unimaginable and a couple of rather large ponds of water in now dead tent 'Mont Palace' (Peace be upon your soul old friend, you served us well and will forever be missed). Besides this horrible casualty I caught some sort of wicked disease which has, and still is, threating to kill me - This meant an early end to my festival late saturday night. Thus my review is not going to mention sunday in any way.  First concert was on the Arena stage with barok indie kings Arcade Fire. Ironically, considering this is a four day festival, this was the concert I was looking forward to the most. The concert was everything one could expect I guess. The 'Fire delivered their music with perfect timing, beautiful expression and great skill, but the crowd was simply too drenched in mud to enjoy the delicate sounds, I guess. After a rather slow start it did start to dawn on the throngs that they were witnessing a special band, and in the final stages the crowd responce was getting to where it should have started. Wake Up was great, the stabing guitar intro was desperately trying to compete with the apocalypsian rain outside. Despite the crowd my best concert of the year.  Following this demonstration in church organs and mass-instrumentalism it was on to James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem. Murphy is a weird character, it looked like he spend the better part of the concert rearranging moniters, and musing on whether he should have brought a different synth. LCD Soundsystem are a mixed blessing in my oppinion. They make great dancy post-punk fussed electronica, but Murphy's vocals are really a bit out of place when he isn't giving it his fullest. New classic Daft Punk is playing at my house was dance floor dynamite, All of my friends with it's big indie chorus was better than ever before, and Tribulations still rocks. This leaves the question, why end your ass stomping set with a ballad instead of one the many powerful disco missiles in your arsenal? Following this I'd planned to go see The Killers, but I only managed to see the last 20 minuttes. Seriously, I was impressed that Brendan Flowers didn't drown on the stage - It was raingning that much. The Killers aren't going to chance the world, but they will hopefully keep on speewing their delightful Born in the USA pastichés at their current pace. Friday started of with nothing less than a bang! I've have never been a big fan of The Sounds, I've always found their punk-lite version of 1979 a bit lacking, but I must admit I've been corrected on that. Any band who has the audacity to start a set with what is probably is your biggest single is a winner in my book. Living in America tore into the crowd like a great white in a public pool. The outcome was certain victory! Furthermore, Maja Ivarsson looked absolutely great - I hereby give my undevided love to blond girls in leather jackets! From one powerful frontwoman to another. New Young Pony Club are probably the most group on this years festival lineup, but coming from the small explosion of the Sounds, The Club weren't that impressive. Gotta say I enjoyed their songs, but they would have been better of in a club sweating discobeats galore instead of fighting to grab the attention of wet hype hunters like myself. After that it was on to N.Y. legends the Beastie Boys. My attendance was more a question of actually seeing them while they still are alive, but to my geat enjoyment it was like seeing old friends you didn't know you missed. Playing Sabrossa caught me completely off guard, I was transported to my bedroom, age 15 drinking beers and being absolutely frusted with girls. It was great! The B.Boys looked like they were enjoying themselves, which in a sense is natural with a back catalogue of their caliber. After being sufficently taken back into teenage wonderland my drunken brain for some reason decided that Trentemøller was better than going see Dizzee Rascal - It wasn't. What I saw of the live performance of the actually quite good The Last Resort wasn't that impressive. It's not that the music wasn't good, it's just that it seemed as if the Trent stretched each number just a few inches beyond the breaking point, making it a rather tedious spectacle.  The lesson of friday ended up being that female leads rule. I went to see CSS. Same show as I saw earlier this year, but it still rocked. You just can't help but have sympathy for Love Foxxx - A full rimestone suit doesn't hurt either. A small soap bubble stunt early in the concert sent the crowd through the roof. I still love Alala and Let's make Love. After the electronical let down of Trentemøller I went with a somewhat controlled enthusiasm to the Get Physical night held in the new excellent club arena. Luckily drinks, good friends and M.A.N.D.Y. cured any fears of a letdown. Despite early technical difficulties M.A.N.D.Y. primmed the crowd for Booka Shade's drum/Safri Duo show. I was amazed at the level of crowd responce to some of their songs, and I'm pretty sure the roof would've been blown of, if it hadn't been tied in place, when they played Body Language. My night ended in a hammock listening The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Greatest starlet in a band ever. I have never heard so much abuse yelled in such a short time. The music pretty decent rock'n'roll, but the adlib grand!  Saturday was as mentioned my last day. My health went from 100 to 0 in less than two hours on that day. Started of by seeing The National which had apparantly gotten quite alot of blog hype. Their Leonard Cohenish take on Interpol was just what the doctor ordered when you're tired and sick. This was probably my sort-of-discovery of the year. After that it was pouring outside the tent, so I decided to stay and watch blue grass semi legends Hayseed Dixie - Americana versions of AC/DC - Yes please! Amuzing, albeit not funny in the long run I willing to bet. It was a welcome joke though - Up until then the festival had been a rather serious affair music wise - this wasn't.  Late night entry The Flaming Lips was always going to be a gamble. I've never seen them live before, but I've heard the legends. Sadly, their insane show of confetti, aliens and a giant santa claus, sort of blew away in the wind, quite literaly actually. Wayne Coyne was in a jubilant mood, sentimental and proud, oh how lovely. I normally enjoy their music quite alot, but on a rainy windy Saturday afternoon light psycadelic bubble gum pop found it's literal Waterloo (Ok, the Waterloo reference is too easy). Went to see British country hag Holly Golightly (catapulted into popular mainstream on that White Stripes song). The warm embrace of country and sitting down was probably one of my highlights of the festival. I'd wish she'd played Walk a Mile, but I enjoyed it anyways. Unpretentious and charming is a good combination - She sports the whiskey drunk country skank look to perfection, I was impressed. I heard from various reliable sources that Clipse and Soulsavers Feat. Mark Lanegan playing at the same time was quite good as well - Would've liked to have gone to both concerts. Final concerts was ladies man Erlend Oye and his jam band The Whitest Boy Alive - highly enjoyable. The dancy disco indie would be perfect a small intellectual gathering of nerds discussing the merits of Linux while trying to plot world domination. After some food and the sad acceptance of the fact that I was sick as hell I went to see Bondo Da Role - Lasers, Bass and Brazilian galore! If I'd been just a bit more healthy this would probably have been the bomb. Reports of Sunday tells of decent concerts from Beirut, Arctic Monkeys and Muse. I'm especially sad that I missed Beirut, but my generel health was not worth gambling I thought. Hum along to the intrumentals here Get your Weapons of Grass Destruction here If you haven't, get the 5 Years of Get Physical collecten here
************************ So the final festival verdict based on the shitty weather, but ok concerts:  Labels: Roskilde Festival |
