| Wednesday, July 09, 2008 |
| Roskilde Review |
So another festival under the belt. I'm still hungover and enjoying civilization, I'm not really a camper type. Good news was of course the total lack of rain except during the final concert which you sort of have to accept for good measure.
First order of Roskilde this year was soul diva Duffy. Placed on the rather large Arena stage she struggled despite a wonderful singing voice. She was a bit out of her league, but on the other hand I did enjoy her flirtatious attempts. Soul-hype was switched with rock-hybrid-hype in the form of MGMT. They're not bad, but their lo-fi version of the Killers isn't really my cup of tea, at least live.  After feroucious drinking in our camp it was of to cut yourself in the wrist kings Radiohead. Seriously great sound, lots of grade A material, but so lacking in variation and tempo. I took a quick peek at Lady Saw, which was hailed as some sort of sex goddess, but in fact it was pretty standard quality jamaican dance hall. My thursday ended in a small storm of red wine and the best company in the world.
Friday started of with indie-darlings Band of Horses which was insanely boring, thank God they played 'There is a Ghost' first. After that I went to the Orange stage for Gnarls Barkley which was OK I guess.
After that of to one the best concerts i.e. Santogold. An ultra short banging set, all singles all bass - the way every festival gig should be. I liked it despite a lot of complaints of a club type set.  After that following a quick rush, I got to see some of Scotlands finest in the form of Mogwai.
Grinderman on Orange was effing great. Nick is a God in man form. As a friend noted he has a presence like Jim Morrison and might I add a voice a zillions more evil. It was great, and great respect must go to Warren Ellis the closest you'll get to an insane mass murdere playing Roskilde. A quick run back to Arena gave me a peek at Goldfrapp which were sadly focussing on their new laid back hippie type album. After sleepy electro it was highlight of Roskilde concert time: "We did this last time Roskilde, we'll do it again. Go low!" - fucking great seeing 70.000 sitting down at the same time, just to explode in to dance. Skinner was the delivery boy, everything was on time and near perfect. Thank God skinner keeps on doing his thing. The Ting Tings were pretty nice. Killer singles and 50% killer looks. Didn't do much during the day, but come early evening I went to the Judas Priest show... Holford moved like a 60 year old man, not that good, but effective. After what could be a show in Las Vegas of to what definetly was a show from Las Vegas, Mr. Solomon Burke. If you walk into a concert and the first thing you hears is You'll never walk alone, then you know you're in the right place.
Night fell on Roskilde after that and thus it was time for Distortion Disco hall of fame captain Neil Young. He was basically the reason I learned guitar a zillion years ago. Young was on fire! Best concert.  The day ended with pop heroes Alphabeat on the Odeon scene. A nice party of the people - Fascination rocked. Oh and I dropped by Magnetic Man. Biggest. Bass. Ever.
Sunday was a lazy day for me, so a quick glimpse of At The Gates, party time with Hot Chip and the mighty Jayhova to close it of. Jay-Z received a lot of criticism, but to be fair it was actually 1½ hour of pure fun.
The overall verdict? I'll give it 4 out 5. All concerts were basically good, but the program lacked anything new, but the weather, people, food and everything else was nice.
Neil Young - Like a Hurricane
Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
The Streets - Let's Push Things Forward
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Check this page for some really nice picturesLabels: Roskilde Festival |
posted by Niall Quinn @ 9:23 AM   |
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