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.
From our guy (Sorry girls, The dudmeister is not single) on the ground we have received these first exclusive pictures of Roskilde before the actual festival:
The Arena stage getting it's supporting beams erected
This time coming straight of Sarcelle, Paris - when something happens in Sarcelle, nothing happens, it just another beat dropped dead... Straight out of Sarcelle crazy band of brothers called DSL...... ..... ok the NWA joke taken a bit too far. DSL are as you've guessed another French bomb hitting Roskilde. DSL - David, Stephane, Lionel - are brothers, rapping doing the whole Ed Banger thing - and if you still find that just remotely interesting, which I do, then you should definetly check them out at Roskilde - expect a short banging show.
One the few good rap names at Roskilde this year is Canadian Cadence Weapon - A typical blog phenomenon: One song on one blog and whammo signed to a label. Don't say blogs don't do anything good then.
Cadence Weapon's lyrics are tongue in cheek, with great humor and great social insight. Check out great fun number Tattoos and what they really feel like - a song based on the social implications of a tattoo, metatalking in and out of characters piece of hip-hop. This years album, Afterparty Babies is filled with the stuff, and guess what, it'sprettygreat. Thus for all you skinny jeans blog babies out there - Go get yo' hype on
Musically nothing divides Denmark like Alphabeat. The true pop affectionados love them for their impecable take on pop in the late 00's and the rockists hate them for their unpretentious take on a highschool band. I like them so I guess that makes me fit into the first group somewhere.
They are a definete must see at this years Roskilde. I highly encourage you to lay down your rockist arms and enjoy the nice side of life. This is in pop terms as good as it gets (Sorry, You'll always be number one Kylie, but these guys (and girl) are really good).
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