Roskilde Festival

Well I survived the Roskilde Festival. I got there on June 25th and left July 3rd, so a whole week of living out of a tent, portapotties, cold showers or paid hot ones, garbage everywhere, warm beer and crazy 24 hour parties. The whole week was just one big party. Most people were drinking all day everyday. And the bands hadn't even started yet. The night I got there (after 2 hours trying to find my friends among the chaotic camp ground. I had no idea how big the thing actually was) it poured and then rained heavily on and off for the next two days. A big mudfest. Rubber boots became very fashionable throughout the festival. Luckily my tent was waterproof but I couldn't believe how could it would get at night. After getting rid of all my winter clothes in Iceland and travelling around with 30+ weather I wasn't prepared for that.

By the time the bands started though on the 29th, it had dried up and warmed up a fair bit too. On the first day the highlights were Guns 'n Roses, which I thought were pretty good considering Axel had to take a 10 min breather between each song, he still runs around the whole stage, and they were an hour late starting. I felt kind of bad for the band members though because they can never be original, they have to always play the old GNR hits and when the band members tried to play something, like their own solo there was little feedback from the audience. Since GNR were an hour late, which I didn't realise, I ended up missing half of Sigur Rós, which I was hoping to get to early so I could get in front row but had to be satisfied with being squished on the edge and barely able to see. At least the sound was good, and I have seen them twice before (though still..).

The 2nd day there was the Kaizers Orchestra (from Norway) who were amazing. There was so much energy and crazy tunes, they beated metal barrels with crowbars and bats. So much fun. Then there was Bob Dylan, which was really disappointing and I felt really bad for him since so many people waited to see him but after a few songs most of the people left. He just had no energy and didn't play any of his hits. also the camera was set to about 20 meters away from him and the band for the whole show which was really boring to watch. The main highlight of this day was seeing the Scissor Sisters. Wow they were so crazy and so much fun. Even though I was exhausted at this point (they started at 1am) it was so much fun to dance with everyone else to their songs.

The 3rd day the big bands were Deftones and Tool. They were both good but when tool was on I was really tired and still had to wait another 2 hours till HIM came on at 2am. I decided to go back to the tent to have a nap but my clock was wrong and I only got to see the last 10 mins of HIM. Was still good.

The last day was probably one of the best performances. I saw Placebo, a bit of Franz Ferdinand (then went to the Balkan Beat Box) and at 9pm, the last band, was Roger Waters... wow.. that was amazing. The first hour he played random songs from their albums, including one song he wrote about the war in the East. Roger told the story about when he was 17 or so he was hitchhiking in Lebanon and this one family took him in and took care of him. The song was really powerful. Then the second half he played the Dark Side of the Moon. Brilliant. Was so amazing. A perfect ending to the festival.

There were many other bands I saw but I will insert them later when I have more time.

I really enjoyed the music part of the festival though the partying part was a bit too much for me. I couldn't believe how people could go on for so long. Though by Sunday people were starting to slow down and more people were drinking water than alcohol.

I will be going to the Hillside Festival in Guelph when I get back and it will be interesting to see the difference between music festivals in other countries.

Right now I am in Stockholm, Sweden and will be heading to Oslo and then Molde Norway. So I will try and write next in Norway.

Bye for now.
Kelly