Roskilde, Thursday 1st July 2010

Thursday is hands down the lightest day of the 4-day Danish, open air Roskilde Festival, its beginning punctuated with a special welcoming ceremony. Miscommunication on which entrance is best to enter through in order to reach the main stage area causes major delays in getting to Orange Stage for the ceremony. What was expected to take 30 minutes of walking from point A to point B ends up taking almost 2 hours, thanks to a crush of punters all eager in going in the same direction.

Somehow I manage to snag a decent location further back stage right, able to catch the action on one of the two Orange Stage jumbotrons. As can be expected, the Orange Stage pits and the surrounding grounds they call ‘the main area’ are packed. A lone trumpeter playing a sad and emotional tune ushers in the start of the festival. This is, after all, a solemn occasion: at this very stage, nine men lost their lives needlessly at the festival 10 years ago in the overcrowded pits, where they were trampled to death. (If you were wondering, Roskilde officials quickly made changes to the pit areas at both Orange and the other large venue on-site, Arena, to ensure the safety of their patrons and prevent injury. In fact, their model of tightly guarded and watched pits have now become a safety model for festivals worldwide.) A big cheer erupts upon introduction of American punk rock icon Patti Smith and her longtime guitarist Lenny Kaye. Smith was invited to herald the beginning of Roskilde 2010 because she performed a life-affirming concert the year after the tragedy and so has special meaning to so many here in Denmark. The crowd applauds but with reverence as the nine names are read out one by one, with Smith throwing out a red rose into the crowd for each, a symbolic gesture of the beauty yet fragility of human life.

After only playing two songs, Smith implored the audience to drink plenty of water (a good idea considering this Roskilde Festival was one of the hottest, sunniest festivals in recent memory) and to take care of each other. I knew the Orange Stage and its main area were going to be massive, but I had no idea just how massive. When I’m told I’ve gone to the wrong side of the stage for the media entrance, I try to make my way all the way round the back end of the main area, but I only manage to reach halfway around the perimeter when Smith and Kaye conclude their performance. The main area is rammed that the thought of trying to get to Arena, in the far southeast corner of the main stage area, for American emos Paramore seems ludicrous. Cutting my losses appears to be an appropriate action, and the Cosmopol tent, the hive of dance and hip hop, beckons.

I catch the end of a set by Danish elementary schoolkids Electrojuice, an electropop and hip hop act. They’ve toured with the Prodigy and Kraftwerk previously, so that should say something about how highly regarded they are by their musical peers, even if their musical peers are much older than themselves. Staying put at Cosmopol affords the opportunity to see two DFA Records acts in a row, highly sought after New York City DJ Tim Sweeney followed by LCD Soundsystem. Sweeney plays a seamless mix of beat-driven tunes including completely groovy cover versions of Madonna’s ‘Into the Groove’ and the xx’s ‘Fantasy’.

As predicted correctly by the people of the official RF forum, the light programme for Thursday results in Cosmopol becoming completely rammed in anticipation of a set by James Murphy’s crew. So much that when Murphy, clad in all white, sounds nervous when he first addresses the crowd with a hello, then quickly says hello to everyone who couldn’t get into the tent. The audience’s danced energy explodes with recent single ‘Drunk Girls’ and revs up a notch higher with the LCD classic ‘Daft Punk is Playing at My House’. Bidding an early adieu to LCD Soundsystem allows for an attempt to queue for the pits at Orange for Gorillaz, an attempt that is quickly apparent in its futility as the pits are already closed and thousands are already standing in wait for Damon Albarn and who his special guests for the night might be.

Wedged in like sardines, the crowd gets increasingly impatient when a message on the monitors says the Gorillaz set will be delayed for another half-hour. Punters at various stages of exhaustion of inebriation begin to show wear and tear, and my direct circle of new friends are the unfortunate witnesses of a bloke with impaired faculties who has clearly reached his limit on liquor. Twice. Thank god for wellies and wet wipes. Finally, it is time for Gorillaz: Damon Albarn with a small symphony and a host of many, many guests including Chicago mates Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Bobby Womack, the latter on hand to sing his parts on monster ‘Plastic Beach’ smash ‘Stylo’. It’s hard to enjoy a show when you can’t move and you can’t breathe because the smoke from various lit ‘cigarettes’ is too much.

However, even a gorgeous rendition of ‘Melancholy Hill’, with Albarn’s voice rising above it all, cannot keep me at Orange. The thought of breathing room and the ability to get a drink and move around without knocking into a dozen bodies is all too tempting. This leads me to check in with Kendal indie rockers Wild Beasts at the smallest venue on site, Pavilion. The distance between band and audience is minimal at Pavilion, making performances here more personal. ‘We Still Got the Taste Dancin’ on Our Tongues’ is a revelation live. Charismatic lead singer and keyboardist Hayden Thorpe says with a grin that they are surely more appreciative of their audience, much more than ‘those cartoon characters’.