This is part three of Cecillie's Roskilde dispatch.  To read the first part go HERE and for the second, HERE




There was a joke going around at the site; "we've got no music this year, but no one seems to have noticed yet..."
A joke that might be half true as a lot of the festival spirit is in the camping life and the activities outside the festival area. But when you stand in the middle of a 50.000 people crowd dancing to Prince on the last night of a festival, you realise just why exactly you were there the whole time.

The music program at the bigger festivals are always discussed, whether loved or hated. But with a headlining program consisting of names covering hard rock (Muse, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, Alice In Chains) to soft sunday charmers (Jack Johnson) to genre bending hitlisters (Gorillaz), ravers (The Prodigy), old time classics (Patti Smith, Motörhead) and of course Prince who deserved his own category after Sunday night's party, there should be something to please everyone. And that was just looking at the program for Orange Stage, the main stage with a capacity of 60.000 people. Take a stroll around the festival site and you end up making new friendships with bands like Japandroids, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, or go to the second biggest stage Arena for the big parties under the almost closed tent with a capacity of 17.000 people where bigger names like The National, Pavement, Robyn, Vampire Weekend and Biffy Clyro fired everyone up.

For me, the greatest musical experiences this year were the sheer joy of seeing Prince and his super tight band, the funky hiphop played by a brass band - yes you heard me - by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, finally seeing two of Denmark's greatest rock bands, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and Kashmir and, of course, spending a night with Muse and Prodigy - on paper quite different bands but both with a desire to make it an experience for the audience. Gorillaz turned up with a few less guests than at Glasto, but we did get to enjoy a superbly old Bobby Womack (jumping about on stage only to be escorted out the side by two men helping him walk. Rock'n'Roll...) and Little Dragon, along with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (again.. I love those guys), although the party only really started with the last two songs, 'Feel Good, Inc' and 'Clint Eastwood', which got the entire crowd jumping.

Now, all we have left is the wait for next year's festival. Despite arguments over various decisions from the organisation behind the festival, 70.000 people still buy a ticket and more than 20.000 work as volunteers. So if you've got nothing to do in the first week of July next year, I strongly recommend you spend it in Roskilde, Denmark...

Posted In Festivals, Jul 20 2010. Words - Cecilie