It’s well worth noting that while Roskilde attracts an impressive international line up, the festival continues to support Danish acts and their neighbours as well, with 32% of this year’s performers hailing from Denmark and 40% representing the Nordic countries. From summoning a huge metallic snake during "MONTERO" through to mounting a renaissance-esque horse for "Old Town Road", his performance felt more like a masterclass in stagecraft than a concert. All who play the festival, from its star-studded headliners to lesser-known newcomers, are treated equally and offered access to the same crew support and sound system.Ī stand out show came in the form of headliner Lil Nas X, who orchestrated a spectacle of puppetry when joined on the Orange Stage by an array of fantastical creatures. Although slot times are based on popularity – as with the majority of large-scale music events – it’s notable that Roskilde has made the effort to level the playing field, doing away with terms like ‘new’, ‘introducing’, or ‘emerging artist’. In a bewitching show brimming with ethereal vocals and flamenco moves, her critically-acclaimed album MOTOMAMI proved her well-deserving of the bubbling excitement, casting a microphone into a crowd who sang back in perfect Spanish.Īs a fully independent festival, Roskilde is able to handpick its performers carefully, ensuring they’re well-suited to the event’s overarching theme. Roskilde’s Arena Stage claims to be Europe’s largest festival tent with its capacity of 17,000, but it failed to contain the crowds spilling out the sides for Spanish songwriter, and Friday joint-headliner, Rosalía. Though at times her auto-tune effect came close to drowning out the words, her beat heavy set brimmed with a defiant confidence and bristling energy. With a shortened cover of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” weaved into her set, a green strobe-filled performance of Hold The Girl’s “Frankenstein” and a whip cracking display for 2022’s “This Hell”, her shout out for queer rights on the final day of pride month met a heaving audience cheering back in support.Īt the walled-in Apollo Stage, where frenzied strobes and flashing LED screens surrounded the crowd, Alice Glass returned to Denmark in full force. Over to the east of the site, Rina Sawayama gave a lesson in theatrics with a fierce and unrelenting performance. As a mid-set outfit change from gleaming gold bodysuit – complete with fake breasts – to a black mesh number sent the crowd into a frenzy, she coasted through a host of tracks from newest record Dirt Femme alongside fan favourites like "Talking Body" and "I like u". Thursday night saw Swedish pop royalty Tove Lo bring her gritty, sex-positivity to the Orange Stage to rapturous applause. Though showcasing an impressive diversity of genres – from rap, hip-hop and amapiano to pop, post-punk and hardcore – it was Roskilde 2023’s legion of powerful women that truly reigned supreme. With a curatorial eye set firmly on the zeitgeist, this year brought 205 acts from 38 countries. With utopia settled on as its guiding principle, the event looks to both challenge and inspire attendees because, as Bilde notes, “hope is fundamental in making a change.” Aiming to show what’s possible when people come together under a united cause, Roskilde Festival asked attendees to not only imagine but to fully immerse themselves in what a better world could be like. This insight fast became the catalyst to invite a utopian perspective into their curation. Today’s youth, she shares, are lacking any trust in the future. The overwhelming response, Bilde shares, was to look toward a young generation living through a climate and biodiversity crisis, the war in Europe, and financial insecurity. Following last year’s festival, the team reached out to their network of activist groups, NGOs, and artists to discuss the biggest issues currently affecting the planet. On a bench backstage, the organisation’s Head of Communications, Christina Bilde, explains that settling on the theme of ‘utopia’ was the result of a conversation ongoing for many months. Since its inception in 1971, Roskilde has turned over more €55 million for humanitarian and cultural charities, with an estimated 13-15 million Danish Krone (€1.8m) raised this year. Governing all aspects of the multifaceted programme’s curation from the musical line up through to the artworks on display and food on offer, the theme gives direction to an event that continuously aims to be a force for good. Every few years, the Roskilde Festival Charity Society – who have organised and run the event as a non-profit since 1972 – decide on a new theme to become its mission statement.
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