Rise and shine, for the wake of the third day at Roskilde (Saturday). With the sun shining well above us, we decided to skip the morning shows (The Ting Tings, Jose Gonzalez, Tokyo Police Club and Joan as Police Woman) and head for a morning trip to Denmark’s capital Copenhagen.
The trip took almost an hour (thanks to the great delays at the Danish train network) and we finally made it downtown. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed by the city since it was crowded with elderly tourists. But since we only stayed for a few hours I won’t let my skepticism take over and will just stick to saying that it was another typical European capital.
So, back to the music since this was the main reason of our trip. Our festival day started off with old rockers Judas Priest giving a less than impressive afternoon performance at the Orange Stage. It was fun to see the old guys on stage, but only for a couple of songs (never been too much of a fan anyway). So we quickly moved over to the Astoria stage for our German friends, The Notwist. Their latest album was really good so our expectations were quite high. Unfortunately, a lousy sound system and the ridiculously suffocating and hot atmosphere of the Astoria stage let us down. The band (as their songs) is a bit on the down-tempo style, which isn’t fitted to live performances. Although they also played all-time classics such as Pick up the Phone, they never managed to get the crowd going. What a pity..
So we decided to switch stage and paid a visit to the Arena for My Bloody Valentine. The Irish rockers were the exact opposite of Notwist. Loud as hell, energetic and simply kicked ass. Who cares that we couldn’t understand a word of what they were singing, the pure punches of guitar, bass and drums were more than enough for us. Some bands are just made for playing live..
Up next, on the Orange stage, it was time for a real history lesson courtesy of one of the greatest rockers of all time, Neil Young. I have no idea how old Neil is nowadays but he sure still knows how to rock. On stage, Neil was singing, jamming on the guitar and giving a powerful performance that many young artists would envy. And all this for almost two hours in a row (we did leave at half-point to catch some other acts but he was still up on stage when we got back after an hour or so).
Our next stop was at the Odeon stage, for Swedish phenomenon Lykke Li. The audience was once again mostly youngsters (a bit better than the teen crowd of Kate Nash), so while Lykke was giving a reasonable performance we only stayed for a few tracks (the atmosphere wasn’t suited for us…damn we are too old).
Coming up was the party of the festival, Girl Talk on the Cosmopol stage. I knew that Girl Talk is famous for setting the party on fire and this was confirmed in this case as well. Thousands of people under the same tent dancing and hoping around with every beat Girl Talk was throwing at us. Accompanied by crazy dancers on stage and bombarded by an awesome light show, this was one great show that even made me bounce around!!
After so much action, we needed to slow down so we decided to skip Liars and head over to the Arena for locals Raveonettes. Unfortunately, way too many others had the same idea so we were miles away from the stage and could only barely see the band itself. The crowd seemed to love them, but I guess that was mostly because this is their home country. To me, they were merely ok. But perhaps that was just me..
We then moved once again to the center (Orange) stage for one of the festival’s headliners, The Chemical Brothers. This is the first time I see them live, although not at their peak of their career anymore (many doubted the choice of having them as headliners). They guys give a great powerful multimedia show, but that’s exactly what it is. Two guys in front of two computers (which 95% of the crowd couldn’t see at all) and hundreds of lights, TV screens and video projectors supporting them. I agree that it was an impressive show, but to me (and most people out there) it wouldn’t make any difference if the electronic duo was actually on stage or not (the show wouldn’t be any different at all).
It was then time for the last act of the day, one that I anticipated quite a lot since their last album was one of my favorite entries for this year. Part of the new lo-fi punk scene, it was time for No Age. The crowd at the Pavilion stage was mostly made up of skateboard-like teenagers (guess this is the punk audience these days) and counted in dozens (I guess most people decided not too leave the Chemical Brothers’ light show). The LA duo is really powerful on stage, but unfortunately (for me) they cut all songs down to merely 2-minutes and left most of the improvising and experimental jams out. I guess this was mostly due to their audience (the youth were there just for the punk element). Nevertheless, I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially since they ended the set with my favorite Ripped Knees.
So that was it for the third day. We had one more day to go and although Saturday never reached the high energy of the second day, it was still quite interesting. Here’s some footage from most of the acts we saw (in the usual poor quality).
and the team will be enjoying most of the time in one of the islands' coasts, which look something like this,
while moving around in something like this.
And if you still have no clue where this small heaven is, here's a googlemap view.
Besides sightseeing and endless (probably crappy though) photographs that I've taken during this trip, the other thing that really stands out is getting back in grips with british television. It was quite a flashback when (while zapping through the limited channels during one of my resting times back in the hotel) I show the opening title (and haunting music) of Eastenders. Some things I guess never change back here.
Amongst the other things spotted on the telly, a number of lame british comedies and dramas (whose names thankfully I don't recall), the local elections (with Labour facing a big loss and Boris ruling over London), Graham Norton still doing his show and Anne Robinson still torturing players at the Weakest Link.
I've been spending the last week back on the Island (UK) cause of work. I've spent 4 days in Glasgow and now I'm in Edinburgh for another couple of nights before heading back to Athens. I've never been up so north before and must say I don't regret it that much. It's not that there's anything too bad or appalling about the place; on the contrary. Perhaps it's not the place itself but rather me (what a cliche).
