Oh Yeah
What a great festival! As in '97 I was there with my friend Daniel and his brother Michael and tons of beer. A recipe for fun. The program was awesome. There was actually too much that I wanted to see. The highlights were definately seeing R.E.M. and Metallica for the first time.
I have only been to the last three Roskilde Festivals so I can't really judge if there is any better... or has been... but in my mind Roskilde Festival '99 had "Woodstock go home!" written all over it. The bands playing this year were some of my favourites. Metallica, R.E.M., Suede (on three different stages mind you!), Guano Apes, Mercury Rev, Skunk Anansie, Marilyn Manson... etc.! So much good music to hear. Of course I missed some bands but that is unavoidable.
On Sunday the 27th I was supposed to meet three Dutchmen at the train station in Copenhagen. I knew two of them from last year and through the Internet. Luckily they showed up, otherwise I would be camping alone till Wednesday when two of my "Roskilde"-friends came, Daniel and Michael. Of course it rained when we started to set up our tents and the forecast said more rain to come. Not good so far.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday went by rather quickly. Largely due to heavy consumption of alcohol, socializing and the awesome weather. The rain was gone and the sun was shining. Then Michael and Daniel showed up with four cases of beer. Awesome! Well we got drunk... I think... can't remember how that night ended.
Thursday... the day the music starts.
Metallica played one hell of a show. Setlist:
- Breadfan
- Master of Puppets
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- The Thing That Should Not Be
- Fuel
- Memory Remains
- Bleeding Me
- Seek and Destroy
- Whiskey in the Jar
- King Nothing
- Wherever I May Roam
- One
- Fight Fire With Fire
- Nothing Else Matters
- Sad But True
- Creeping Death
- Die Die My Darling
- Enter Sandman
- Battery
That concert severely kicked my ass! The studio albums seems so tame now.
Saturday... this day and the next seemed to be relaxation days for me. My main bands had played the two days before so what was playing on Saturday and Sunday wasn't that important to me. Though there were great bands playing which I am glad I went to see. The first band we saw on Saturday was Psyched Up Janis. A Danish band that is no more. This was there farewell concert so to speak. After them we chilled out near Orange stage waiting for The Flaming Lips Car Experience. This was weird stuff! They weren't performing on the stage but in front of the big screen - with cars. You had to be up there if you wanted to see and hear anything. This was highly experimental and I thought it sucked. Couldn't really see the idea. I don't know if they were using the cars as instruments or were performing some kind of play.... but it certainly wasn't my cup 'o tea. Ah well...
We watched the Good Year zeppeliner circling above us while resting comfortably in the trash.
At 7 PM we went over to white stage to watch Blonde Redhead. We heard three or four songs (which I didn't like very much) and then headed over to see the Norwegian band Motorpsycho. They were pretty good. After them we went back to white stage to see Built To Spill. Great band! They played great and I will certainly throw some money after their CD - or one of them - have no idea if they're a new or old band. But they impressed me and my friends for sure! We were literally blown away. We didn't get to see the whole concert because we wanted to see Suede on Orange stage. Their biggest concert of the three. "Slightly" buzzed we sang along to all their hits annoying everyone around us. Their set was quite similar to the concert at Green tent the day before but it was still great. The following are what I remember they played:
- Elephant Man
- Can't Get Enough
- Everything Will Flow
- Trash
- Beautiful Ones
- Lazy
- Animal Nitrate
- Saturday Night
- Filmstar.
Great show.
After Suede I think we just wandered about... We saw Chemical Brothers. They kicked ass! "Hey boy, hey girl, six-star DJs, HERE WE GO!"
Sunday... the last day - sniff!
It was amazing to experience so much good music in such a short period of time. I wonder if there'll ever be a line-up which will surpass this one.
Concerts I went to:
- Al Green
- Blur
- Built To Spill (absolutely mindblowing)
- The Chemical Brothers
- The Flaming Lips
- Guano Apes
- Jello Biafra
- Marilyn Manson
- Mercury Rev
- Metallica
- Monster Magnet
- Motorpsycho
- Psyched Up Janis
- R.E.M.
- Skunk Anansie
- Stereophonics
- Suede (Green & Orange)
- Superheroes
Concerts in retrospect I wish I could have gone to also:
- Basement Jaxx
- Barenaked Ladies
- Heather Nova
- Manic Street Preachers