Denmark’s answer to Glastonbury, Roskilde Festival is northern Europe’s largest music festival. This four-day-long binge of bands and booze rocks Roskilde every summer on the last weekend in June.
Since 1971, it has attracted the biggest and best international performers – some 170+ rock, techno and world-music bands play on seven stages. The promoters are astute at trend-spotting, so expect to see hot new bands who haven’t yet come into the spotlight alongside established alternative stars.
Obviously the music is the main thing, but there are plenty of other entertainments, including a cinema, swimming lake and skatepark, plus yoga, dance workshops, art events and science projects. Many people camp from the Sunday before the festival starts, spending four days ‘warming up’ for the festival proper. Stalls sell everything from tattoos to fast food but you may want to bring some food supplies as prices are high.
Tickets can be purchased in Denmark through BilletNet, at Danish post offices or online at the official concert website. If lugging your own tent along seems bothersome, more expensive tickets are available that include a pre-pitched tent. There’s a drunken-moron tradition of setting fire to tents at the end of the festival – beware.
Advance sales start in early December and all 75,000 tickets are usually sold by June. However, you can still get a taste of the fun by buying one of the unlimited tickets sold on the gate on the last day of the festival.