This weekend in the UK, thousands will be thronging up to Scotland for T In The Park. Thousands more will be on the way to Wembley for Live Earth. Meanwhile, over in Denmark, our Euro neighbours will be preparing for Europe’s other biggest music festival (alongside Glastonbury of course), Roskilde.
So while T In The Park is swamped in security and buying a ticket for this year’s Glastonbury was like a military operation, do the Danes do it differently?

They’re certainly more laid-back than many UK festivals. This morning, for example, a bulletin on the official site reads: “Because of the rain, the parking areas are flooded. Leave your car at home.”
They take a firm stance on drugs, stating: “Drugs are dangerous, antisocial and illegal” - but then go on to suggest a rather peace, love and harmony way of supporting the cause: “Show what you feel about drugs by wearing a t-shirt or badge.”
The Roskilde Wikipedia entry also hints at a laissez-faire attitude, saying that besides the official stage acts “there are always some theatre and lone acts wandering around the site”. Brilliant.
Where else would festival activity suggestions include “where to go for a refreshing swim?” Plus there’s the legendary the annual naked race, where people strip off and do three laps round a track. The fastest man and woman win a ticket for the following year. 10,000 people watched last year.
In some ways though, Roskilde’s fans are more hardcore than their British counterparts. The festival runs Friday to Sunday but the “warm up” goes from July 1st (last Sunday!) and thousands have already hit the site.
They do take security seriously since the event suffered its first real scandal - the 2000 Pearl Jam crowd disaster. 9 people died and 30 were hospitalised after sound problems sent the 50,000 strong crowd surging closer to the stage. Eddie Vedder halted the performance and Oasis and the Pet Shop Boys pulled out, but the damage was done.
The organisers weren’t charged by police but 2001 saw a massive security overhaul and a memorial set up on-site. Yet the relaxed attitude to safety may still remain - the official site news update states that four young Danish people were hospitalised on Tuesday after a campsite gas accident.
Still, if relaxed is your ideal attitude to festival-going, the line-up looks pretty hot. The Who, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, Basement Jaxx, Queens Of The Stone Age and Bjork are all confirmed for this year’s sold out event.

Possibly related:

1. Festivals round-up: T In The Park, Roskilde, Oxegen - further spirits undampened, exhausted Winehouse visits pub shocker

2. Festivals round-up (ROCK edition): Pearl Jam to testify for Roskilde families, Dave Mustaine is lovely, heavy metal addiction exists

3. Neil Young added to Roskilde bill

4. Festivals round up - the weather rains on everyone’s parade

5. Competition launched for greener festivals

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Posted by sophiebruce on Thursday July 5th, 2007 at 9:15 am