Messed!Up
Day 6, and if you don’t start to feel it in your body, something’s wrong. Sleeping in a tent with loud music from your neighbor’s camp just four meters away is a challenge. But this year has been exceptional. Best sleep ever on the best inflatable bed ever. Here’s a tip: save your back a bit and rent a sleeping bed at the festival – they are amazing! In terms of sleeping quality on a loud festival camp in a tent with chilly nights, Roskilde Festival 2025 has been the best since I slept at the (boring) media camp. Another reason for having a good time is that there’s a ‘secret’ spot where you can take a nap without too much noise. The old festival fishing lake (yes, there used to be a fishing lake) next to Silent & Clean is perfect for a nap. Just lay down on the grass, in the shadow if it’s too hot, and fade away for a bit. Twice I’ve tried it out, twice I’ve returned to the camp with too much energy. Routines are also important for staying in shape for the whole festival. Every day starts with something looking like an oversized Egg McMuffin (aka ‘Breakfast Burger’) + coffee while walking to the accredited area showers (which are way better than the campsite showers), and then off to the press center. And yeah, a drink of Samarin every morning, of course, for rehydration.
On paper, Thursday was an amazing gig day and we had some high-energy shows planned, like Knocked Loose and Amenra, combined with old favorites Beth Gibbons and Bright Eyes (for the first time in 22 years!) – it was all set for a party!
After a day spent in the camp with beers and talking about memories of the past, Beth Gibbons entered the Arena stage. Ever since the heydays of Portishead in the 90s, I’ve been a huge fan of anything she releases. However, her music is quite low-key, and there were worries that it wouldn’t work out at a slot when people had been drinking a full day and wanted to party. No need to worry! When you have a back catalogue full of treasures, you can’t fail. When she blasted out Portishead classics as “Numb” and “Glory Box” mid-set, she had the crowd in her hands. Just imagine 30,000 people singing ‘Give me a reason to love you. Give me a reason to be a woman’ – magic!
A quick run to the Avalon stage, and we just caught Bright Eyes walking onto the stage. My last Bright Eyes gig was back in 2002 at a pub for university students at Linköping University, Sweden. He was horribly drunk and tried to pick a fight with anyone at the pub that night, and rumors have it that he was dragged out of the venue (after the show) due to bad behavior. But this show was completely the opposite. Conor Oberst and his band apparently had lots of fun on stage, and to our surprise, they played lots of songs off their brilliant 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. Thanks, Conor, for compensating for that shitty show back in 2002!
Luckily, we got time for a short beer break and decided to try out something else than Carlsberg for a while. When you have been drinking 20 gallons of the same stuff, it’s time for something different. A Hershey Pilsner and a Jacobsen Hazy IPA later, and we were set for the gig of the night (or even the festival). American metalcore/hardcore band Knocked Loose have earned a reputation for being the wildest band on stage. Frontman Bryan Garris has created havoc wherever they’ve played, and tonight wasn’t any different. ‘We’re the heaviest band at this festival [….] soon you’ll see’, and the show set off in full steam. Then we had 70 minutes of pure, unfiltered chaos, including massive breakdowns, tremolo riffs, and pounding drums. Do I even need to say that I pulled a muscle in my back (again) after the third song and the massive moshpit I ended up in? There’s a reason I’m having a man girdle day today, just to be able to stand up. This, my friends, is how any show should be. To any bands out there: watch and learn. The only setback was that I couldn’t stand up at Amenra’s gig an hour later. I had to sit down next to the handicap ramp because my back gave up on me. Well, it comes with some perks: free drinks handed to you whenever you needed one. Amenra made a great performance, and there’s no doubt why they’re one of the biggest and best post-metal bands out there, but tonight, Knocked Loose made sure I couldn’t appreciate it fully.
With some help, I got back to my tent, put on my man girdle, and fell asleep. Let’s hope for a much calmer day tomorrow.