Nordic Culture > Roskilde Music Festival, Denmark

Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival in Denmark is the largest music festival in Northern Europe - an independent, non-profit festival attracting audiences from all over the world

The largest music festival in Northern Europe

Every year since 1971, the small Danish town of Roskilde celebrates the largest music festival in Northern Europe, presenting a progressive and visionary music programme ranging from contemporary rock to electronic music, hip hop and global beat plus an extensive programme of events, art and activities.

More than 150 bands play during four days and nights, from Thursday to Sunday, for a limited audience of 75,000 guests, 20,000 staff and 5,000 media professionals on a massive TV, radio and press coverage of the event. The festival has a large camping area and seven music stages -the Orange Canopy Stage purchased in 1978 from a Rolling Stones company is the world famous symbol of Roskilde Festival.

Roskilde Festival is considered as one of the leading world music festivals in the category "young talents of today and for tomorrow", being able to present bands and artists such as U2, Simple Minds, UB40 or Elvis Costello at an early stage in their careers, but also well established artists such us Metallica, REM, Peter Gabriel, Nirvana, Bob Marley, Blur, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Iggy Pop, Pet Shop Boys, Nick Cave, London Chamber Orchestra, Björk, Radiohead, Oasis, Ray Charles, David Bowie, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Robbie Williams, Marilyn Manson, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Chemical Brothers and many, many others.

Four days and three nights of music and entertainment

The festival wave hit the Danish shores in 1971 shortly after the first youth gatherings of the Isle of Wight and Woodstock. The early summer of that year saw festivals in Hillerød, Randers, as well as Nyborg - and then in late August the Sound Festival took place in Roskilde. Sound Festival boasted one stage and about 20 bands. A total of 10,000 guests attended the two days of music.

Since then, Roskilde Festival has continued developing with the main idea of quality and respect before growth and profit. Roskilde Festival's focus is youth culture's musical modes of expressions, and the event concentrates on quality, innovation, and variation, rather than on becoming the biggest or the most established festival -in order to emphasise that Roskilde Festival is a music festival, there are no billboard ads or giant screens with advertising.

On top of the musical experience, Roskilde Festival also covers basic human needs such as food, beverages and engaging entertainment -the festival is also theatre and street performance that offer quirky, poetic, and often absurd events taking place whenever and wherever it is least expected. As a result of this, the audience have been able to enjoy young experimenting artists and sculptures such as 100 green sofas, a nice "beach" equipped with giant mussels, etc. The decoration of stalls and the wooden fences that stretch around the Festival Site are by no means random. Young artists are taken on for advice and expertise when planning the construction and decoration of the stall environment.

Socialising and meeting new people is part of the fun in any music festival, and many people have made new friends and found love in Roskilde since 1971. But with four days of music non-stop, even the wildest of the party animals may need to have a rest at some point. Camping is essential for the Festival experience and it is free with a festival ticket. Camping facilities include hot and cold showers, cooking areas, food stalls, beer stalls, clothes stalls, cinema, street sports, skater ramp with DJs, massage, luggage storage and various events.

Scandinavian values of Roskilde Festival

By hosting an annual 4-day music- and culture festival, Roskilde Festival intends to give all participants the best possible experience based on contemporary music, community, service, quality and safety. Furthermore, Roskilde Festival aims to be a relevant, cutting-edge, cultural-political manifestation. On an internal and external basis, Roskilde Festival also aims to reflect and influence the society and the world surrounding the festival through the positions which the festival take on environment and the use of resources, humanitarian, cultural, and non-profit work.

The festival is carried out on the basis of the effort of 20,000 unpaid volunteers, who value the welfare of the audience higher than personal gains, and who always consider the quality, values, and economy of the festival, as well as the safety and well-being of the audience in the festival. Roskilde Festival is generally perceived as one of the most caring and safe festivals in the world.

For some of the festival guests, part of the Roskilde experience lies in collecting empty bottles, torn recyclable cups and soiled lids. Roskilde Festival carries through an environmentally friendly festival in every possible way -the Festival's environmental policy underlines that the consumption of resources must be reduced as much as possible, environment friendly products must be used, and garbage must be recycled whenever it is possible.

Any profit from Roskilde Festival is donated to the support of humanitarian, non-profit, and cultural work, including the work in favour of children and young people. Every year, the Roskilde Festival supports a non-musical theme, some of which have been "The Greenhouse Effect", "Native American Circles", 'The Amazing North', "All Different, All Equal", or "Roskilde Against Land Mines". The most recent theme was "Hello Peace!" in 2003, a project of the Palestinian-Israeli organisation Parents' Circle, an association of surviving relatives on both sides of the conflict in Palestine who want peace.

The Roskilde Charity Society and Voluntary Work

Roskilde Festival takes place in Roskilde, Denmark, but is much more than a local or national event. The festival crosses borders and is renowned and respected for that. A private person or corporation who was in it for the money has never run Roskilde Festival. People know and respect this fact. That is one of the reasons why the festival has become an attraction. Quality, creativity, and great care are top of the list and are still being developed with growth as a result of this.

The Roskilde Festival is managed by The Roskilde Charity Society. The profit from the annual Roskilde Festival is donated, without any deductions, to this organisation, which supports trans-national humanitarian, cultural, and non-profit purposes. Throughout the past 32 years, Roskilde Charity Society has donated more than DKK 70,000,000 from Roskilde Festival to Support the War Victims in Iraq, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Save the Children, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The voluntary, unpaid work force is a cornerstone in Roskilde Festival's foundation, and no other festival has been able to develop such a massive source of voluntary employees. Besides the two dozens of full time permanent employees, there are more than 200 permanent volunteers, who all year round spend a great deal of their spare time on taking care of various tasks. During the festival, the number of volunteers rises to approx. 18,000. The volunteers build stages, watch out for the festival guests, and the guests' cars and tents, work in the festival stalls, or other places on or around the Festival Site. The generous work of these volunteers is a key part of the success of the Roskilde Festival.