Roskilde Festival

News - 1st February - REFUSED ARE HEADING TO ROSKILDE 2012!
This Wednesday's announcements tremble with fervor, power and nerve.

REFUSED (S) has announced a series of concerts followed by a near-religious ecstasy with fans of metal, punk and (post-)hardcore. The Shape Of Punk To Come – one of the hardcore genre's undisputed masterpieces – resulted in Refused splitting up while this hand grenade of an album cemented their status as one of the most important bands of hardcore. Their revolutionary hardcore is packed with rhythmic complexity and daring experiments. The Swedes' inflamed rebel music has given them an international reputation and inspired an entire generation of hard-hitting bands.

CEREBRAL BALLZY (US) seems madly in love with the 80s hardcore punk scene. Their loud songs are straightforward, brutal and without revolutionary ambitions besides placing a nuclear crater between pop and punk. The band's self-titled debut is 20 minutes of unpretentious, musical ultra-violence and cements the band as one of Brooklyn's most aggressive and party-loving.

WARBRINGER (US) has a starting point in thrash metal with its gas-guzzling tempos and wind-swept guitar solos. But the Californian band is more than just a tribute to old records by Slayer and Metallica. Hardened by intense touring and sweaty moshpits since 2004, the L.A. thrashers’ brutal songs mutate in new ways – often with a destructive undercurrent of death metal and newer, more progressive tendencies.

News - 24th January - THE ROOTS & JONATHAN JOHANSSON JOIN ROSKILDE LINE UP!
The American hip hop collective is added to the line-up together with Swedish artist Jonathan Johansson.

THE ROOTS (US) play at Roskilde Festival as the only Scandinavian job this summer. The American hip hop collective rarely visits Europe nowadays. The performance at Roskilde Festival will be a welcome opportunity to see The Roots where they are best. On stage. ?uestlove, Black Thought and co lead the way when it comes to hip hop packed with hot neo-soul, social indignation, humour, funk and improv-minded jazz. Many people call The Roots the best live band of hip hop for their swing and rock band feeling. You now have a chance at Roskilde Festival to experience why that description is quite fitting.

JONATHAN JOHANSSON (S) has already conquered lots of pop hearts with his elegant and catchy pop. With his Swedish lyrics and tasteful 80s-leaning arrangements, Johansson has also attracted attention all the way across the Atlantic. Jonathan Johansson continues the Swedish tradition of writing superior, slightly melancholic pop songs with a big aim. He stylishly and coolly distills romance and soul into black shiny pop songs, making fans of Depeche Mode and New Order cheer.

News - 18th January - THE CURE TO PLAY ROSKILDE 2012!
Robert Smith's dark-romantic rock band is joined by AraabMuzik and Cold Specks.

THE CURE (UK) incarnates dark, British rock. In Scandinavia they are a huge act and a true audience favourite, not least due to a series of exceptional concerts at Roskilde Festival throughout the band's long career. Dark-edged albums such as Pornography and Disintegration have secured The Cure a legendary status among rock critics. At the same time, Robert Smith and his black entourage are popular among a wide audience because of hits such as "Close To Me" and "Friday I'm In Love". A concert with The Cure at Roskilde Festival is a great chance to experience the Brits’ grandiose, gothic rock live under the Scandinavian summer's sky.

The Cure is joined by a couple of younger artists:

ARAABMUZIK (US) delivers a superior display of virtuoso skills, darkening the future of the guitar solo. With his beat-up MPC – an advanced drum and sample machine – as a starting point, Abraham Orellana creates harsh, cut-up, MC-free hip hop that mutates between trance, mash-up, dubstep and countless other urban, electronic genres.

COLD SPECKS (CAN) plays some kind of classic, American blues folk with a distinctive singer at the centre. With a little picking on her acoustic guitar – occasionally accompanied by a little cello and piano – the 23-year-old Al Spx creates a goosebumps-inducing atmosphere. A brand-new debutant with a voice from the old days.

News - 11th January - FIRST DANISH BANDS ANNOUNCED FOR ROSKILDE FESTIVAL 2012
After a December full of international heavyweights, we start the new year with a batch of Danish bands.

I GOT YOU ON TAPE retakes Roskilde Festival as a band that risen significantly from the ranks since their last visit at the festival in 2009. The Danes are well on their way to becoming central on the Nordic alternative scene. I Got You On Tape’s new album is called Church Of The Real, and with a sporadic disco inspiration, church organ and catchy choruses, the well-playing four-piece will ensure a grandiose atmosphere with their melodic poppy rock songs.

LARSEN & FURIOUS JANE is a well-kept secret of the lucky few. Not for long. With a solid grasp on songwriting, Larsen & Furious Jane have created a handful of albums that uses well-written, absolutely non-Danish sounding indie rock to explore the rather disgruntled mood as it sounds coming from a group of Danes.

EL PARAISO is a new Danish record label focusing on experimental, mind-expanding music. From the label’s psychedelic menu we present acid rockers CAUSA SUI, the band EL PARAISO ENSEMBLE put together especially for Roskilde 2012 and the kraut and post-rock trio PAPIR. Look forward to a package full of thick, cosmic acid from some of Denmark's most respected underground bands.

News - 21st December - FRIENDLY FIRES AND TUNE-YARDS TO PLAY ROSKILDE FESTIVAL 2012
Two colourful summer bands join the festival programme on one of the shortest days of the year.  Organisers have announced two festive and colourful music acts in the middle of the winter darkness and the late Christmas shopping frenzy.

FRIENDLY FIRES (UK) - Friendly Fires aim with jubilant enthusiasm for a sexy, electronic stadium sound that reaches out to dancing shoes in the back row. The British band has already proven its qualities as a live band on Roskilde Festival’s Odeon stage in 2009. Since then, their star has grown bigger as a group of first-class party starters.

TUNE-YARDS (US) is the new prodigy of mad pop. The woman with the androgynous African voice is a sister-in-spirit of Animal Collective, Björk and Dirty Projectors. Merrill Garbus' music waddles and hobbles charmingly out there, high-fiving East Africa, R&B, hip hop and avant-garde along the way. A kind of sunshine pop for hyperacti

News - 15th December - ROSKILDE ANNOUNCE THE FIRST  METAL ACTS TO RUIN THE PEACE OF XMAS!
The Christmasy spirit of December is strongly challenged by today's two new bands who mark the first metal influence on the Roskilde programme.

DEVILDRIVER (US) conquers your ears with pumped-up thrash, hardcore and death metal in well-balanced doses. Through intense touring and discipline, Dez Fafara and his companions have established themselves as a hard-working and uncompromising unit in the name of metal. We are looking forward to giving the stage to a live band that knows how to make their audience surrender to the sign of the horns.
NASUM (S) is responsible for some of the most exquisite musical punishments of the fast grindcore genre. The often ultra-short and explosive attacks have made Nasum one of the genre's finest. The band's vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk died during the tsunami in 2004. Keijo Niinimaa from the grind mates Rotten Sound, who played at Roskilde Festival in 2008, now delivers the vocals on the Nasum’s goodbye tour, which also brings them to Roskilde Festival.

News - 12th December - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND CONFIRMED FOR 2012!
A rock dream comes true in 2012. This year's December announcements reach their climax with the confirmation of a true legend.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND (US) are ready to take on Orange Stage this summer with a characteristically long concert full of golden rock anthems. It is a true highlight in over 40 years of festival history to finally announce this rock icon on one of the most iconic stages in the world.

Having this denim-clad superhero play at Roskilde Festival is no longer a dream scenario. His influence on rock history can hardly be overstated. Without this masterful songwriter and storyteller, a whole generation of younger bands would not sound the way they do.  Regardless of age and knowledge of Bruce Springsteen, it is practically a civic duty to experience this artist who – despite his simple and unpretentious craft – towers up on the rock horizon.

News  - 7th December - US HIP HOP ARTISTS FOR ROSKILDE FESTIVAL 2012!
It's time for hip hop. Today's music announcement offers fresh blood from USA!

WIZ KHALIFA has broken through big time with "Black and Yellow", which has been a huge hit on the radio. With this festive and poppy tribute to his local NFL team, Wiz Khalifa went straight for the mainstream heart of the wide audience and gave both Drake and Lil Wayne a fight for their money about being the young generation's biggest hip hop hero. Now the popular, tattooed rapper is ready to capture Roskilde Festival's bulging heart with one of his energetic and hard-working shows.

ROYCE DA 5’9” has shared the stage with Eminem in the duo Bad Meets Evil, worked as ghost writer for Dr. Dre and is part of the super group Slaughterhouse. Yet, Royce Da 5’9” has only made a name for himself in narrow circles. With the comeback album Success Is Certain he stages the big breakthrough. Here the experienced rapper authoritatively puts his skills as an MC on display – he continues his master class at Roskilde Festival.

YELAWOLF is a skinny country boy brought up on Lynyrd Skynyrd, but with an aggressive and virtuous rap style. He is signed to Eminem's Shady Records, and comparisons with this pioneer are inevitable. But make no mistake of Yelawolf. His music reeks of petrol, crunk, dope and white trash attitude, so you know it is made by a genuine Dixie. Despite some occasional, chart-appealing sounds on the new long player Radioactive, Dirty South atmosphere is practically a guarantee when the fierce rapper guests Roskilde.

News - 5th December - AUDIENCE FAVE BON IVER IS COMING TO ROSKILDE 2012
The bearded folk hero is a new early triumph for the coming music programme. Organisers have added a solid act to the programme for fans of alternative folk from God's own country.

BON IVER (US) broke through with the lonely, sobbingly beautiful debut album For Emma, Forever Ago. On the self-titled album from 2011 front man Justin Vernon has extended his sound with a big, well-playing band and appears as a progressive folk artist with a penchant for soft rock, grandiose sounds and instrumental digressions.

Bon Iver has really stepped into the spotlight. It was also evident when we asked for your music requests the last time around. The bearded American with the fabulous falsetto is now in the top 10 of the hottest Roskilde requests in the company of the biggest stars, stadium bands and legends. We are happy to be able to fulfill your request with this critic's darling.

News - 30th November - BJORK IS THE FIRST NAME OUT THE ROSKILDE HAT FOR 2012!
The Icelandic superstar is ready to pay another visit to Scandinavia's biggest festival. Organisers kick off the new festival season with a true ”Roskilde act”. One of the most distinct profiles and an always surprising musician.

BJÖRK (ISL) combines, like few others, broad appeal with artistic eccentricity. She is at once a musical sorceress with Icelandic lava flowing through the veins, iconic pop star and electronic wonder kid. Throughout the last 18 years, each new album has been a bold move in a new direction, and Roskilde Festival has been one of the regular stops on her musical travels.

LINE UP 2012

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Bjork
The Cure
Bon Iver
Wiz Khalifa
Royce Da 5’9”
Yelawolf
Devildriver
Nasum
Friendly Fires
Tune Yards
I Got You On Tape
Larsen & Furious Jane
El Paraiso
AraabMuzik
Cold Specks
The Roots
Jonathan Johansson
Refused
Cerebral Ballzy
Warbringer

HISTORY

Roskilde Festival is held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the five biggest annual rock music festivals in Europe. It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer. In 1972, the festival was taken over by the Roskilde Foundation, which has since run the festival as a non-profit organisation for development and support of music, culture and humanism.

It is Denmark's first real music-oriented festival, originally for hippies but today it covers more of the mainstream youth from Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. Roskilde Festival 2007 had more than 180 performing bands and gathered around 80,000 people paying for the concerts, with more than 21,000 volunteers, 5,000 media people and 3,000 artists — which means almost 110,000 people participated in the festival.

Traditionally the campsite opens the last Sunday of June, which gives the festival guests plenty of time to settle down and "warm up". The festival officially starts the following Thursday at the Animal Showgrounds (in recent years simply known as the "Festival Site") and lasts for 4 days.

Until the mid-1990s the festival attracted mostly Scandinavians, but in recent years it has become more and more international (with an especially large influx of Germans, Australians and British). A Scandinavian alternative remained in the Midtfyns Festival, until that closed in 2004 following declining ticket sales.

Roskilde Festival 2000 - Line Up
D-A-D, Iron Maiden, Willie Nelson & Family, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Lou Reed, Flaming Lips, Youssou N’Dour, Thåstrøm, Travis, Gomez. Approx. 170 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2001 - Line Up
Robbie Williams, Aqua, Beck, The Cure, Patti Smith, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Basement Jaxx, Faithless, P.J. Harvey, George Thorogood, Manu Chao, Tool. Approx. 150 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2002 - Line Up
Garbage, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Rammstein, Travis, New Order, White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Chemical Brothers, Pet Shop Boys, Primal Scream. Approx. 150 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2003 - Line Up
Blur, Metallica, Raveonettes, Sigur Rós, Björk, The Cardigans, Iron Maiden, Interpol, Daniel Johnston, Massive Attack, Material, Queens of the Stone Age, The Streets, Suicide. Approx. 150 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2004 - Line Up
Korn, Pixies, Fatboy Slim, Morrissey, Wu-Tang Clan, Basement Jaxx, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, Slipknot, Muse, Santana, Kings of Leon, Morbid Angel. Approx. 160 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2005 - Line Up
Green Day, Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, Kent, Snoop Dogg, Brian Wilson, Audioslave, Ali Farka Touré, Carl Cox, Outlandish, Bikstok Røgsystem, Sonic Youth. Approx. 160 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2006 - Line Up
Guns n’ Roses, Editors, Opeth, Happy Mondays, Kanye West, Ed Motta, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Tool, Under Byen, Toumani Diabaté’s Symmetric Orchestra, Looptroop, Wolfmother, Roger Waters og Kaiser Chiefs. Approx. 160 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2007 - Line Up
Beastie Boys, Arcade Fire, The Who, Trentemøller, The Killers, Nephew, The Congos, LCD Soundsystem, In Flames, Roky Erickson, Klaxons, Red Hot Chili Peppers og Björk. Approx. 175 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2008 - Line Up
Radiohead, Jay-Z, Neil Young, Gnarls Barkley, Cat Power, Band of Horses, The Streets, My Bloody Valentine. Approx. 175 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2009 - Line Up
Oasis, Coldplay, Faith No More, Slipknot, Madness, Cancer Bats, Amon Amarth, Darkane, Deichkind, Dungen, Get Well Soon, The Soft Pack, Marnie Stern, Down, Baddies, Satyricon, Skambankt, Katzenjammer, Klovner I Kamp, Hakan Hellstrom, Fleet Foxes, The Mars Volta, Lily Allen, Lil Wayne, Social Distortion, Kanye West, Eagles Of Death Metal, Pet Shop Boys, Deadmau5. Approx 175 bands.

Roskilde Festival 2010 - Line Up
Porcupine Tree, Sick of it All, Paramore, When The Saints Go Machine, Gorillaz, Valient Thorr, Efterklang, Serena Maneesh, CEU, Roska, LCD Soundsystem, Tim Sweeney, Electrojuice, Wild Beasts, Solstafir, Rebekkamaria, Den Sorte Skole, NOFX, Biffy Clyro, CV Jorgensen, Tinariwen, Meshuggah, Nephew, Them Crooked Vultures, Alice in Chains, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, Hocus Pocus, Beat Torrent, Tech N9ne, Dirty Projectors, Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar, Casiokids, Florence & The Machine, John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Analog Africa Soundsystem, Staff Benda Bilili, Analog Africa Soundsystem, Gilles Peterson & Roberto Fonseca present Havana Cultura, DJ Umb, Daara J Family, Rootz Underground, Teddybears, Baron Criminel plus many many more.....

Roskilde Festival 2011 - Line Up
Arctic Monkeys(Uk), Iron Maiden(Uk), Kings Of Leon(Us), Mastodon(Us), M.I.A.(Uk), Pj Harvey(Uk), The Strokes(Us), Afrocubism(Int), Autopsy(Us), Bad Religion(Us), Battles(Us), Beatsteaks(De), Big Boi(Us), Bright Eyes(Us), Chris Cunningham(Uk), Deadmau5(Can), Foals(Uk), Killing Joke(Uk), Femi Kuti & Positive Force(Nga), Seunanikulapokuti&Egypt80(Nga), L.O.C.(Dk), Lykkeli(S), Magnetic Man With Special Guests Katy B And Sbtrkt Dj Set(Uk), Swans(Us), Timbuktu & Damn!(S), Veto(Dk), Portishead, My Chemical Romance, Kaizers Orchestra, My Chemical Romance, Hoffmaestro, Hymns from Nineveh, Daniel Norgren, 1349 (N),  Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara (Uk/Gam),  Api Uiz (Fr),  Ólöf Arnalds (Isl),  Atmosphere (Us),  Awesome Tapes From Africa (Us),  Julianna Barwick (Us),  Be-Being (Kor),  Black Milk (Us),  James Blake (Uk),  Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band (Us),  Bring Me The Horizon (Uk),  Karina Buhr (Bra),  Calle 13 (Pri), Anna Calvi (Uk),  Chancha Via Circuito (Arg),  Chase & Status (Uk),  Chuckamuck (De),  Cody (Dk),  Congotronics Vs Rockers Feat. Konono N°1, Deerhoof, Kasai All- Stars, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums And Skeletons (Int), Curren$Y (Us),  Dark Dark Dark (Us),  De Eneste To (Dk),  Matthew Dear - Live Band (Us),  Destroyer (Can),  Dj /Rupture (Us),  Dop (Fr),  Dååth (Us),  Justin Townes Earle (Us),  Elektro Feat. John Tchicai (Dk),  The Ex (Nl),  Eyehategod (Us),  Fally Ipupa (Cd),  Frente Cumbiero (Col),  Frisk Frugt (Dk),  The Gaslamp Killer (Us), Ghost and many more