Music Festival Done The Right Way

Thoughts and highlights from my trip to Roskilde Festival 2025

That comedown after a festival can be hard.

On the train home I was already missing Roskilde – the music, the people, the sun and the rain, that feeling of stepping into an alternate reality for a few days.

I’d been hearing stories about Roskilde Festival for decades but never actually went there. In 2024, I’d finally go for the first time – and due to an overwhelmingly positive experience, I decided to return this year. I was just hoping for more summery weather, after last year’s heavy rainstorms and freezing nights.

Arriving after a seven-hour journey on the hottest day of the year, I took the scorching sun on my way down from the train station to the check-in as a positive sign. We were off to a good start.

Little did I know that we’d see a sudden temperature drop by 20 degrees the next day – and that I’d almost freeze in my summer sleeping bag the following night.

Still, despite low temperatures, strong winds and heavy rainfalls over three days, Roskilde would once again provide another near-perfect festival experience.

This might be the right moment to assure you this is not a piece of sponsored content.

In the spirit of full disclosure: As a freelance journalist, I didn’t pay for my festival ticket out of my own pocket. I was generously invited – including a refund of my second class return train ticket –, provided full access to the site for the week and a tent in the “international media camp”.

That being said, as you can clearly see on the photo below I wasn’t bribed with a luxurious five star hotel and lavish VIP treatment. Nobody asked for any proof of pre- or post-event coverage in return. It’s just part of the festival’s general media strategy to invite a bunch of journalists and have them find out for themselves what that mythical Roskilde vibe is all about.

Even if that includes, well, almost freezing in your tent at night.

I’m in tent #28

As a fan and in various professional roles in the music industry, I’ve visited festivals of all shapes and sizes across Europe over the last 25 years. There are more than enough reasons to love what Roskilde’s organizers have been doing since 1971.

To sum it up briefly, here are the five most important ones:

1. The festival is not for profit. It’s run by thousands of volunteers, and all proceeds are donated to charity.

2. It remains independent from sponsors, brands, corporations and investment firms that might also invest in despicable industries (like KKR/Superstruct who have bought up many other big festivals).

3. The festival features a truly diverse and balanced cross-genre line-up booked by a committee of 14 people (currently, there are more female- than male-identifying members on the board, their age ranging from 22 to 60; members usually rotate after two years).

4. There’s a visible and palpable commitment to anti-discriminatory values like anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-homo-/trans-/queerphobia, anti-ableism etc.

5. All of this results in an overall peaceful and non-violent vibe on site. (Though you will always find a bunch of drunk idiots when there’s loud music playing somewhere.)

I really hope they can keep going that way for a long time.

My festival days all looked pretty much the same: I got up around 7.30 am, went to the communal showers on the campsite and then off to get breakfast. Volunteers had kindly set up a simple buffet for hungry media people in the hallway of a nearby business school.

Around 10 am, I usually entered the international press area in the “backstage village” to charge my devices, get some work done and speak to a couple of colleagues about their plans for the day.

I’d head to the festival site around lunchtime, spend most of the day on the ground watching concerts, grab an afternoon meal at the vegan food truck and see more shows in the evening. Every once in a while I’d return to the press tent to grab a cup of coffee or water.

I’d leave the festival site when the last main stage headliners wrapped up their sets. Between midnight and one o’clock, the distant thump of bass and crowd cheers lulled me to sleep in my tent – except for that one night, which was just too freezing cold (9°C/48°F in early July, anyone?).

The huge festival site hosted six stages of different sizes. I often felt like a wrong-way driver, especially in the evenings – while the hordes were on their way to see some big name artist on the main stage or at the Arena, I was trying to make my way against the grain, headed for some small indoor stage.

That being said, I did genuinely enjoy some of the main stage spectacle shows – I’ll happily admit I got soaked during Charli XCX’s set like a teenager, even though I was wearing a rain poncho.

In total I saw a good 20 shows over three days, spanning rock and rap, electronic and metal, folk and poetry and dance. Some of the music wasn’t my cup of tea, but what’s more important is that all artists I saw were actually good at what they did. I didn’t see a single band that just couldn’t play or seemed very inexperienced – that wasn’t so self-evident at many of the hip-hop festivals I attended in my life.

When a member of the booking committee answered a few questions at a backstage press conference, he confirmed that they don’t focus too much on streaming numbers. That type of data might spark initial interest in an artist, but they always make sure to go out and see an actual performance before locking in the booking – for them, live quality is more important than online hype.

Two of my favorite performances came from experimental rock bands with small to non-existent social media followings:

Still House Plants from the UK played a mostly improvised set, loosely based on structures distantly resembling some of their recorded songs. It was definitely one of the strangest concerts of the whole festival. Their time signature changes and off-kilter vocalizations weren’t greeted with much enthusiasm (European audiences just love their straight 4/4 rhythms, don’t they?), but I loved their commitment to weirdness.

Sanam from Lebanon, on the other hand, played an enthralling mix of post-rock, free jazz, noise and Arabic folk that was celebrated heavily at a smaller indoor stage called Gloria; they even got to play the rare festival encore. They’re a truly brilliant live band, and their singer Sandy Chamoun has to be among the most charismatic figures I’ve witnessed on stage in recent times.

I also deeply enjoyed hearing Flock, a quintet of household names from the UK jazz scene: Bex Burch, Sarathy Korwar, Tamar Osborn, Danalogue and Al MacSween. They played one long set for drums, synths, percussion and saxophone, with the music sending out strong krautrock/kosmische energy.

Nidia & Valentina played the Gloria indoor stage, with the Afro-Portuguese producer firing off electronic beats and textures inspired by everything from house to kuduro, gqom and jungle, and the Italo-British drummer filling in the blanks with powerful improvisations. I’d loved their collabo album from last year, but live performance takes their approach to another level.

Lauded jazz harpist/modular synthesist Nala Sinephro and her quartet (drums, sax, keyboards) left everyone stunned and filled with a sense of deep joy and harmony after playing two long and largely improvised pieces of fusion music based on simple synth arpeggios.

A chance discovery was singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt. I mean, I’d heard of Jessica Pratt, I’d just never bothered to check out her music as I’m not really following the indie or freak folk scene. Turns out she has an absolutely gorgeous voice, and her songs really touched me as well.

Later that same day, I randomly stumbled into a concert by queer Belgian-Congolese rapper/singer Baloji and decided to stay around for his highly danceable mix of house, jazz, gospel and hip-hop. It ended up being one of the most positive and uplifting performances of the festival, with so many beautifully diverse people dancing and celebrating together.

U.S. singer/songwriter Annahstasia played a highly anticipated solo show on Friday morning. Hot off a “Best New Music” rating at Pitchfork, this woman convinced anyone in the audience at this ungodly hour that she will have a glorious career. She has a stunning voice and absolute control over it, and a genuinely charming personality with true star qualities. This might sound like a stretch, but I got young Tracy Chapman vibes from her.

And lastly, Body Void. This westcoast outfit has been making anti-fascist sludge metal with hints of doom, noise and grindcore for a decade. While I am generally sympathetic towards extreme sounds, I’m not actively listening to these styles of music at this point in my life, so I hadn’t planned to watch this show but found myself at this indoor stage seeking shelter from heavy rainfalls. That being said, Body Void absolutely ripped.

There were quite a few artists that probably – and reportedly – ripped as well but whose shows I sadly missed. FKA Twigs clashed with Sanam. I was too lazy to stand in line at the Arena stage for Arca. Moin went on too late for me. Aya went on much too late for me. Still I think I made the most out of my three days in Roskilde. I've learned to ignore that festival FOMO.

I’d looked forward to hometown hero Astrid Sonne’s set on Saturday, but monitoring my weather app closely, I realized that the whole day would bring more wind and rainfalls – so just like last year, I treated myself to a night in nearby Copenhagen before the long train journey home to Berlin. Three days and nights in Roskilde seemed perfectly enough.

Waking up in a warm and cozy hotel bed in beautiful Nørrebro, I got to spend some quiet morning hours at the National Gallery of Denmark, stunned by the works of the great Danish painter Richard Mortensen.

Sitting on the train, I felt exhausted but already longing to go back. I realized that my overall experience at Roskilde was one of peaceful community. I didn’t witness any physical altercations or harassments – which is not to say such behaviors didn’t happen, but I didn’t come across them.

One last thing I want to address. At a summer festival, it might get hot and sweaty, and people might decide to take off their clothes. That shouldn’t give anyone a pass for assaulting them with looks and comments. Roskilde reminded me that everyone should be able to undress themselves safely in such environments without getting stared at or ridiculed. Even normatively beautiful people might not want to receive well-meaning “compliments”; they might feel unsafe or triggered by them.

It’s not that difficult, is it? Just don’t stare at people’s bodies and don’t comment on them either.

In general, be nice and respectful to one another. Be mindful of your own physical presence, especially as a bigger dude (like myself). Mind your own business, but help each other out if necessary. Smile at strangers. Stay hydrated. Have fun, dance and jump around, but don’t get totally wasted – it’s pathetic. (I realize I’m addressing my younger self here.)

Thanks to Factory 92, my colleagues at the international media camp, all volunteers and the whole Roskilde massive for making this experience truly special – once again.

See you next year, hopefully!