When one travels all the way to Denmark for a music festival, it only makes sense to check out some of the local talent. After all, it seems almost rude not to. And so, on the final day of Roskilde, I dedicated some time to taking in a few of the Danish acts on the bill.
First up, Copenhagen shoegazers Snuggle, who started off the day on the Lagune stage, playing a noontime set for the early risers. The band got the day off to a pleasant start with some sweet, mellow hazy tunes off their debut full-length Goodbyehouse, though that sweetness was tempered a bit by the darker, more melancholy undertones of some of the lyrics.
Way over on the other end of the festival grounds was another Danish act, or at least partly Danish. Japanese ambient composer/percussionist Midori Takada teamed up with Danish guitarist Jakob Bro to perform some numbers off their collaborative album あなたに出会うまで / Until I Met You alongside a saxophonist. Their performance was fascinating to watch unfold and, unlike Snuggle’s set, where the band’s all Danish stage banter was lost on me, Takada and Bro let their music do the talking entirely.
From there, I took a pause on my all-Danish afternoon, taking in Swedish folk singer Sara Parkman – the Swedes are Denmark-adjacent, after all. Parkman caught my attention from the get-go with her beautiful and captivating set on the Fauna stage. With soaring vocals and stirring violin, her music sounds quite grand and cinematic, drawing from traditional Swedish folk traditions while still sounding contemporary in its own right. Describing the origins of one of her tunes, she explained the significance of the polska, noting that it’s very typical of Swedish folk music, but also Danish. And also Finnish. And of course, if the name didn’t clue you in, it originated from Poland. She added, on an anti-nationalistic note, that folk music doesn’t care about borders and will go on after we die.
One of the highlights of Parkman’s set was “Ora et Labora,” a song with lyrics taken from an old Catholic religious text about the importance of art (“If you don’t speak Swedish, Google it”). Parkman also took the opportunity to use her intro to the song as an opportunity to call out politicians who don’t care about funding the arts. Amen, sister.
Next, it was over to the mainstage to take in TV-2’s mid-afternoon set on the Orange Stage in front of perhaps the biggest crowd I saw there all weekend. I had already gleaned from their bio on the Roskilde site that TV-2 were a massively popular Danish band and that it was kind of a big deal that they were playing Roskilde for the first time in 25 years. I hadn’t quite expected how popular their set would be though. Turning to a nearby Dane for context, I asked if he could name an equivalent British or American band that might compare to them. The only response he could think of was, “They’re not The Stones.”
No, they clearly aren’t. Their sound is a little too pop and far too rooted in the ’80s for that. As a Canadian though, the cultural anologue was obvious – The Tragically Hip. Though sonically sounding nothing alike, the parallels between TV-2 and Kingston’s finest became clear. Both acts have seen huge success at home while remaining largely unknown outside of their homelands and much like The Hip, it seems that TV-2 holds a significant place in their nation’s culture. That much was made obvious by the big mass singalongs they inspired during their afternoon set. Again, i didn’t understand a word, but I got the general sentiment.
After taking part in what felt like a Danish cultural heritage moment, I headed over to Gloria stage to watch Cuirass play some medieval music in the dark. Yeah, some real nerd shit – but it sounded great. Flutes, hurdy-gurdy, a dude reciting Shakespeare (or something vaguely Shakespearian-sounding at least) – they had it all. Some real “frolicking in the morning dew with the faeries” kind of music.
A very different kind of experience than watching TV-2 over on the Orange stage, for sure, but it was the kind of wonderfully odd discovery that, in many ways, perfectly encapsulates the adventurous spirit of Roskilde.
