Let me make it perfectly clear that I was kinda shocked to see the program this year. The "headliners" were either old as fuck or known to play either shitty gigs or music, that it takes only one year of festival experience to know will never ever work from the giant Orange stage. It takes some kind of a rock monster to control the large stage and only very few bands possess that power. This year they all failed.
I didn't even bother to see Red Hot Chili Peppers who are completely overrated and overhyped and a notoriously lousy Festival band. Björk's music is not suited for Orange stage and to be honest she hasn't made a good record since 1997's "Homogenic". To judge from the reviews in the newspapers I didn't miss a thing.
I did see Beastie Boys and left after a few numbers because it totally lacked any direction whatsoever. Arctic Monkeys who seem to be totally overrated and nowhere near having enough great songs to pull it off. The Who sounded like the very old dinosaurs they are and the lead singer had a cold and could barely sing. In Flames where haunted by technical problems from the sound equipment.
Talking about it the volume level was the major problem at almost all concerts this year. The sound volume was ridiculously low. When I come to hear rock I expect to hear it LOUD! If people can't deal with loud music then they can wear earplugs. Live music should kick you with a fist or it will never ever move anybody. It was simply too lousy from the Festival's side. TURN IT UP NEXT YEAR, OK?!?!?! :(
City-X played a somewhat bad gig. They did way better at Graa Hall in Copenhagen two months earlier. Zyklon was completely uninteresting and never reached heights like Mayhem or Immortal have both managed at Roskilde. Also what kind of extreme metal gig has a sound level where it is possible to talk with the people standing next to you? Ridiculous beyond belief. Hayseed Dixie were as monotonous as I had predicted so I left after 3 or 4 songs. I did have a little laugh when they played Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" though. Especially because the bookers hadn't booked Motörhead instead. A band that would never have failed to play a fabulous ROCK gig.
Oh and let me not forget John Legend that I heard by mistake while waiting for Mastodon. He has to be the worst musician/singer/whatever I have heard in my entire life. And somehow I am still in shock at how much the teenage girls adored him/it. It was completely awful. My ears are still crying. By the way I didn't hear Mastodon as some of the security people pissed me off enough to make me go out and enjoy some rain, mud and Jägermeister instead.
Didn't you hear any music you liked then? Oh yes I did. Machine Head managed to blow down Green Stage (Arena) like no one came anywhere near to doing before or after them. It was one hell of a tight metal show and everything from the music, the sound quality, the sound level and the lighting was perfect. They get 6 goat skulls out of 6 and all my respect.
So the end of the story is that I heard ONE SINGLE band that delivered at a whole Festival. That is simply not good enough. Well it is ridiculous. I guess that it cannot possibly be worse. So I guess this is the only good thing I can say about the music program.
Rating: 
Bands: Machine Head, Beastie Boys, The Who, Arctic Monkeys, Hayseed Dixie, City-X, Zyklon, John Legend, In Flames
Venue: Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, DK
Concert Date: 2007-07-01
Content Type: Concert Review
Language: 
Updated: 2007-07-09 22:42
Created: 2007-07-09 20:47
