As one of the surviving members of the Roskilde Mud Olympics Team '07 I bring you a short overview of our festival experience this wet summer in Denmark.
*I seem to switch alot between present and past tense. Don't mind that. Please.
*The crew: Thomas B (me), Thomas C, Catharina, Caroline, Hans Martin, Stein, Kimmy.
We headed out on Saturday around 12:15pm, quite certain that we'd remembered all our luggage, and headed towards our designated driver's home, which was a short walk away. His small green Ford Focus had just enough space for us (we were 5 festivalgoers) and our luggage. Having burned a CD with some of the bands that'd be playing at Roskilde, we were quite ready to depart. Thus we drove off to the sound of Unintended by Muse.
3-4 hours pass. We're somewhere in Sweden, having stopped at a place called Valhall for food. We ordered burgers and settled around a table, when Catharina suddenly burst out something along the lines of "fuck, my festival ticket". That's right. Minds went into an utter state of chaos, but after some phone calls we came to the conclusion that it'd be alright, we'd find a way. We'd go on, and try to get her in somehow. One of her friends would arrive on Tuesday, and he'd bring her ticket. A bit disheartened we drove on.
Nighttime. We arrive at the parking lot. It's about 23:00 and the festival entrance opens at 08:00. Hell, why not drive back to the closest gas station and pick up some beer? Beer is cheap in Denmark. We couldn't do anything but sit around the car drinking, but that was alright. Then we slept for a little while in the car. At about 05:00 they opened the festival gates. We went to the queue. Not that we had any choice there. However, queues are boring. They're also quite uncomfortable, whereas people push from all directions and the air is heavy. Combine that with the stressing thoughts of "what happens when we get to the gate without my ticket?" and you've got one passed-out Catharina. She suddenly clung to me and became really heavy. I tried talking to her, but to no avail. We laid her down and called for the festival guards, and a person from further back in the queue came over and said he was a doctor. He was a great help, and brought her back to consciousness. Some guards helped us get her out of the crowd, and took us through the fence into the festival area. So, we were inside. We didn't have the wristbands, but we were inside. By the time we stood up and could walk again, the others had set up the camp and brought some of our stuff there. We asked the guards about how to solve the issue with the ticket, but they didn't seem to have very good communication between themselves, and thus couldn't do us much help. After a while they left us, so we just got up and walked in. After getting our tent up I went back to the queue to at least get my own wristband, where I had to stand in the sun for 2,5 hours. What a great start.
I believe the whole Sunday was sunny. Heh. Get it? But it was. Except for the fog in the morning, that is. We chilled in the camp, and set up a pavillion in the middle of our tents. We went to sleep pretty early, being exhausted.
Time passes. One can't really count days, or even time properly when at the Roskilde festival. Anyways, one day it started blowing alot. Really, alot. There was a bit of rain too, but not too much yet. This wind took a good grip of the pavillion and tore it to the ground. The three others were in Roskilde centrum when this happened, Catharina was in the tent, and I just so happened to be under the pavillion. It was obvious that we couldn't save it, since we'd already reinforced the whole thing with duct tape, so I just went back into the tent for a while. We could always try to get it back up when the others returned. This was the day the band Decorate. Decorate. played, so I left camp to watch them. Around that area I also found a 400kr guitar. Yay. The others returned to the camp at about the same time as me, and by then the festival guards had taken the pavillion away. This is where the heavy rain started. Unable to sit gathered outside, Martin and I went to Roskilde centrum again to find a new pavillion (the stores at the festival area were sold out), only to find that all danish stores close at 17:30. So we returned. We had to sit at the station for about 50 minutes before the train took us the long way (a train ride less than 5 minutes) to the festival area again. We gathered inside one of the tents and had a pretty nice evening after all. We had 6 bags of doritos and enough beer to last for a couple of days.
Morning again. The weather constantly switches between heavy rain and sunshine. The air inside the tent is hot and stuffy. We're at a festival, after all. This is the day our two new campers join us, bringing Catharina's ticket. I bought an In Flames t-shirt, and Catharina bought a QOTSA t-shirt and an El Niño sweater. We went to town and ate at Jensen's Bøfhus, where they had cheap beef and great service. I think I clogged their toilet.
Oh, and we bought boots. My shoes were practically ruined by the mud, and I hadn't thought of bringing boots. I didn't really have any, either. They were expensive boots, but there was a shortage.
That evening alot of people joined us under our new pavillion. The others had gotten a new one while we were in town. We played alot of good old songs on the guitar, and there was also singing. The funny thing is, nobody was bleeding from their ears even after we'd been singing for a long while. There was rain outside, but we were quite comfortable. It was a remarkable evening. Beer flowed freely, and there were occasionally some stronger beverages as well.
Thursday morning? That must be it. The rain had been going on for too long. The most treaded areas (like the food-stands, the toilets, all that) had mud that reached up to your knees, and it just kept pouring down. Water was starting to flow into our camp. The wind was ruthless and tore at our new pavillion (which we had halved the legs of, to keep it lower and more stable) and our tents. Water started leaking into the tents as well. We asked the festival guards for a shovel, to dig a trench around our camp to get rid of the water, but no. "A shovel can be used as a weapon". Fucking insane guards. Some others apparently had gotten in trouble with the guards just for digging a trench as well. What did they expect us to do?
Pretty much all our clothes were wet. The table we'd made out of beer cans fell apart. Caroline had had enough, and I agreed heartilly. We left the tents and everything. Thomas C and Martin went to ready the car while the rest of us packed our stuff together. The parking lots were fields, as most of the area was farmland. This meant that the parking lot was muddy as well, and getting the car out would be hell. A tow truck wouldn't be there until tomorrow, so that was out of the question. They tried to drive it out of there, and somehow they actually managed to do it! We got soaked on the way from the camp to the car, but at least we were safe.
The way back was the longest car ride ever. The road was flooded several places in Sweden, and we were concerned about the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, considering the weather. The bridge was still open though. We eventually reached Drammen. It felt so good to be back in a dry, warm bed.
Today we've checked the news. A woman drowned in her car somewhere in Sweden. It looked alot like one of the underpasses we drove through. The Roskilde festival is still going strong, even without us. Red Cross personell has come with a warning about the danger of drowning in the festival area or camps. There's a shitload of water. Wettest festival ever, and such. I'm glad we went home.
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