Neil Young and “Promise of the Real” on the Orange Stage at 2016 Roskilde

I’ve seen Neil Young many times over the years. And I will see him again at Desert Trip in Southern California later this year (October I think). But his performance at Roskilde really got me. I don’t know exactly what it was–the setlist, something in the air, the rain stopping just before he went on, his “conducting” of Promise of the Real, or just the fact that I haven’t seen him in over a decade? I don’t know, but it really worked for me.

The above photo was taken with an extremely wide-angle lens. I actually wasn’t that far from the stage. The video, below, of Powderfinger is from a guy standing just behind and to the right of me. Of course he has it zoomed up a bit for most of the video.

The setlist, BTW, was:
After the Gold Rush (on piano)
Heart of Gold
The Needle and the Damage Done
Mother Earth (on pump organ)
Out on the Weekend
Unknown Legend
Human Highway
Someday
Alabama
Words
Winterlong
Love to Burn
Powderfinger
Mansion on the Hill
Western Hero
Vampire Blues
Country Home
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Seed Justice
Rockin’ in the Free World
Love and Only Love

Posted on July 5th, 2016 under Denmark. Tags: concert photography, neil young, Nikon D500, roskilde festival, Tokina AT-X 11-20mm F2.8 PRO DX. Comments Off on Neil Young @ Roskilde

SUMAC @ Roskilde Festival 2016

@SUMACband @SigeRecords @bbcbubblegutz #rf16

Note to any bands getting booked for Roskilde 2017: if you get scheduled for after midnight on the final day of the festival, nearly everyone is gone.

I’ve spent the last three days (afternoons, evenings, and mornings actually) at the Roskilde Festival. Each morning I came back to Copenhagen after dawn, but those mornings were very different. On the first two mornings I rode nearly empty trains back to Copenhagen after watching packed 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. shows. Why were the performances still crowded at those ungodly hours? Because many people at Roskilde are camping and don’t go to bed until the music stops. However, on the last night of the festival people began to disappear, especially later in the evening. Turns out festival goers are tired and/or head home after multiple nights in tents (and sometimes in the rain) for a real bath, real meal, and real bed. My final morning train ride was packed with people carrying a week’s worth of goods back home, and I’m guessing that was the case all final day and night long as I saw such people when I arrived in Roskilde on Saturday even though it was only afternoon.

I felt bad for SUMAC (and several other early morning groups), going on at 2:15 a.m. when, had they played a few hours earlier or on any other day, they would have had more than 10X as many people in the audience.

Also, Roskilde needs to do a better job of stringing together similar types of music, even if they aren’t on the same stage. The schedule for Thursday was pretty good as someone could see Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Ex Eye, Black Breath, Kvelertak, Tsjuder, and Ghost pretty much consecutively. Indeed, I saw much of the same crowd at each of those performances. However, on Saturday there was a 6+ hour gap between Gojira and SUMAC. Many of the 17,000+ people who came out to see Gojira would have stuck around for SUMAC had SUMAC gone on soon after Gojira. Even putting SUMAC on after Cattle Decapitation wouldn’t have been so bad. Putting Protomartyr and Imghrane on in between made no sense.

Still, SUMAC blew me away again. I had SUMAC dreams as I slept from 5 a.m. until noon.

Posted on July 4th, 2016 under Denmark. Tags: concert photography, metal, Nikon D500, roskilde festival, sumac, Tokina AT-X 11-20mm F2.8 PRO DX. Comments Off on Last but not least

Black Breath @ Roskilde 2016 (June 30, 2016)

#rf16 @orangefeeling @southernlordeu

My first day of Roskilde 2016 went better than expected. I was lukewarm on some of the bands I was going to be seeing (Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Ex Eye, Black Breath, Kvelertak, Tsjuder, and Ghost), but they all exceeded expectations. In fact every one of them were really enjoyable.

Black Breath was way better live than I was anticipating. Neil’s vocals in the studio are turned up too high and too Panteraish for my liking, but live he was a lot of fun and an excellent front man.

The lighting and some of the stages at Roskilde have improved significantly since I was here in 2011. The lighting is really amazing, even on the smaller stages.

Today’s photo is from the Pavilion Stage.

Posted on July 1st, 2016 under Denmark. Tags: black breath, concert photography, metal, Nikon D500, roskilde festival, Tokina AT-X 11-20mm F2.8 PRO DX. Comments Off on Roskilde 2016

Copenhell I – VI

2016 was the seventh Copenhell. The last time I was in Copenhagen was 2011. However, Copenhell II was a couple weeks before I arrived so I missed it. Not a big deal as I had seen both Judas Priest and Opeth the prior year in Japan. Also, Copenhell was much smaller back then.

Now it’s huge and growing. I’m not sure what the actual attendance was in 2016. Does anyone know? Maybe 30 thousand people were there. The people are great. I met many very nice and fun people.

Copenhell 2017 is already scheduled for June 22 though the 24th which is fantastic as it means I can go again if I’m back teaching in Denmark. I’m guessing my classes will start on the 26th.

Posted on June 29th, 2016 under Denmark. Tags: copenhell, metal, Nikon D500, Tokina AT-X 11-20mm F2.8 PRO DX. Comments Off on 7 years of Copenhell

Tribulation’s Jonathan Hultén @ Copenhell VII

Another band I really wanted to see at Copenhell was Tribulation. They were given the first spot on the Hades Stage on Saturday. That sucked because it meant I had to get up earlier than I wanted, and it meant I’d have a break of several hours before another band I wanted to see went on. It also wasn’t good for crowd size, but Tribulation won over those who did venture forth early after two straight days of non-stop music.

If you don’t know Tribulation, but you like Ghost, then you are missing out. According to Facebook likes, more than 40X more people know about Ghost. Tribulation, like Ghost, is from Sweden. They’ve actually been around longer than Ghost. Tribulation is heavier, and their songs have more staying power in part because they are more complex, but they are still loaded with hooks.

Tribulation’s live performance is very theatrical. They don’t go up there and just play their songs. You get a show. Check them out.

Posted on June 26th, 2016 under Denmark. Tags: concert photography, copenhell, metal, Nikon D500, Tokina AT-X 11-20mm F2.8 PRO DX, tribulation. Comments Off on Tribulation