More Than A Festival - and not worth the price of a ticket

When we started Not Appearing it was all in good fun we just wanted to be a positive influence when the festival had to choose between safe acts or dangerous new ground, it was still a fine festival and we just had the beginnings of a bad feeling. Then (drumroll) Enter: The Roskilde Booking Ladys and their war against messy punk-like activitys. I had never imagined that things could go downhill as fast as they have, and here in 2009 I've still not bought my ticket and today I caught myself thinking " I'll drop it - just not bother", lets face it, the program simply isn't worth the money.

"Awww but you've GOT to come" On the plus side there is of course the camp and the beer and the mates and the pot, all the joking and hanging around, "more than a festival" as Roskilde calls it, but I just can't imagine all that without at least 5 or 6 "must see" bands that nock me out and cut that edge; the time and space that is "now" as only good rock'n'roll can. I have checked the program again and again and it's just not happening.

Feminized Festival There are of course a lot of young women who say to me, "but I think it's a really great program!", and they should of course just get out there and enjoy it, but then I catch the eye of the cuddly big boyfriends they drag around with them, and there is this moment. The guys know exactly what I mean. The clean little hippie chicks are all excited about the electro-punky-disco-bits and the balkan-party-bits and the singer-songwriter-folksy-twee-bits and the new-weird-femi-bits, and I'm guessing that Roskildes muscial director and all her girlfriendsare just as excited about it too. It's arty and nice, goes well with a poncho, but... "OH my GOD! we forgot about the boys, what shall we bring along for them, in case they get bored, OH I know... loads of little heavy bands - they're handy, neat, tidy and loud and it gets the whole rock'n'roll thing over without too much mess."

Keep Out Punk Just 7 years after Roskilde 2002, the year the White Stripes, BRMC, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs showed us that Punk was back , the Roskilde Booking Ladys have managed to eraze it's precence totally. If they do allow us a little bit, as with the wonderfull danish Cola Freaks, they make sure it goes on at 3.00 am where everyone is legless or just have really tired legs. This is a tatic they have been using for some years now, and GOD it's bitter listening to a great garage band like "Motorpsycho" play last years best gig, way past 3 in the morning in a half empty tent.

Roskilde just a little bit more Ringe The festival has opted to blame the financial crisis for the slow ticket sales, I say "wake up! - it's the program!" If it rains this year Roskilde is setting it's self up for a major financial crisis of it's own, and IF by next year the festival hasn't changed it's bookers and musical focus then it will probably die, or it will just turn into one of those nice clean festivals that denmark loves, with Nephew and Coldplay and other international bands that were big about 6 or 7 years ago, a bit like Ringe Festival back in the 80's.

I hope it survives, maybe they shouldn't try so hard to be "more than a festival" - it used to be a really good festival (despite all the other stuff).