Dropping a list of Roskilde Festival 2025 names that's on my rader...
When I first planned this post, I wanted to split it up in three sections. "Must sees", "Could be interesting" and "Se giraffen". The latter being a Danish saying that in this case for me would be covering artists I normally wouldn't be listening to, but which I could watch some of for reasons like being big/famous, hot, weird, legendary, controversial, etc. But I ended up putting all in one big pile. That was much easier 🙂 ...
I have been to almost every Roskilde Festival since 1989. And in the 90s and 00s it was insane how many artists I wanted to see (and how many I was forced to skip). Of course I'm not in the main target group of the festival any more, and there's not nearly as many artists I absolutely have to see. But I'm still able to set a bit more than just a handful of marks in the schedule. And I'm sure it is going to be a fun festival again this year!
This post was updated multiple times up to the festival, and an epilog has been added after the festival.
Magdalena Bay
Wet Leg
Wet Leg and Magdalena Bay are among the artists I have been listening most to the last year or two, and I expect(/hope!) both their concerts will be some I will be leaving with a big smile on my face. Wet Leg has a new album out a few days after the festival, and without knowing much about their history, I think (based on their new singles, especially CPR) they have transformed from a primarily a duo to a full band taking their sound a step up to something more "full-bodied" and groovy.
Yeule
The last two years Yeule has been on my list when Roskilde Festivals allows us to wish a couple of names we would like to see on next years festival. And now she's here! However, recently I watched a bit of one of her liveshows on Youtube, and my expectations has been lowered somehow. She was alone on stage depending on playback/loops/samples. Not really the kind of shows I normally go to concerts for. Furthermore her brand new album hasn't caught me as much as her previous (at least not yet). But I wished for her twice, so I definitely have to see her now! I hope she surprises me with an upgraded live performance 🙂
Nine Inch Nails
Beth Gibbons
FKA Twigs
I have a fear that FKA Twigs' show will be a the semi-playback, super-choreographed kind with lot of dancers. The kind of show that many new young popular artists perform today. And the kind of artists I would usually put under the "Se Giraffen" category if I had made that distinction in this post. However, I do find FKA Twigs rather interesting musically. So I definitely have to give her performance a chance, even though I fear it might frustate me 🙂
Fay Webster
Wisp
Allie X
Fontaines D.C.
Fat Dog
Beabadoobee
Astrid Sonne
Emma Sehested Høeg
Jessica Pratt
Bright Eyes
The Raveonettes
Mø
In 2014 I saw Mø play at Arena. She wasn't high on my personal priority-list, but her energic show blew me away. I don't think it was much more than 10-15 minutes into the concert when I arrived, and she was already crowdsurfing. And it was actually for a very large part of the concert that she ended up being carried around in a boiling tent. In 2016 she returned and played at the festival's largest Orange Stage in a concert with (as far as I remember) lots of guests who were supposed to celebrate her success (in the meantime she had grown pretty big internationally). And I thought it was a much too laid-back and boring show. Gone was the hellish energy and insistence on creating a captivating party that I had seen a few years earlier, and I quickly left the show. I hope that it is the Mø I saw in 2014, that we are going to see again this year. Musically she should very much have gone back to her roots again.
Lola Young
Lucy Dacus
Rachel Chinouriri
Olivia Rodrigo
In my head, very must in the category of "young pop girls". But definitely much more rock than the others I can think of by that definition. If I had made the "Se Giraffen" category in this post, I would probably have placed her in that. But God, she actually has made some really catchy stuff, and in the back of my head she would probably still be knocking on the door to the "Must sees" category...
In this moment - shortly before main festival starts, and maybe the last update of this post - it is just in from England that she gave a triumph of a performance on Glastonbury, and several reviewers calls it the best concert on that festival this year. She's fuckin' 22.
Geordie Greep
Molina
Lambrini Girls
Jinjer
The way styles or expressions are mixed here, reminds me of Myrkur. And Myrkur has definitely given me a surprising good festival experience before. So this could too?...
Ravyn Lenae
Karoline Funder
Øyunn
Moin
Doechii
Described as a rapper in the festival programme, I normally wouldn't include Doechii in a list like this. And I guess she's not on my must-sees. But she have definetely made a few good things going outside the rapper-category in my ears. Anxiety included. But track/video is probably not representative for the general live experience...
Deb Foam
Snow Strippers
Tyla
Charli XCX
Second year in a row Charli XCX is playing at the festival. Last year her concert at Arena started at about the same time as Foo Fighters at Orange. But since I was sure that Foo Fighters would play a really long concert, I thought it would be fun to first see a bit of the "phenomenon" Charli XCX ("se giraffen"). However, it turned out to be completely impossible to get near the tent when I arrived at the area shortly after the concert had started. I'll have another chance this year. This time she will be playing at Orange Stage. And even though it would probably have been more fun at Arena, I should probably stop by and see how she's like live?
Arca
The HU
The Hu - Classic heavy metal meats traditional Mongolian music - including mongol throat singing?
Deftones
Horsegiirl
She's a horse?
Note 1: Not happy with the schedule being just on web and in the festival smartphone-app? It's well hidden, almost a secret, but there is actually also a PDF version of the RF25 schedule.
Note 2: I made above list without looking at the times scheduled for the concerts. The biggest clash in play-times I see now, must be that The Hu, Allie X and Deb Foam all starts playing at the exact same time as Magdalena Bay. Magdalena Bay is among my "must-sees", so it will probably be my choice. But I would really have liked to see some of the others playing too.
Epilog - After the festival
A few random "takeaways" from RF25...
If I had known Elias Rønnenfelt was the frontmand from Iceage, I would definitely have had him on above list too. I'm not following Danish music as close as I did years ago, so I'm not familiar with all the names. But luckily I found out in time, so I didn't miss a really great concert.
FKA Twigs delivered a show exactly as I had feared, except... it was fantastic! Well, at least for a good half hour or so, then I somehow felt that was enough. But I can hardly think of any other way I rather would have spent that half hour.
I didn't see much more than a couple of songs with Mø on Arena, but what I saw was great and reminded me of the "legendary" show with Mø I saw on same stage back in 2014.
Just as expected, I had a big smile on my face after the concerts with Wet Leg and Magdalene Bay. I did notice Magdalena Bay only played songs I know so well from their latest album, but it wasn't until I read the reviews afterwards that I realized it had been a "concept concert" playing the complete album from start to end. It worked great!
Talking about having a party, Olivia Rodrigo was as good as the rumors said she would be. I was deeply impressed. And wonderful to hear so much rock-guitar from one of the young popular artists. I guess there's still hope for the young peoples taste in music😉
For me, the peak of the festival became the last night where Nine Inch Nails played a show on Arena that caught me more intensively than I have experienced in many years. When I was younger I relatively often experienced concerts where I like "half hypnotized" forgot the World around me. Haven't had that feeling in many years, and I thought it was some ability I had lost getting older. But NIN made me have it again. I have heard good concerts with NIN before (but probably only at Orange?), but this must rank as the best. Or maybe I just needed a concert like that more than ever? After NIN I very fast headed over to Avalon to catch The Raveonettes, and got the half of an excellent noisy concert there too. And finally my festival ended seeing Yeule in a small crowd in front of Eos. Luckily it was not a solo-show as the one I had seen on YouTube without any real instruments. She/they actually entered stage in a "classic rock trio" setup. I don't know if Yeule is on a big record company, but it doesn't feel like she has been through the big styling-machine of such yet. She definitely care a lot about styling and image, but in a personnal and charming DIY way. It might not be the best concert of the festival, but is was a fine and intimate experience, and felt like a perfect way to close this festival.
Others artists I saw more or less of was Jinjer, Annika, Fontaines D.C., Jessica Pratt, Wisp, Beabadobee, Beth Gibbons, Emma Sehested Høeg, Fay Webster, Rachel Chinouriri, School of X, Lucy Dacus, Lola Young and Astrid Sonne. As always there's a lot you doesn't see for logistic, physiologic, social and meteorological reasons. But the list looks pretty satisfying to me🙂