Because…EPIC! Moderat turned the Orange Stage into a proper Berlin techno rave the last night and I just had to open with this picture. Had to. Because. EPIC! Love Moderat and Modeselektor!
Roskilde Festival 2017. Or just #RF17. It was muddy and wet but it was truly amazing. This year I had the pleasure and honour of shooting for the Roskilde Festival team itself. I had wonderful freedom, a role where I could just float around and make my pictures at the concerts I wanted. This suits me perfectly, I am less good at making other people’s pictures and much better when I get the freedom to shoot on instinct. Thank you so much for this opportunity Roskilde Festival, especially Anders Hjortkær, and big shoutouts to all my fellow photographers.
It is no secret I love electronic music, especially the darker and deeper type and I had some fantastic experiences at RF17. Justice was a great party, The XX totally blew me away, Den Sorte Skole were out-of-this world, The bit I caught of Bonobo and Trentemøller was brilliant and of course, the Moderat / Modeselektor takeover of the Orange Stage was pure bliss for an old raver. Everytime I really, really wish I was on stage performing, but that is not happening, so for me photography is the best way of being part of the scene. I am still a fan first and foremost, I still stand there, wide-eyed and spellbound, wishing I was part of Moderat for example.
Show some pictures!
Shooting Roskilde is a rollercoaster of emotions, and I can get very overwhelmed from this complete bipolar state of being. From the total ecstacy of being at one with the artists and the crowd during the opening of a great concert to the crash landing when we are shown the door 3 songs later.
I have been browsing through my images and everything is too close to me, the emotions are still too overwhelming so I have trouble making sense of the images and stories, see through the emotions – but I want to show you something, so here goes, Part 1 of a random collection of some of my favourite moments. Make sure you read the stories in the captions.
That iconic and gorgeous Orange Stage all lit up during Arcade Fire. It does feel like a shot of spellbinding magic at times, this stage, it becomes addictive.
The Avalon tent is absolutely gorgeous, I forget who was playing for this crowd shot in lovely light.
Bonobo is one of my favourite musicians and I caught him in a beam of light right at the beginning
Szerdene joined Simon Bonobo in the third song with her splendid voice. I do feel that Bonobo were totally misplaced on Apollo, they would have been perfect for Avalon.
Rag ‘n’ Bone Man tries to avoid all the laser beams in Avalon.
Justice were great, they turned the Orange stage into a nice old-skool retro electro house party and brought some nice lights too.
And then the aliens landed!
Princess Nokia was a ball of energy…
and her fans absolutely loved every second of it. Gotta love the fans, never ever be too old to be a fan.
Say Something Loving – Romy of The XX kicks off an amazing concert.
I totally love The XX and they really blew me away on the Orange Stage. Romy was flying.
Oliver Sim was wearing this cool outfit, gotta get me one. Jamie XX in the background and a reflection of Romy in the mirror.
Romy was beamed straight in from another planet.
Fans at Karl William concert. Look at those faces, those eyes and those hands. Not the world’s best composition nor light, but look at those wonderful emotions on display, I really cherish this picture.
I covered the entire audio visual performance of the great Kenton Slash Demon and their new incredible visuals in the new Klub RÅ. It was great, and really cool to suddenly switch to shooting a nightclub atmosphere with zero lights. Love it!
I am a massive Trentemøller fan and have been since he started DJing ages ago. I don’t think I have seen them live for 10+ years so I waited 40 minutes to be first in the foto-pit for this one.
Trentemøller and Marie Fisker in one of my better compositions (that is one shot).
Lorde from New Zealand was a real surprise, super enjoyable and fun to shoot.
Tilt that baby! I love tilted compositions. Also kind of helps with getting the crowd in the shot when the stage is so damn high!
Den Sorte Skole was out-of-this world amazing. They deserve their own blog post, so you get just 3 pictures here.
Martin from Den Sorte Skole in the light.
Den Sorte Skole and some incredible dancers.
Ice Cube was cool but I could not stop thinking about A Tribe Called Quest. Bonus cred to Ice Cube though for making the sun come up just before his set, how did you do that dude?
Sometimes I loose track of time. 3 short songs from Ice Cube went fast and I literally got in 1 shot at the end with my 50mm when I remembered I wanted a close-up.
Saturday and after days of heavy rain and cloud cover this weird big bright light source makes an appearance!
Moderat / Modeselektor definitely require their own blog post! I am a huge huge huge fan, so you just get a few pictures for now and this one shot of “Apparat” aka Sascha Ring – who accidentally fell off stage into the photo-pit mid-set! but he managed to get up again and was ok fortunately!
Moderat / Modeselektor turned the entire Orange Stage and festival grounds into one massive night club. I love love love Moderat and was so spellbound I totally lost track of time meaning I missed Sort Sol at Arena and they will have to live without pictures from me! (I think they might be ok with that, but just in case they are not, sorry guys!)
The End feat Cliffhanger
Which cameras did he bring and which one did he drop?
How much coffee did our hero consume?
Will his 50mm lens cap ever re-surface in the mud?
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this RF17 blog post!
….
PS. The End feat Cliffhanger would be an awesome band name!
PPS. Oh yeah, did I mention it was muddy?
Smat is the Danish term for this perfect doughy mixture of earth meets water. It is terribly sticky and slippery. These old boots proved totally awesome though, mud proof and kept my feet dry, and looks good too!
