Grace and I in Denmark.

I was asked to play Roskilde festival in denmark and couple of years ago. Apparently it's like, the size of glastonbury, but in Denmark, hence, organized. I didn't realise this until I got there, by which time I'd already decided to camp. If it was anything like glasto, then I'd be in artist's camping. Much better than staying in a hotel offsite cos i wouldn't wanna miss any of the fun. Deary me, how I misjudged the situation. 

It transpired that there was no artist's camping. Artists don't camp at Roskilde. They get driven to and from their hotels in a very precise and punctual manner. So they put me in the media field. Can you think of anything worse than camping in a field full of media folk? I can only think of one thing that might make it worse.. deathly hot sunshine falling upon your tent at 8am. This was the way it rolled. 

I parked my little tent (which had been kindly donated to me by a Danish man whom I didn't know) in the area of the field which would get the sun latest. Oh, I'm good at judging the best angle of sunshine, thought I, not like all these media types who have put not one second's thought into their tent placement. Unfortunatley I was camping right next to the entrance to the site, so I got not one minute's sleep due to the throng of cocaine riddled journalists jabbering next to my ears all night, not to mention the 8am tent turning to sauna scenario. 

My days there were spent trying to keep cool. One thinks of Denmark as a cold country, but it was hotter that Spain that weekend. The backstage area was the best thing that I happened upon. There were free drinks a plenty and I found myself a little area behind the guitar tech from which I watched The Fleet Foxes. My backstage pass was limited to the hours between 11am and 5pm, but Grace Jones was due onstage at 9 and I wanted to be near her, so I basically hid for 4 hours until she came on. By the time she arrived I was well bored, but she blew my tiny mind. The 60 year old was pole dancing but 6 feet away from me. That moment taught me that one should never pretend to be modest, it's much better to just have fun. 

I'd found a nice thai food stall which I frequented, and I watched Elbow and Nick Cave. Elbow made me smile cos they're from Manchester. Nick Cave freaked me out. 

By the sunday, I was pretty much at the end of my tether. It was hot and I had no one to speak to. Speaking Danish is not on the list of things I can do and although I chatted to whoever would speak English, I didn't wanna tag along with anyone for too long incase they thought I was weird. So I gave in and checked into a hotel in Copenhagen. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I passed out, alone. That was my experience of Roskilde.