Roskilde - Day 1

Day 40 Distance- 0km (1697)
Weather- Overcast, patchy rain
Highlights- first day at Roskilde Festival for us - the Norwegian BigBang and the Who
Lowlights- Mud, not being able to see the chilli pepers
Accommodation- Sylvia's house

With no luggage still, and Pete over a small bout of gastro, we finally set off for Roskilde Festival having already missed the first day and a half. We jumped on the shuttle train, only to find that our run of bad luck was to continue, being told that we could no longer enter at that gate without wristbands, and we still had tickets, but no wristbands as yet. We were also slightly discouraged by the sheer number of gumboots attached to peoples feet, even though the rain had stopped.

So we waited for the the next shuttle train back to Roskilde main station, where we were to catch a shuttle bus to the entrance gate at the other end of the festival. On the up side, we did manage to acquire a pair of gumboots each that were left at the train station, now we were able to enjoy the music and not destroy the only shoes in our possession.

Finally we arrive at the main festival gate, got our valued wrist bands and took of into the bowels of the mud pit. We were quite happy to find that as our luggage was missing we were not camping; meaning that if you can imagine sitting in a sodden tent, surrounded by a moat of 30cm deep cow and urine smelling mud, enjoying the constant rain for 8 days with 75,000 other people fun, then you would have great time. Personally it's not our cup of tea.

Our first band that we saw was a Norwegian act called Bigbang, who were fantastic. Very rocky bunch of lads who took to the main stage like they had been doing it for years. They even had brass accompaniment for a few songs. Fantastic.

In regards to walking around the festival grounds we can only offer one piece of advice - Gumboots. If you don't take them, get them, and if you can't find them, steal them from a rubbish bin like we did. They will be the only things keeping you sane as you wade through fields of slippery mud.

Next up were the Flaming Lips, who are a band that we should probably know more of their work, but somehow we have managed to obtain very little of their stuff. They were very good, although I think a better appreciation of their music would make their live show much more enjoyable.

A short break walking around a few of the other stages and we were graced by a few very bad sounding clicks-and-pops from the experimental electronica stage and then it was back to the main stage for the Who. It was possible the biggest crowd I have seen gather for one band, and they were great, belting out all the classics. It was a little disappointing to see a lot of the younger audience only singing along to the 3 CSI theme songs, but you get that. Roger Daltery's voice isn't what it used to be, but it still had a lot behind it and sounded pretty good. Brilliant!

Unfortunately we had to leave before the Chillie Peppers came on at 1am as we had to catch the last train home, but hey we have both already seen them at least once each so it was no huge disappointment.

Tomorrow it is back to the festival for the Artic Monkeys, Muse, Datarock and Basment Jazz, should be great. Who knows, our luggage might even arrive.