Roskilde Festival 2020 goes ‘DIY’
On Saturday 4 July, on what would have been the final day of Roskilde Festival 2020, the Danish event is encouraging fans across the world to create their own festival at home.
For ‘Roskilde Festival – Do it Yourself’, festival organiser Roskilde Festival Charity Society is calling on participants to “pitch a tent in their living room, play beer bowling in the backyard, create the perfect playlist, be inspired or provoked by art” and share their experience online, “just like we all share experiences at the festival every year.”
As with the main Roskilde Festival, tickets and merchandise will available to buy for Do it Yourself, with all profits donated to initiatives for young people and that strengthen community cohesion. The nonprofit festival – which was cancelled this year along with all other Danish summer events – raised hundreds of thousands of euros with its 2019 edition, and has donated over €55 million since the early ’70s.
Roskilde Festival will be sharing the best fan-created content from Do it Yourself on its social channels.
“Unfortunately, we cannot meet up at the festival site this year. Fortunately, the festival community thrives in so many other ways,” says Roskilde spokesperson Christina Bilde.
“We hope that many people will come together and enjoy music, food, art and the Roskilde community”
“In recent months, we have seen tremendous support, and many people have announced that they plan to celebrate the festival. It is absolutely fundamental to us that we can be a platform for such communities.
“So, we hope that many people will come together and enjoy music, food, art and the Roskilde community while supporting young people’s voices and opportunities.”
Those participating in Roskilde Festival – Do it Yourself are encouraged to buy a ticket for 50 kr. (€6.50) – or, for those who can’t do without this year’s Roskilde wristband, festival wristbands are available for a donation of 200 kr. (€27).
In the weeks leading up to the event, those taking part will be able to draw inspiration from Roskilde Festival’s many guides to music, food, art and activism “so that all the self-made festivals will have a common orange glow”, says the festival (orange being Roskilde’s signature colour)/
Find out more about Roskilde Festival – Do It Yourself at roskil.de/diy.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Roskilde 2021 sells out of full festival tickets
With more than 14 months to spare, Roskilde Festival has sold out of full event tickets for 2021, after 85% of those who planned to attend this summer’s cancelled festival opted to hold onto their tickets.
Roskilde was forced to call off its 50th-anniversary edition, originally scheduled for 27 June–4 July, in early April, after Denmark became one of the first countries to ban large-scale outdoor events to prevent the spread of Covid-19 this summer.
Of the 80,000 people who’d bought a ticket for the 2020 festival, just 15% opted to return them for a cash refund rather than use them for Roskilde 2021, according to organisers. Those 12,000 tickets went on sale again this morning (12 May) and sold out within hours.
The remaining five thousand one-day tickets, meanwhile, will go on sale in autumn 2020.
“Since the cancellation of this year’s festival due to Covid-19 unfortunately became a reality, we have received support in spades from participants and partners alike,” says festival promoter Roskilde Festival Charity Society in a statement.
“An overwhelming majority of ticketholders have gracefully chosen to transfer their ticket from the 2020 to 2021”
“Our social media has been overflowing with encouragement and now, we are happy to say, words have been followed by action. An overwhelming majority of ticketholders have gracefully chosen to transfer their ticket from the 2020 to 2021.”
“Your support means that we can continue our work preparing our anniversary festival in 2021,” it continues. “It also means that we can continue our non-profit work for children and young people all over the world.”
Thirty-two projects, including community recording studios and an activist hip-hop festival, will each receive between 10,000 and 1.4 million kroner (€1,340–€188,000) from the money earned from Roskilde Festival 2019.
Roskilde Festival 2020 was to have been headlined by Taylor Swift, Deftones, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator and the Strokes. Roskilde Festival 2021 will take place from 26 June to 3 July.
IQ’s next IQ Focus virtual panel, Festival Forum: Here Comes 21, features Roskilde’s Anders Wahren along with Jim King (AEG Presents), Stephan Thanscheidt (FKP Scorpio), Rachael Greenfield (Bloodstock Open Air) and Mathieu Jaton (Montreux Jazz Festival).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.