Danish festivals turn up the competition with new reveals

Both the Roskilde Festival and NorthSide have made some major announcements this week, turning thoughts from the long and cold months ahead to what awaits us on the other side. 

 

The Aarhus-based NorthSide was the first out the gate this week, announcing on Tuesday that American R&B phenomenon Frank Ocean would headline one of the festival’s three nights in what will be just the singer’s second ever appearance in Denmark and part of his return to the stage after a three-year absence.

 

 

The announcement came on the heels of NorthSide’s major booking coup in the form of Radiohead's first Danish appearance in eight years. One-day tickets for Radiohead’s Sunday night gig at the festival quickly sold out and spokesman John Fogde said the addition of Frank Ocean would undoubtedly further boost sales. 

 

“We are very thrilled to have succeeded in getting the public’s two most-wished names on this year’s NorthSide poster. Radiohead and Frank Ocean are very infrequent guests in this country so it is really crazy that we managed to book them for the same year,” he said. 

 

With the pressure on from NorthSide’s impressive early start, the king of Danish music festivals, Roskilde Festival, responded on Wednesday by adding a full 24 new acts to its line-up, led by Canadian indie rock darlings Arcade Fire. 

 

"Arcade Fire have spearheaded a new generation of indie rock, and they've grown tremendously in terms of both ambition and popularity since their last visit to Roskilde Festival ten years ago," festival spokesman Anders Wahrén said.

 

 

Roskilde Festival also added R&B singer Solange, arguably best known for being Beyonce’s little sister, American pop-punk act Blink-182 and French electronic duo Justice. 

 

"The acts that we've announced today are from 10 different countries and represent a myriad of different styles. On a larger scale, this sort of diversity is what's so important to us," Wahrén said. "From Korea's Black String to a trend-setting urban artist like Kano. From a political star like Solange to something heavier like Red Fang, these artists all do something unique in totally different ways."

 

The two dozen new acts added on Wednesday came just two weeks after Roskilde announced that American rock giants Foo Fighters would visit the festival for their only show in Scandinavia next year. Just under 40 of the roughly 175 eventual acts have now been revealed.

 

The full list of acts added to the Roskilde Festival on Wednesday can be seen here:

 

ARCADE FIRE (CA)

BLINK-182 (US)

JUSTICE (FR)

ERASURE (UK)

THE LUMINEERS (US)

SOLANGE (US)

WARPAINT (US)

BCUC (BANTU CONTINUA UHURU CONSCIOUSNESS) (ZA)

BLACK STRING (KR)

BLOOD COMMAND (NO)

CASHMERE CAT (NO)

JAGWAR MA (AU)

KELLERMENSCH (DK)

KEVIN MORBY (US)

MARGO PRICE (US)

KANO (UK)

MØME (FR)

NEUROSIS (US)

PRINCESS NOKIA (US)

RED FANG (US)

SVIN (DK)

VANISHING TWIN (UK)

VIAGRA BOYS (SE)

WIKI (US)

 

The NorthSide festival will take place June 9th through June 11th in Aarhus, while the Roskilde Festival will be held June 24th through July 1st. Tickets for both festivals are currently on sale.