Photo: Alexia Arrizabalaga
The first day of Roskilde Festival came to a close last night, after sets from the likes of At The Drive In, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Damon Albarn and The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians.
Red Hot Chili Peppers were the main draw as thousands of revellers poured down the hill from their camp at twilight to get to the Orange Stage. By the time the band were into their opening track, ‘Can’t Stop’, punters were lined back to the perimeter of the arena floor and the excitement was palpable.
Anthony Kiedis, who has come under scrutiny in the past for vocal off days was on fine form and injected vigour into the set. It was Flea, however, who the crowd were most enamoured with thanks to his antics outside of playing.
In addition to pulling off an epic handstand, he took the opportunity to address the crowd, saying that now is the time we need to love more than ever – presumably in reaction to the messy political situation in Britain and the US and recent escalation in war casualties around the world. He was greeted with a wave of cheers as it was a poignant reminder of the important role bands can play in peace advocacy.
The slap bassist also took the opportunity to share with the crowd experiences he had “hanging out with the hippies in Christiania”, a place in Copenhagen famed for its liberal attitude to alternative housing and marijuana. "It makes me happy" he said.
Things certainly went down better than their 2007 appearance, when they were reviewed as one of the worst headliners in Roskilde history.
The encore was the high moment in a crowd pleasing set as ’Under The Bridge’, arguably their most perfect single, saw the crowd transformed into a choir, singing word for every catchy word along with it. Meanwhile, fellow Blood Sex Sugar Magic hit ‘Give It Away’ was a reminder of their most up-tempo funk side. If anything was lacking last night, it was the omission of more songs of this nature such as ‘Suck My Kiss’, ‘Higher Ground’, and anything else pre-1992 with a bit of punch. New album material just doesn’t have the same mass appeal.
Before Red Hot Chilli Peppers, At The Drive In proved that their absence from the music industry for the last 16 years is an absolute travesty. They were simply unbelievably good and edged ahead of RHCP as best band of the night.
Echoes of the chaotic energy that they became renowned for before they split in 2001 were there. This was extremely well executed and was by no means a diluted version of something that was once important. Cedric Bixler-Zavala was on top form and acrobatically swung his microphone into the air and jumped off stack amps – this show was the real deal.
The gap between the band and the stage, which Bixler-Zavala was frustrated by – “I want to come back and play at a proper place where I can smell you and finger fuck your eye sockets!” – didn’t impact on the atmosphere, as they were brutally loud with a wall of sound that extended far beyond the perimeter of the tent.
The climax was inevitably ‘One Armed Scissor’ - the song that has gone down as one of the top Jools Holland performances of all time because of everything they threw at it.
Rodríguez, who was mesmerizing all evening, as he played like Hendrix with a delay pedal, was giving his usual high impact backing vocal. Bassist Paul Hinojos kept everything simple yet direct and hard-hitting like Dee Dee Ramone.
Together with drummer Ton Hajjat, and guitarist Jim Ward, the five piece have already made Roskilde 2016 a festival to be remembered and showed why they must keep on playing shows as At The Drive In for years to come.
Earlier in the day, Africa Express presents The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians gave a two hour plus set during blissful sunshine. The stage was a platform whereby classical-minded Syrian musicians led by Issam Rafea, were the mainstay whilst the band at the front of the stage kaleidoscopically changed form.
Damon Albarn, who first worked with the orchestra at the Damascus Opera House in 2008, gave a crowd pleasing cover of Blur’s song ‘Out Of Time’. But he then mostly gave the stage away to an array of classical, experimental and pop musicians from all over the world.
Of the myriad guest performers, Syrian singer Faia Younan sang traditional melodies with power and graceful charisma. Meanwhile, Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali was jaw-droppingly strong, and frequent Albarn collaborator Bassekou Kouyaté showed why he is known as one of the best ngoni players in the world.
Moreover, Syrian female rapper Malikah was on fire, and added a strong dash of hip hop. Lastly, Julia Holter, played her best single, ‘Feel You’ and then later had Albarn accompany her on a cut. The chemistry on stage at this point reached a peak – hopefully this will blossom into further collaboration.
As this impeccable musical journey - which Flea from RCHP later praised and humbly admitted he was honoured to share follow them as headliners - came to a close, the orchestra and all the guests came together to chant the word Syria. This ushering of peaceful wishes to a country devastated by war was truly heartfelt.
Meanwhile, Albarn, who at last year’s Roskilde was carried off stage after an extended five hour set with Africa Express, wasn’t quite as maverick this year, but still had a bouncer guide him off stage – the crowd would have happily remained there for another two hours.
