Roskilde Festival 2017 Kicks Off w/ Cultural Equality Theme & FMS Reporting Back via Hoxton Radio

Roskilde Festival 2017 is well underway, with its 47th edition having opened with a Viking themed party last Saturday, and the likes of Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, The Weeknd, The Xx, Ice Cube, Justice, Moderat/Modeselektor, Solange, and Trentemøller set to headline the main four days.

This year sees Roskilde Festival team up with organisations such as Amnesty, Danish Women’s Society, MIX CPH and Rapolitics, to gauge perception of cultural equality through several of the festival area’s art projects and installations, with a focus on ethnicity, religion, sexuality and gender, and how the culture we are born into or shaped by can influence our opportunities and terms of life, thus inspiring festivalgoers to take a stance and get involved during the festival, and for the rest of the year.

Viking Blót took place by the swimming lake, with a huge bonfire and seven Nordic acts – Krauka (DK/IS), Virelai (DK), Päivi Hirvonen (FI), Songleikr (NO/DK), Asynje (DK), Sorten Muld (DK), and Svartsot (DK) – each following in the footsteps of their ancestors in their own way, combining everything from of old Norse ballads, chain dance and acoustic techno to melodic death metal. Revellers were encouraged to bring helmets, shields and skins, to celebrate in ‘somewhat casual Viking attire’, while dancing around the fire and drinking mead (mjød in Danish). Incidentally, in the Norse religion Blót is the general name for ritualistic sacrifice. It’s been confirmed that no actual sacrifices took place.

Once again, FMS is on the ground to take it all in, and this year we have Camilla Trodyb chatting to festival goers and reporting back on their festival style and band recommendations via Hoxton Radio.

Listen in between 12-2pm today to catch the first of our reports, and follow @FMSmag and @HoxtonRadio to get the full picture.

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Photo: Orange Stage 2015 (c) Joeri Swerts