Roskilde Nude Race today - Martin Dosh and N*E*R*D (with backing band Spymob) play Roskilde

The Roskilde Festival's traditional nude race is today. Unfortunately, though I thought Sean would be a formidable contestest, we are not going to make it out in time for the event. Read about it here. I saw footage of last year's on tv, complete with full frontal and quite casual nudity. Last year's nude race, however, was all male and not too exciting.

We had our first day out at the festival yesterday. It was a real dissapointment and a bit of a problem that Bowie had been dropped from the roster. We caught nearly the entirely of a full set by former Blur member Graham Coxen at the Odeon Stage. I will definitely be buying his album. Best show I've seen so far on this trip.

Slipknot, Bowie's "replacement" put on a decent show to a crowd of probably 40,000 on the main stage. I admire their intelligence and stage presence, but the music does not do a lot for me. It was, however, one of the loudest things I've heard in a while. Apparently Slipknot (so strange to think they are from in and around Des Moines Iowa)had to play two shows yesterday, one in Denmark and one in Germany, but their energy was outstanding. They seemed as thrilled to be here as the fans did to receive them.

Around 6 o'clock we headed over to the Arena Stage where I'd seen Massive Attack last year to see N*E*R*D. As you may know, N*E*R*D's backing band is none other than local Minneapolis musicians Spymob. Unfortunately we were unable to locate Brent or any of the guys before or after the show to say hey. Part of the reason was that N*E*R*D is phenomenally popular here and nearly 5,000 people had crowded into and around the tent which probably safely accomodates around 2,000. We were near the edge of the tent before they started, and by 5 minutes into the show the crowd had swelled around and behind us to scarely safe levels. (Crowd Safety people had even come on before the show to remind people not to push.) When N*E*R*D's lead singer said, "Okay, everyone, on the count of 5 it's time to JUMP," we knew that meant it was really time to get out of that crowd. It took almost 10 minutes to get to the back of it and boy was I glad to get out.

Our evening treat was seeing the Pixies again. A much larger crowd than at the Hurricane Festival, and the Pixies rose to the occasion. Best show of the 3 times I've seen them this year. Except for once when Kim Deal said "Danke Viel" the show was without commentary from the band. The beauty of this show was that it was sunset at about 10:30 at night, and that's my favorite time in Denmark. The sun starts to set and it just sets and sets and sets in a kind of near permanent twilight.

When we got back to our hotel we freshened up a bit then hit the town again. By the time we left the bars at 3:30 the sun was already coming up. I am glad I brought a sleep mask along with me to keep the sun out of my eyes as two hours of darkness is not quite enough for a good night's rest.

Today, right now, Martin Dosh (Fog, Dosh) from Minneapolis whom I have previously seen at the 7th Street Entry is playing at Roskilde on a small stage. I wished we could have gotten out there to see him as he is our other connection other than N*E*R*D. We could have worked it in if we'd known he was here, but we didn't until we saw him on the schedule yesterday. I need to get myself on that guy's newsletter so that doesn't happen again. Would have been an awesome review for howwastheshow.

Time to head back out shortly to catch Mr. Morrisey, whom I am very much looking forward to seeing. Saw him in Milwaukee in 1987, but that seems like a very long time ago.