This year’s Rock-A-Field open-air week-end music festival ended on Sunday 11 July with a bang of laser-fire, clouds of smoke and blasts of confetti from the main stage.
The finishing act, by the American EDM DJ Steve Aoki, turned the festival-goers ecstatic. The 38-year-old DJ inspired the whole crowd to jump, scream, dance and sing along for 1.5 hours with his impressive light-show, holographic projections and on-screen visuals. And he himself did not seem to tire, dancing and singing along equally as much as the audience. The whole crowd cried when he played the hits “Boneless” and “Back 2 U”.
But this year’s two-day festival was not only about EDM music. This year Den Atelier, the organiser, focused on expanding the range of the different music genres and added hip-hop and gypsy music acts to the programme. There were three different stages and 22 artists entertaining approximately 12000 people.
Gogol Bordello, from New York, introduced the scene of gypsy-punk to Rock-A-Field with their groovy metal, rock, punk, and reggae tunes. They put up quite the show, as the octet were dressed in the theme of pirates and gave a performance that some of the audience perhaps had not seen or heard before – with their female dancers screaming into the microphone and having their ankles tied together with elastic bands. During their show, people started dancing along in the same style of the enthusiastic dancers on the stage – moving their knees up and down in rhythm with the music.
On the Bofferding hip-hop stage, T the Boss rapped in Luxembourgish, adding some Luxembourgish roots and influence to the line-up of the otherwise very international character at the festival.
The alternative rock band from the UK, the 1975, also left its mark on the audience. Although rock is a regular part of the RAF programme, the 1975 incorporates gospel sounds and electric sonics into their music. The lead singer Matthew Healy conveyed the real rock-star look, lighting up a cigarette and continuing to sing while exhaling the smoke, and certainly received a lot of attention with his heart-felt expressions and style of singing.
Like last year, Den Atelier included the food village in the layout of the festival. This year’s food village was slightly bigger and there were even more food options from which to choose. This year, there were two vegan options and every food stand offered a vegetarian option. This way, the organiser made sure to cater for every individual’s preferences.
In the middle of the food village was a large tent which was a great source of shade from the burning sun. Here, lovers and friends were seen swinging in the hammocks, lying on the mats or smoking the shishas that were available for rent.
Portuguese and French football fans were easily to be spotted on the festival site, the flags painted on their faces and excited to watch the live screening of the match on the site. The French football fans were left feeling disappointed, but the day of wonderful music, weather, food and drinks undoubtedly made up for it.
There is no doubt that everyone went home having gained something: be it a sun-kissed look (or a sunburn), a great musical experience, an artist to look up on Spotify or a newly-found love for vegan food. Until next year!
Photos by Josefine Emilie Andersen
