SPRING | COVER FEATURE
Cause and effect Should any government need convincing of the huge contribution that festivals make , not only culturally but also financially , they should look to Denmark ’ s stalwart success story Roskilde .
In 2022 , the 50th anniversary edition of the 130,000-capacity festival generated a € 2 million profit that was channelled into supporting cultural and charitable causes . Since its launch in 1971 as a not-for-profit event , Roskilde has generated more than € 58m for charitable causes .
“ The Danish festival market is actually in quite a good place ,” says the festival ’ s head of production Lars Liliengren . “ We have more than 100 festivals , which is a lot for a small country with a population of 5.6m people .
“ We wWhile Roskilde sold out in 2022 , and organisers benefited from all pre-pandemic supply chain costs having been locked in before Covid forced its postponement , Liliengren says the Ukraine war and other factors did make for a tougher economic environment in 2023 . However , he is optimistic about the year ahead .
“ Denmark is in a good place because it seems to be one of the few countries in Europe controlling inflation ; it ’ s less than 2 % right now ,” he says . “ Most of our suppliers are based within the region , so prices will not increase on the supply side that much for 2024 . The biggest change will happen in 2025 when we hope to deploy a new mainstage and change one or two other stages .”
With Roskilde ’ s financial situation being relatively stable , Liliengren says the festival ‘ s ticket price will
remain unchanged this year to ensure young people are not priced out .
The event famously engages a huge number of volunteers each year , with some 29,000 expected to work at this summer ’ s event . However , Liliengren is adamant that Roskilde ’ s organisers never considered having volunteers to save money on staff .
“ I ’ m not sure that there ’ s necessarily a better business case for having volunteers than having a purely professionally run festival ,” he says . “ We do have professionals coming in , the volunteers are not taking jobs away ; they are enhancing the overall audience experience .”
Remote contact Part of the Kingdom of Denmark but self-governing , 18-island archipelago The Faroes is also home to a long established , if slightly more diminutive , festival .
With only one record store , one record label , and a population of only 56,000 , the rocky string of North Atlantic islands is not the most
“ We prefer not to run after artists , because if your festival ’ s value is based heavily on the line-up its success is really reliant on that .”
- Paléo Festival Nyon ’ s Pascal Viot
Roskilde obvious location for a festival .
Launched in 2002 , the 5,000-capacity G ! Festival is held in the seaside village Syðrugöta , on the island of Eysturoy , which has a population of just 400 .
“ There are no hotels . If we have really fancy guests , we can ship them to the hotel in the capital but for the most part we use local houses . People will lend us a room or their house , we also use schools and kindergartens for people to stay in ,” says the festival ’ s music director Høgni Lisberg .
Despite its remoteness and lack of urban luxuries , or perhaps because of it , G ! Festival regularly attracts overseas artists from far and wide . Among the acts scheduled to play the event this year are Iceland ’ s Of Monsters And Men , The Longest Johns from the UK and Norway ’ s Ash Olsen .
Says Lisberg , “ Our budgets are humble compared to a big European festival , so we have a hard time competing but what we can offer is an experience – we encourage people to stay a few extra days to take in the beautiful surroundings and nature . But , if you ’ re in a hurry , no problem , you can fly in on the Friday do the gig and fly away the next day . We pay artists ’ local travel , food and accommodation expenses .”
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