Got My Towel: Roskilde

I have never been to a music festival before. At least not until last weekend.
Obviously it was reasonable to make my inaugural foray into the festival scene at one of Europe's largest: the legendary Roskilde Festival. This was an excellent idea.
For those of you lucky enough to know what I'm talking about, Roskilde Festival is essentially a ten day long P-Day, that just so happens to have some big-name bands playing at it. For those who don't know what a P-Day is, let me first of all say that Roskilde is not definitely a marathon not a sprint. There's a whole mindset that goes along with the festival, called the Orange Feeling. It's hard to define, but at its core it's a feeling of connection and bon homie with your fellow revelers. People are extraordinarily friendly, and they've all got each others' backs; cups of water are passed through the crowd during concerts in the sweltering tents, because lord knows if you're dancing for 12+ hours a day, you need your hydration. It's kind of beautiful. The music, as great and diverse as it may be, is very much secondary to the experience of being there.

Efterklang, a fairly famous Danish band.
Nothing brings people together like excitedly swatting at giant beach balls.

The National.

The best picture I was able to get of Metallica.

Roskilde Festival is an undeniably silly event. If you camp there, you are a resident of the world's largest temporary city. And if you don't camp there, you're missing out on 75% of the fun, though I will concede that festival camping is not for everyone. On the campgrounds, you don't set alarms to wake up; you get up when your tent gets too hot (around 8:00). No matter what time it is, someone near you will be loudly playing music. And you're not angry about it. It's not unusual to forget to eat meals. Naps are acceptable at any time, in any location that is clean. And most importantly, people help each other out.