This year Roskilde Festival are celebrating their 40 year anniversary, and they’re doing it knowing that people still want and need what the festival offers as all 75.000 tickets are gone. Looking at the lineup it’s another great year for Scandinavian music, and we’ve compiled this easy-to-read guide to what we think you should check out – and we plan to get around, although experience have taught us the valuable lesson of giving no guarantees when it comes to plans on a festival.

Before the official festival kicks off Thursday, July 1, Roskilde again offer live music for those hardcore festival goers taking the full week. Between Sunday, June 27, and Wednesday, June 30, the Pavilion Junior lineup sports an excellent lineup for fans of the Scandi sounds, including some bands we’ve mentioned here on ALL SCANDINAVIAN like Joensuu 1685, Rubik, Kråkesølv, Ghost Society and Rising.

Check out the full Pavilion Junior schedule here!

As mentioned the festival is now completely sold out and that means the scalpers surface. We are therefore passing on this warning from the festival: Be very careful buying tickets through unofficial channels! Read more about it here.

And with that we’re back to what Roskilde Festival is all about: The music.

THURSDAY:

ELECTROJUICE (DK)
This year’s Roskilde Festival is kicked off at 5.30PM by Danish electro young guns Electrojuice, who released their solid debut album ‘Solrock’ in October 2009. Live it’s the classic laptop and visuals setup, but we suspect they might beef up their first Roskilde appearance on the Cosmopol stage with a few guest stars like Troels Abrahamsen and Negash Ali, who also appear on the album.

SERENA MANEESH (NO)
Should you be more in to rock than electronica, Norwegian noise-rockers Serena Maneesh is the perfect (and only) alternative the first half hour of the festival. The lauded outfit have recently released their sophomore effort ‘S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor’ and they play the Odeon stage at 5.30PM.

WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE (DK)
The opening of the main stage is always a big deal. This year Danish quartet When Saints Go Machine will face the gargantuan task of filling the massive Orange stage and the 60.000+ capacity field in front of it with their enticing synth-pop. It goes down at 6.30PM.

REBEKKAMARIA (DK)
Danish electropop diva RebekkaMaria is currently touring her latest solo effort ‘Sister Sortie’, and former live performances make promises for a festive show with plenty of stage accessories and of course the always commanding presence of the frontwoman herself. It’s at 6.30PM on the Pavilion stage.

EFTERKLANG (DK)
One of the most acclaimed ensembles in and outside Denmark, Efterklang released their third and absolutely marvelous album ‘Magic Chairs’ in the beginning of 2010. Live they’re no less marvelous, bringing good vibes in melancholic robes to the people, and you can catch them at the Odeon stage 7.30PM.

SÓLSTAFIR (ISL)
When we reviewed this Icelandic quartet’s album ‘Köld’ we claimed that Sólstafir “sounds like Sigur Rós gone metal, the soundtrack to an Ingmar Bergman movie played in double tempo and The Hellacopters if they went to art school and did a lot of Valium””. We’re going to stick by that. The shoegaze metallers will play Thursday evening at the Pavilion Stage. We predict that it is going to be weird, wired and wonderful.

FRIDAY:

THE BEAR QUARTET (SE)
They did disappoint at this year’s Siesta! Festival, but since we really liked the Swedish indie demigods’ latest album ’89’ and the new stuff sounds very, very promising, we’ll give them a second chance. It’s at 1PM on the Pavilion stage.

JOHN OLAV NILSEN & GJENGEN (NO)
He impressed us with his debut album ‘For Sant Til Å Være Godt’ (“Too true to be good”) and we really wanted to see John Olav Nilsen and his gang at this year’s SPOT Festival. Unfortunately that didn’t happen for a number of reasons, but we’ll do our outmost to be at the Odeon stage at 2PM. So should you…

MESHUGGAH (SE)
It’s loud! It’s fast! It’s angry! It’s Swedish! Meshuggah is one of the godfathers of Scandinavian metal and the Swedes are a blast to watch. Even though the music is loud and fast it’s virtuous and technically impeccable. If you stare at the drummer too long and try to figure out what he is doing your head will explode. True story! Meshuggah play the Arena stage Friday afternoon. Be there or be… A wimp really.

CIRCLE (SF)
… however, unless Meshuggah really, really kick ass you might want to run down to the Pavilion Stage at 3PM to catch the crazy Fins in Circle. Circle is… kinda like Judas Priest. If Judas Priest were completely bonkers, occasionally dabbled in rap, doom and ambient and sometimes played the organ for no apparent reason.

TEDDYBEARS (SE)
After seeing Swedish Teddybears own the main stage at Siesta! Festival on a late Friday night, it shall be interesting to see if the party will be as massive and intense when they play Cosmopol at 2.30 in the afternoon. Knowing what the electro-punks can do live and not least the always brilliant Roskilde audience it probably will be, but they would’ve fitted the bill better after dark.

DIZZY MIZZ LIZZY (DK)
If you’re curious how grunge manifested itself in Denmark back in the early 90s, you should swing by Orange stage at 5PM to check out the single most successful band of the era, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, who still hold the record for the best selling Danish debut album of all time. Pure nostalgia with so many grand songs.

CASIOKIDS (NO)
The delightfully charming ALL SCANDINAVIAN favorites return to Roskilde on the back of their album ‘Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar’, and should you be in need of something to smile about Casiokids are your go-to guys. Hopefully they will bring their live visuals – one of the coolest takes on the big screen we’ve seen.

NEPHEW (DK)
The single most successful Danish rock act in the 21. century to date, Nephew played a legendary concert at Roskilde’s main stage back in 2007. This year the awesome live band return to the Orange stage and we can’t but expect a massive show Friday night/Saturday morning at 1AM.

DEN SORTE SKOLE (DK)
As mentioned Roskilde Festival is celebrating its 40. anniversary this year and they do it with a special performance by the Danish DJ collective Den Sorte Skole (The Black School), who will mash up tracks by artists spanning the whole history of the festival in a single concert on the Arena stage Friday night/Saturday morning at 2AM. It will be eclectic nostalgia and most likely a massive party.

SATURDAY:

THE RUMOUR SAID FIRE (DK)
They play ridiculously early for a festival – 12.30PM to be exact – and we have to be honest: There’s a very good chance we’ll miss one the most hyped bands in Denmark right now (because we like our drink, staying up late and sleeping in). However, if you’re up and about we suggest you swing by the Odeon stage and enjoy The Rumour Said Fire’s excellent folk.

THE KANDIDATE (DK)
Nice blend of thrash metal and punk, cool riffs and one of Denmark’s best metal vocalists. Even though The Kandidate play awfully early (1PM) it is worth getting out of the tent and stroll by Pavilion Saturday.

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE (NO)
If you, after being smashed by The Kandidate, need a little quiet time, Norway’s Kings Of Convenience aka Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye is just what the doctor would order. The duo play the Arena stage at 2PM.

THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR (DK)
It’s been pretty much exactly a year since we last caught The Asteroids Galaxy Tour live at SPOT Festival. Back then they did disappoint, but we are firm believers in second chances – and then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the contemporary soul featured on their debut ‘Fruit’. TAGT play the Odeon stage at 2.30PM.

THE FLOOR IS MADE OF LAVA (DK)
They made a somewhat surprising change of sound with their latest effort ‘Howl At The Moon’, which is a 47 minute declaration of love to classic rock. The Floor Is Made Of Lava play the Odeon stage at 4.30PM.

FM BELFAST (ISL)
This Icelandic outfit is just one of the best live bands around. Period! It will be one of the most fun parties at this year’s festival, and you don’t want to miss out. Period! FM Belfast play the Pavilion stage at 5PM. Be there…

PRINS THOMAS (NO)
Another Norwegian playing Roskilde this year is Prins Thomas. The Lindstrøm wingman will deliver a DJ set at 8PM on the Cosmopol stage, and to be perfectly honest we have no idea what to expect.

LINDSTRØM & CHRISTABELLE (NO)
Reminiscing Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer era disco Lindstrøm & Christabelle’s debut album ‘Real Life Is No Cool’ kicked this year off on a high musical note. We look forward to see what it’s like live, when they enter the Cosmopol stage at 9.15PM.

ROBYN (SE)
Scandinavia’s pop princess Robyn will release three albums this year. The first, ‘Body Talk Pt. 1’, is out now (and we will tell you about its undeniably great qualities shortly) and we have high expectations to her concert at the Arena stage at midnight.

KELLERMENSCH (DK)
We’ve seen them live quite a few times now, and the Danish rockers have been pretty much exceptional every time. At Roskilde they play the Odeon stage Friday night – or Saturday morning if you will – at 3AM, and as long as we don’t encounter heavy set Norwegians with lukewarm white wine we will be there. So should you.

SUNDAY:

THE KISSAWAY TRAIL (DK)
Back in March The Kissaway Trail released their brilliant sophomore effort ‘Sleep Mountain’. Live they are excellent, so we strongly suggest you swing by the Odeon stage right around 5PM (or perhaps a little earlier – they are quite popular, you know).

AFENGINN (SF/DK)
The past years the sounds and beats from Eastern Europe have become increasingly more popular in Scandinavia, not least because of the party the music naturally creates. If you have any strength left in your dancing feet, you should check out Danish/Finnish outfit Afenginn when they the Pavilion stage at 6PM.

MIIKE SNOW (SE)
The Swedish producer team Bloodshy & Avant have teamed up with the American singer Andrew Wyatt and as Miike Snow they released their eponymous debut last year. It’s eclectic electropop and should make a perfect ending for this year’s Scandinavian part of Roskilde Festival.

CHECK OUT THE FULL ROSKILDE SCHEDULE HERE!