Roskilde picks: Day 1

With a schedule full of acts, it can be difficult to make choices. Our music writers give you their picks for today’s must-see concerts.

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Jul 4, 2013

Although it is known as much for the camping, the partying and the "orange feeling", believe it or not, for some people the Roskilde Festival is still all about the music.

With a full schedule across the festival's seven stages, it can sometimes be hard to know when to go where. The Copenhagen Post offers our picks for each day's best concerts, but any Roskilde veteran would caution against planning your schedule too carefully. Part of the beauty of the festival is stumbling across new acts and stepping outside of your musical comfort zones.

But if you are unfamiliar with some of the names on the schedule and want to know a little more, here are our picks for Thursday:

Eloq will get the party started on the Apollo stage Eloq

17:30, Apollo

The Copenhagener will almost be on his on home turf when he gets things kicked off on the electronic stage Apollo. He started an ongoing party at his previous Roskilde appearance, so expect nothing less from the young Dane this year. He is part of the hip-hop collective Chef Records along with Kidd, Klumben, Raske Penge and Top Gunn, all of whom are mainstays on Danish hip-hop fans' playlists. Eloq was nominated for Politiken newspaper's 'Årets Upcoming' (Upcoming act of the year) award earlier this year, but lost out to the band Lower. Sigrid Neergaard

The Lumineers

19:00, Odeon

The Denver, Colorado folk rock band The Lumineers make their debut at Roskilde Festival this year, and with a critically acclaimed album in tow, they hope to melt some hearts with their rustic Americana. One of the soundtracks of 2012 was 'Ho Hey', an instant singalong anthem. Look forward to belting it out with other admirers of simple but fantastic songwriting. Michalis Nielsen

Kendrick Lamar: The new king of the West Coast? Kendrick Lamar

20:30, Arena

Hailing from Compton, California, Kendrick Lamar is a 25 year old hip-hop visionary deemed to be one of the most important personas in the newer wave of hip-hop that infuses electronic tweaks to the poetics of the street. The critically acclaimed good kid, m.A.A.d city shot Lamar to stardom. His narration of life experience through choppy delivery and abstract themes paired with lush beats is bound to be a key hip-hop experience at this year's festival. Michalis Nielsen

Chinese Man

20:30, Cosmopol

Chinese Man are one of the pioneering forces behind the recent upsurge of turntablism in France, a wave that has been surfed by the likes of acts such as Birdy Nam Nam, C2C and Deluxe. The trip-hop inclined trio hail from the multiethnic city of Marseille and paint from a palette that is rich in various music genres, from dub to jazz. Unsurprisingly, Chinese Man will be one of the bands leading the lineup of Roskilde's intimate Cosmopol stage, where they will be one of the first to perform. Allan Mututku-Kortbæk

Jake Bugg has been likened to a young Bob Dylan - see for yourself if he lives up to the hype Jake Bugg

21:00, Odeon

Hailed as the modern incarnation of an early Bob Dylan, his finger-picking blues supercharged with elements of early ‘00s indie rock ‘n’ roll, the 19-year-old Bugg will be among the youngest performers at the festival this year. A consummate professional who has already impressed the British public with a series of live television performances and festival concerts – including perhaps the most significant concert of his career at Glastonbury’s Introducing Stage when he was just 17 – his jingle-jangle, carefree country-rock will convince the Danes that new-age British rock still has a lot to offer. Daniel van der Noon

Disclosure

22:00, Apollo

Brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, aged 22 and 19 respectively, from the UK make up the funky, synthpop act Disclosure which only just released their debut album Settle on June 3 – so expect a hot performance. Settle took the UK by storm and went straight to the top of the charts and also landed at number two on America's electronic charts. Their first single, 'Offline Dexterity', came out in 2010 and since then they have basically only produced hits. The duo seem to have a bright future ahead of them with plenty of fans and fame throughout Europe. Sigrid Neergaard

The Slipknot show promises to be as crazy as it looks Slipknot

22:00, Orange

The nine-man metal outfit are a household name at European festivals, and for good reason. Slipknot is one of the many bands that spawned from the nu-metal explosion of the late 90's, but the Iowa band decided to push the boundaries of extremity to such an extent that they rose head and shoulders above their peers. Nine masked men provide terrifying theatrics to a cataclysmic musical experience and their misanthropic lyrics are delivered seamlessly by the charismatic Corey Taylor, a high-calibre showman. This should be one of the highest energy performances of the festival. Michalis Nielsen

Animal Collective

23:00, Arena

Formed by childhood friends in Baltimore in the late ‘90s, this quartet has had a palpable impact on the genre both collectively and individually – you’ll certainly know Panda Bear from his recent collaboration with Daft Punk on their exceptionally marketed new record Random Access Memories (2013). Steadily rising in popularity during the early ‘00s with their all-encompassing, genre-bending and visually evocative electronic-folk, their international breakthrough came in 2005 with the critically acclaimed full-length record Feels. Ever since, the group’s experiments have beckoned listeners even deeper into the visual realm of psychedelia. Daniel van der Noon