Pharrell Williams took the Roskilde Orange Stage by storm last night in a charismatic display of bass, butts and a whole lotta twerking.
With the help of his Adidas-clad entourage, the 42-year-old singing sensation succeeded in hyping up the crowd for the first night of music at this year’s festival.
With a medley of hits dating back to his N.E.R.D days, Williams proved his talent with flawless vocals and a stage presence that is both infectious and magnetic.
Right in line with his number one hit, he is the happiest guy I have ever seen, bouncing around the stage with his bootilicious back-up dancers in a display of festival-infused fun.
There were some undeniable crowd favourites: ‘Lose yourself to Dance’, ‘Blurred Lines’ and, of course, the song that’s plagued our radio stations for well over a year now: the all-time pop classic ‘Happy’. While versions of Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop it like it’s hot’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Holla back girl’ also went down well.
To Williams’ credit, he innocently invited a few dozen screaming girls up from the audience to prove their worth strutting their stuff on stage. But in all honesty, I think most would agree he should’ve left that to his talented troupe of back-up dancers, who made me want to drop everything, move to LA and become a professional twerker.
Breach of festival rules
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good times and great classic hits for Williams’s performance.
Much to the dismay of festival organisers, the singer encouraged the masses to crowd surf through the audience during his N.E.R.D hit ‘Lapdance’ – a practice that is strictly banned by the Roskilde Festival.
“We are not in Corsica. We are not in Cape Town. We are not in California. We are in Copenhagen. And therefore, I want to see you all jump, scream, but most importantly, I want to see you crowd surf,” he shouted across the audience.
The Roskilde Festival would usually cut off the sound at this point. However, for reasons unknown, Williams was permitted to continue playing.
It seems his charm and infectious smile won over the festival organisers too …
