Orange dreams up in smoke: Roskilde and other festivals concede defeat and cancel en masse

Government restrictions blamed on decision to call it a day and look forward to 2022

Roskilde Festival regulars will have to put their Orange Stage dreams on hold for another year.

Roskilde and a host of other landmark names (see factbox below) have confirmed they won’t be holding festivals this summer – mainly due to the government’s announcement early this morning that heavy restrictions will stay in place until August 1.

Festivals are permitted to only invite 2,000 guests and to ensure they are always split into groups of 200.

Only from August 1 will this be raised to 5,000 guests split into groups of 500.

Distraught organisers
The mood among organisers is understandably downbeat. 

“It is a sad day today,” Dansk Live head Ebsen Marcher told DR. “You had hoped that there would be an opportunity to do something alternative. Now you are left with very, very few options, which is super annoying and very demotivating.’’

Roskilde Festival chief executive Signe Lopdrup was equally distraught.

“It is very unfortunate and we are devastated that we didn’t get the opportunity to gather again at our festival and help recreate the communities that the corona crisis has destroyed,” she said. “The country’s young people need it now.’’