The Headliners
As opposed to earlier years, the number of headliners release up to this point is very vague. I'm not a sucker for headliners anyway, but the main importance of these names is Roskilde's ability to continuously measure itself against the other major European festivals. While Roskilde's big advantage against many of the others is usually the width and variety of the line-up, the headliners are what most festival-goers look at at first glance, when they compare Roskilde to the other three festivals that make up Europe's big four: Werchter in Belgium, Sziget in Hungary and ofcourse England's Glastonbury.
As I see it, only three of the already confirmed names are definitely headliners. These are Muse, Gorillaz, and Them Crooked Vultures. The possible headliners are in my opinion (in order of likelihood): Motörhead, Jack Johnson, Alice In Chains, Pavement, NOFX and Kasabian. In all likelihood no more than three of these are headliners, and Motörhead and Jack Johnson are likely to be among them. Jack Johnson isn't a typical Roskilde headliner, but make no mistake, he is one of the most generally popular artists in the world. Whether Alice In Chains, Pavement or NOFX will be a headliner is a toss-up. I don't know any of the bands sufficiently to argue in any direction. Kasabian is probably a long-shot.
The past four years we have had 8, 8, 7, 8 and 9 headliners respectively, so it's very likely that two headliners will be in the package tomorrow. A mentionable unknown however is the possibility of a Danish headliner. The past five years there has been only one Danish headliner (Trentemøller in 2009), interestingly, this was also the year of 9 headliners. Two Danish bands on the line-up could possibly headline this year, those are Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and Nephew. I find it unlikely that any of them will though, for two reasons: Even though Danes are by far the biggest nationality at Roskilde, they are not as heavily recruited through the line-up, but more through the social aspect and traditions of going to the festival. Also, Roskilde usually takes pride in distancing themselves from the other Danish festivals, all of which are headlined by either one or both of the aforementioned bands.
To sum it up, My guess is, that the following bands will headline:
Alice In Chains (or NOFX)
Gorillaz
Jack Johnson
Motörhead
Muse
Them Crooked Vultures
And two more. But who will these two bands be? If we look at the genre-composition of the headliners we know so far, there's a clear emphasis towards the heavier rock/grunge, with Alice In Chains, Motörhead, Them Crooked Vultures and, to some extent, although their mainstream success makes them a pretty all-purpose name, Muse. Gorillaz are from the urban genres and Jack Johnson is probably to be construed as pop/mainstream. As I see it, we're gonna definitely have one more urbanely-oriented headliner - either a strong hip hop name, or a big electronic artist. Faithless were my tip for an electronic headliner, but they are playing Skanderborg, and thus are unlikely to play Roskilde. The Prodigy are always heavily lobbied for, but I really think it should have been last year, when they were on an album tour. I think Massive Attack is the most likely electronic headliner, but a lot tells me Roskilde will surprise us in this direction, and that being so, names like Daft Punk and Portishead could also come into consideration. The Chemical Brothers are on their way with new stuff, but we had them as recently as 2008, which works against them, even though it was an awesome show.
As for hip hop, I must admit that isn't really my area of expertise, but the hip hop acts this year so far are very few and far between, so I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see a big name come up here. Snoop Dogg could be a possibility. As for other headliners, my fresh pick would be Atoms For Peace. The Strokes would seem obvious, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Julian Casablancas might very well show up though, but not as a headliner. Arctic Monkeys could be possible too, but they aren't really touring this summer, it seems. Other headlining possibilities of different genres could be Iggy & The Stooges, Erykah Badu (although I'm not sure whether she could be a headliner), Robbie Williams, Rammstein (unlikely) or Green Day, although I wouldn't bet on neither. But two new headliners tomorrow, anything else will be a disappointment.
Indie hopes
This is just gonna be a quick sum-up of some likely indie names. First of all, I would be very surprised not to see Jonsí on the line-up. He fits the bill perfectly: he's Scandinavian, and he just released his debut album. Other very likely names are The National and Rufus Wainwright. I hope very much to see Delphic and Vampire Weekend, both of whom have released albums within the last few months. Same goes for Foals, Two Door Cinema Club, The Drums and The xx. None of these four have ever played Roskilde. I am not sure if Crystal Castles have, but they could be a hot tip, especially if the electronic headliner is gonna be absent this year. Same situation goes for Autechre, Miike Snow and Pantha du Prince. Among bands who have played Roskilde recently, but who could return this year, are Hot Chip, MGMT (very likely), Yeasayer, Band of Horses (yrrrk) and Arcade Fire. The latter could perhaps be a headliner, but I ultimately don't think they will be, mostly because of the fact that they will probably not play Orange. Bon Iver and Animal Collective were both remarkably absent last year, but both bands have released EPs lately, which could warrant some consideration. Other absentees of last year include La Roux, Calvin Harris, Gossip, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear and Passion Pit, but I would be very surprised to see any of those bands at Roskilde this year, given that they haven't released anything since last summer. A very possible hip hop name is Die Antwoord from South Africa.
Danish possibilities
It's always hard to get a handle on which Danish acts will play Roskilde. The big question this year is Kashmir, and I must say I'm totally 50/50 as to whether they will come or not. They really should, being as they have released a new album, and are still one of Denmark's major bands, but they didn't exactly release the best album in the world, and Roskilde could decide to skip them this year. Very likely Danish acts include Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Under Byen, I Got You On Tape, Band Ane and The Floor Is Made Of Lava.
It all goes off at noon tomorrow!
