Lister

By Stefan Singh Kailay
Translation by Minna Julie Kolte

You are standing in the pit in front of Orange Stage at a completely packed Radiohead concert. You get a little thirsty, but the free water passed around does not really quench that thirst. But do not worry – the beer is also here.

Sixty volunteers all in all walk around during the Festival’s concerts in front of Orange Stage and sell cold Tuborg. “People want beer. So we are practically everywhere,” Claus Christiansen explains.

He has since winter 2005 been responsible for the Beverage Section and is thereby responsible for getting the festival goers beer, when they want one.

1,000,000 litres of beer

Divided among the Camping Area and the Festival Site there are seventeen beverage stalls selling beer, which belong under the Beverage Section. From the smallest stall east of Arena Stage to the biggest at Service Centre West, the section’s 3000 volunteers make sure that people and beer come together.

During the festival week around 1,000,000 litres of beer are sold. More than 400 volunteers roll frames with canned beer out on an assembly line from two huge trailers and into the beer tent. Those two trailers contain more than 140,000 cans of beer.

A few years ago a remarkable record was beaten here – in less than one minute volunteers moved an entire pallet with thirty beer frames from the trailer to the costumer’s hands. 

It is going to be a good year

“The festival goers preferably have to drink them, while they’re cold. And then come back and buy more,” says Claus Christiansen with a wry smile.

He has been working for the festival since 1976, where he was a fence guard. Since then he has been responsible for check-in, admissions and service, before he assumed the major responsibility for the beer at the festival.

In this way, Claus Christiansen’s qualification is more the broad knowledge about the festival than about beer: “I don’t know a shit about beer; except I can drink it.” However, by now he has also certain knowledge about selling beer, and he counts on having a good year: “We are not going to reach the record year of 2006, but we’re getting close. It is a beer festival after all.”