Lister

By Morten Grønborg
Translated by Rasmus Ovesen

”Back home they call me Mr. Roskilde”, says Tomas with a smile. He carries the title of PR-coordinator for Iceland – a country where he actively spreads the idea and story about Roskilde Festival. 

He has voluntarily taken on responsibility for the work of nine so-called ambassadors and together they make sure that festival posters are circulated and that the Roskilde Festival-message is spread all over Iceland. Primarily this is achieved by word of mouth and e-mails. The homepage roskilde-festival.is – which is the local equivalent of the official festival website – is also his responsibility.   

An honour

In 2007, a total of 1700 festival tickets were sold in the country and this is quite impressive when you compare with the country’s meagre population of about 300.000. On top of that there are many Icelanders who live in Denmark and buy tickets for the festival here. He is a bit reluctant in terms of estimating how many fellow countrymen will join him this year, but he suggests that there might be fewer than normal. Due to a weak Icelandic Króna, the cost of a ticket is even higher than what the general price increases prescribe.   

Tomas, however, won’t be stopped. Not even considering the fact that a week at Roskilde including transport expenses amount to a fair sum of money. “It is an honour to work for this noble cause”, Tomas explains. He also points out that the festival is highly respected on Iceland and that generation after generation travel to Roskilde.  

Remembers the year 2000

Tomas boasts a total of nine consecutive festival summers, including this one. His most noteworthy festival memory is from the second night of his first festival ever – the tragic Pearl Jam concert in 2000, which resulted in the death of nine people.

 
”I was afraid”, he explains, ”because I was in the front myself and got pushed around. Everything just compressed and it was really difficult to breathe. I ended up having the crowd carry me towards the front in order to escape”.

”It was horrible”, he continues. ”But I am really glad that the festival continued that summer. Stopping would have been wrong, I think”.