By Thea Høj-Poulsen, volunteer journalist
Close your eyes and think of the Roskilde Festival. What's the first thing that comes to mind? For many, thoughts will immediately drift to moments in front of Orange Stage and the familiar orange tent canva. The festival's landmark and major gathering point since 1978.
The tent is raised every year by the Orange Tent Team, who are ensuring that our landmark stands with the same sharp precision you remember.
And it doesn't go unnoticed. Each year, we ask all volunteers to point us towards their own festival heroes, and last year they chose the Orange Tent Team, who received well-deserved recognition for their dedication.
Meet Anders "Anden" Hinding, tent master and team leader of the 15-person volunteer team that raises the 3.5-ton tent, which has been the centerpiece for countless major concert experiences over time.
Anders "Anden" Hinding has been a volunteer since 1996 and a tent master since 2005. He works in IT in the Capital Region of Denmark, but every year he dedicates 3.5 weeks to a very different task at the festival. It's the sense of community that especially draws him back year after year.
“When we gather again after a year, it’s almost like reuniting with family,” he says.
Most of the team have been involved for over 10 years, and because they rarely see each other outside the festival, the reunion is always something very special.
“When I enter the festival area and the safe walls, there’s just a whole other calm. It feels a bit like coming home again.”
Setting up Orange Stage takes three days if everything goes according to plan. As a beloved tradition, the team places a duck on top of the tent. There it sits, overlooking the audience. Or at least, it does until it mysteriously disappears. There has developed an odd tradition where the duck often vanishes from its fixed place at the top the tent.
“Fortunately, it always ends up coming back mysteriously,” he says.
Recognition as festival heroes
One volunteer expressed it very precisely last year: “I want to thank those who build Orange Stage. Thank you for raising the world’s most beautiful tent. Just the thought of the many concerts I’ve experienced right there makes every fiber of my body happy.”
Many others agreed, and the Orange Tent Team earned the prestigious title of last year's RFheroes. This recognition means a lot to Anders "Anden" Hinding and the rest of the tent team.
“It’s really nice to receive recognition for our efforts and volunteerism. And it’s truly great to be able to look at our tile on the ground in front of Orange Stage,” he says proudly, referring to the brass plate with their team name that has been set in the ground in front of the stage as a symbol of their heroics
What is RFHeroes?
Every year, volunteers choose the festival's RFheroes – an honor for the volunteers and teams who make a significant difference to our volunteer community. The heroes' names are afterwards engraved on brass plates, which are placed in the ground in front of Orange Stage.
For more than 20 years, the current Orange Stage has witnessed countless major concert experiences. But like everything, it also has an end. Next year, a new and larger Orange Stage will grace the grounds.
Even though this is the last year with the current stage, Anders "Anden" Hinding looks forward to the new one: “It will be a completely new task on a whole different scale since the tent will almost be twice as big. But we hope to handle the things that have been a bit troublesome with the current tent better with the new one.”
To mark the end with the current Orange Stage, the tent team invited their partners and children to roast pig feast under the tent canvas after setting it up. There they sat with a view of the duck, nicely perched in its usual place. That was before it mysteriously disappeared again.
