Luxury Camping

During his “Talking Shop” session at ILMC 2005, Carl Leighton-Pope joked that added value for the customer would lead to festivals offering luxury camping.

It seems like Denmark’s Roskilde Festival has taken him at his word.

For this year’s gathering, Roskilders can buy a pitched tent in an area where they’ll also get a sort of room service that includes free breakfasts, festival papers, free luggage storage, recharge service for mobile phones and a bonfire area with a grill.

The cost for what Roskilde describes as “a brand new and totally exclusive festival experience” is 500 Danish kroner (about US$85). The tents are numbered and easy to find. Those who sign up get to keep the tent as a festival souvenir.

The “Get A Tent” area, which is seven kilometers from the site and served by shuttle buses around the clock, has space for 500 two-metre square tents which, as the festival press release points out, is “plenty of room for two people.”

It also says people can share their tents with another person, but the guest isn’t entitled to the services or the showers. This raises the question of whether it would be wise to extend the same hospitality to a friend for all four days.

“Come to Roskilde Festival when it suits you. You will not have to lug your tent and look for an available spot in the tent-packed area. A spot has already been reserved for you, and your unique Roskilde Festival tent is already pitched and ready to be used,” says the advertising blurb.

Those camping in luxury at this year’s Roskilde June 29th to July 2nd can enjoy a lineup that includes Guns N’ Roses, Bob Dylan, Morrissey, Kaiser Chiefs, Roger Waters, HIM, Placebo, Seeed, Franz Ferdinand, Deftones, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys, Bullet For My Valentine, George Clinton, and Editors.

– John Gammon