The festival organisers open the gates immediately, so others who queued for up to 48 hours had an equal chance of getting the good ground.

“Last year we had a crappy spot,” explained the first group of fans to arrive outside the campsite June 24, two days before it was due to open.

“This will be fixed this year. We’re planning on camping at square N48. It’s located quite central – close to the stalls and toilets,” they told the festival Web site.

The group left home at noon and, after a few beer breaks, reached the festival mid-afternoon, having walked overland from the nearby town of Roskilde.

An hour before the gates were due to open, the crowd outside the campsite had grown from five to 15,000.

All 79,000 tickets were sold 10 days before the June 29 to July 2 event was due to open.

About 58 percent of the crowd comes from Denmark, 16 percent from Norway and 14 percent from Sweden.

Germany and the U.K. each contribute 3 percent, with most of the remainder coming from Finland and Iceland.

Roger Waters, Guns N’ Roses, Scissor Sisters, Morrissey, Deftones, Tool, Placebo, Kanye West, Franz Ferdinand, Bob Dylan, Arctic Monkeys, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Strokes, Kaiser Chiefs, and Editors are among the main attractions.