I've always been tempted to take a trip to Tilburg in the Netherlands for Roadburn but for one reason or another, I never made it. I might have to finally make it down there this year as the festival organizers announced the Mikael FN Åkerfeldt will be curating the bands. That sells itself for me.
The event happens Friday, April 11th, 2014 at the 013 venue and obviously will be headlined by Mikael's main gig, Opeth. Mikael will invite other bands to perform on the show as well. Any guesses on who will be there? I'm assuming Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree will be there (perhaps we'll get a Storm Corrosion performance?), Katatonia will probably be there, could we see Bloodbath at Roadburn?! OMFG, Bloodbath?! I'm going to look into booking tickets just on the possibility that Bloodbath will play.
Here's what Mikael had to say:
“It’s with great honour that I accepted the invitation to be the curator for the 2014 Roadburn festival”, says Mikael Åkerfeldt, “I’m pretty damn far from being a professional booker / promotor, and I’ve never been part in choosing bands for an event apart from bands that Opeth has toured with. So this is a first for me, but I have to say I’m very excited.”
“I’ve reached out to a handful of my favourite bands from the past and present. As of now it looks like it will be an amazing musical event. Still brainstorming about possible bands for this glorious festival but I already know that I’m going to be like a kid at Christmas. It will be amazing! Plain and simple. Obviously Opeth will perform as well, but to be quite honest with you, our own performance doesn’t get me nearly as excited as the thought of experiencing the bands that have shown interest. It will be remarkable and memorable. A celebration, bitches!”
Wow, that gets me even more excited. Somebody get my travel agent on the phone! *
* I do not have a travel agent.