- Saturday night 6 July*01:00, Avalon
* This artist is part of the Saturday lineup. Concert starts at 01:00 on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
With roots in punk and hardcore, Detroit's The Armed arrived on the music scene with their debut album These Are Lights (2009), mixed by Kurt Ballou (Converge). From the start, The Armed was conceived as an anonymous collective, with rotating members contributing. Despite the mystique, The Armed also portrayed themselves as "the world's greatest band".
The almost messianic self-image is echoed on the 2023 album Perfect Saviors, where the band names the contributors to this incarnation of the project for the first time. With a motley mix of musicians that includes super guitarist Matt Sweeney, jazz drummer Mark Guillana, vocalist Sarah Tudzin and the rhythm section from Jane's Addiction, The Armed create a kaleidoscopic vision of rock music. That vision retains some of its punk roots, but isn't ashamed to embrace the grandeur of arena rock, jazzy excursions and synthpop elements.
With their usual grand gestures, The Armed call the album an unironic attempt to create the greatest rock album of the 21st century, and they do have a point, as the many ecstatic reviews testify. Line of Best Fit even called the album a fulfillment of the promise of being the best band in the world. The band's blend of punk's ferocity, eclectic musicality and sense of arena rock's community-building anthems also makes them a unique live act, and this summer they're bringing salvation to Roskilde with an epic session.