Kendrick Lamar to headline Roskilde Festival: Line-up brings fresh hope that music festivals will return in 2021

Kendrick Lamar has signed up to appear at one of the world's biggest music festivals.

The Humble rapper will get a headline spot during the week-long Roskilde Festival, set to take place in Denmark from June 26 to July 3.

Lamar joins previously announced artists on the bill, including Taylor Swift, Thom Yorke's Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, The Strokes, FKA Twigs, Girl in Red, Kelly Lee Owens and Tyler, the Creator.

The news has been cheered by fans, who are anticipating the release of Lamar’s yet-to-be-titled fourth album, as well as a live music industry cautiously plotting its return.

Anders Wahren, Roskilde Festival's head of programming, described Lamar's upcoming appearance as a statement of intent. "We are on the threshold of a new year, and we think there is a need and reason to be hopeful," he told music magazine NME.

Roskilde Festival, which was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, is one of a small handful of major music festivals that looks set to resume in 2021.

Another event signalling its return is Coachella, the mammoth US festival which abandoned its 2020 iteration after initially postponing the April event to October.

While organisers announced the festival will be held this year from Friday, April 9 to Sunday, April 18, no further announcements or details have been made about the event.

The Montreux Jazz Festival, one of the world's biggest events dedicated to the genre, also announced its intention to return to its picturesque location in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, from Friday, July 2 to Saturday, July 17, after cancelling last year's festival for the first time in its 53-year history.

As for UK festival Glastonbury, which also scrapped its sold-out 50th anniversary event last June, organiser Emily Eavis said plans for this year remain uncertain.

"Obviously the vaccine news in recent weeks has increased our chances, but I think we're still quite a long way from being able to say we're confident 2021 will go ahead," she told the BBC last month.

"We're doing everything we can on our end to plan and prepare, but there are still just so many unknowns and factors, which are completely out of our control.”

That caution is also echoed by one of the world’s biggest dance music festivals.

With Tomorrowland scratching last year's festival, which was expecting up to 400,000 visitors over a couple of weekends in July  in the Belgian town of Boom, the event aims to continue running digital versions of the bash until it's safe to return to physical performance.

"We would like to be back in 2021 and are looking forward to the return of in-person festivals," Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told The National in a recent interview. But we could see virtual festivals becoming an ongoing experience we provide people."