Thursday, September 9, 2010

Rockin' out in Paris





When we were in Greece in June and Emma found the website for the Rock en Seine festival, we had our tickets booked, flights locked in, and organised to cut our time on the Italian farm down to 3 weeks, all within 90min. Sometimes acting on decisions this quickly turns out to be a mistake. This time there were no regrets.

What could make a week in Paris even better? Spending 3 days of it rocking out with 105,000 Parisians to some of the best bands in the world, and discovering some new ones that you’d never heard of before. What could make it even betterer? Having former flatmate, swimming buddy, and Facebook Friend (:P) Georgie take a few days off her work in the French vineyards to come and rock out with us.

Highlights:
  • Escaping the real world and becoming Rock and Roll with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. These guys ARE rock. They’re bad(note to Mum: this means “good”) - not because they are scary or mean (they’re not) but because the are wild, they rock out and love their music, and they just don’t care.
  • Coming close to escaping consciousness in the 2nd row, centre stage of Queens of the Stone Age (number one priority - stay on your feet and out from under those of others). Up until this point we thought that French rock festival crowds were soft and not nearly as rough as those in NZ. This is true, except for when Josh Homme has the microphone, and plays the crowd into a frenzy even better than he can play his guitar. A lot of fun, and not nearly as bad I just made it sound - if someone falls then the writhing mass of humanity suddenly stops and clears a circle of air, helps them up, pats them on the back, then continues the craziness. So yes, maybe the French are soft, but they’re nice too.
  • Chilling out on the grass and eating a huge dish of Paella that would fuel us on through the night
  • Seeing that some Old Rockers still have it - Mr E led The Eels in his white jumps suit, huge beard, aviator sunnies and bandanna, taking the crowd on a rollercoaster ride from jumping up and down to swaying ballads to the soothing and ever popular Beautiful Blues. Who cares that he’s about to celebrate his 50th birthday? Not him.
  • Watching Wallis Bird, a tiny little Irish girl who could probably fit inside her oversized guitar, run around the stage playing all her bandmates instruments and getting the crowd up on their feet despite being the first act of the afternoon. Other great early acts revealing exciting talent were The Black Angels and Wayne Beckford (just thought I’d include these to share with those of you who are inclined to google/you tube/myspace new stuff)
  • Being there to see bands such as LCD Soundsystem, Crystal Castles and Beirut prove that they’re not just incredible recording artists, but really know how to tweak their music and make it a great live experience too.
  • Seeing Kiwi boys Fat Freddy’s Drop get the French crowds going in Paris
  • Showing French security how Kiwis apply the BYO philosophy to avoid paying NZ$15 for a beer inside the festival. Or rather, not showing them.

Pics: Mr E and The Eels, the crowd loving LCD Soundsystem, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club working the crowd

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